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Mexico orders the arrest of officials in 1970s `dirty war'

A Mexican court has issued four new arrest warrants against former government officials wanted in the forced disappearance of dissidents in the 1970s, special prosecutor Ignacio Carrillo announced on Sunday.

Six members of the Brigada Campesina de los Lacandones were arrested in central Mexican state of Hidalgo in 1974 and turned over illegally to the now-dissolved Federal Security Directorate, never to be seen again, according to prosecutors.

The new arrest orders in the Hidalgo case bring to 16 the number of warrants issued as prosecutors pursue crimes of the so-called "dirty war" of the 1960s and 1970s, during which Mexican government agents used drastic means to crack down on small groups of leftist rebels who had carried out kidnappings and bank robberies. Mexico's National Human Rights Commission has documented the disappearance of at least 275 suspected leftists.

"We are canceling the passports of impunity, gentlemen," Carrillo said. "They're not good anymore."

The new warrants target former agents of the Federal Security Directorate and the Hidalgo state attorney general's office, Carrillo said. But he declined to name the suspects, expressing concern that it might interfere with arrest efforts.

The suspects face charges of kidnapping, as federal prosecutors take advantage of a recent ruling that found political kidnappings, known as "disappearances," are ongoing crimes and not subject to the statute of limitations. The Supreme Court ruled the statute of limitations cannot begin until the victim is found or freed.
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