Background on the Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (CNDH)
The Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (CNDH) is an independent autonomous body in Mexico responsible for promoting and protecting human rights. Established in 1997, the CNDH investigates allegations of human rights violations and issues recommendations to relevant authorities, including the Mexican military.
Military Personnel Investigated for Human Rights Violations
According to a report from the Secretaría de Defensa Nacional (Sedena), over 318 military personnel have been involved in human rights violations based on CNDH recommendations between 2007 and 2022.
- Indicated: 154 military personnel were formally investigated for potential wrongdoing.
- Prosecuted: 109 military personnel were deemed to have enough evidence for a trial by a judge.
- Sentenced: 23 military personnel were convicted.
- Acquitted: 16 military personnel were found not guilty.
- Absent (Fugitives): 16 military personnel were wanted for their alleged involvement in human rights violations.
The military personnel are accused of committing various crimes, including torture, extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, illegal searches and seizures, unlawful detention, abuse of authority, and lesions.
Fugitives
Sixteen military personnel were wanted for their alleged involvement in human rights violations, with 14 of them being lieutenants. Some cases include:
- Detention and subsequent death with signs of torture in Naco, Sonora on August 3, 2007.
- Shooting at a vehicle in Comitán de Domínguez, Chiapas on September 18, 2009, resulting in one death and three injuries.
- Arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, and subsequent murder in Cuernavaca, Morelos.
- An internal incident in Tijuana, Baja California on November 24, 2020, where a soldier died due to bronchoaspiration, leading to the search for a potentially involved element.
Sentences
Twenty-three military personnel had been sentenced by the time of the 2022 recommendations. Some notable cases include:
- Captain Juan Carlos Limón Portillo was convicted of torture and sentenced to one year and four months in prison on May 18, 2018. He was released on liberty due to lack of merits on May 17, 2019.
- Soldado Lluviana Vargas Troche was released due to lack of merits by a military court on August 23, 2018. The penal action against Major of Infantry Ricardo Lara Aguilar was later dropped on January 24, 2020.
- Six elements were accused of arbitrary use of force and the killing of a person whose body was exhumed in Ciudad Madera, Chihuahua, in 2012. The Sedena declined jurisdiction to a district court in Chihuahua on February 15, 2013, and the CNDH recommendation was considered concluded.
Recent Trends (2023-2025)
In the past three years, the Sedena has received at least 22 new CNDH recommendations, with most classified as grave human rights violations.
- 2023: 12 recommendations (one ordinary and eleven grave violations).
- 2024: 5 recommendations (one ordinary and four grave violations).
- 2025: 5 recommendations so far, with cases in Chihuahua, Sonora, Chiapas, Mexico City, and Guerrero.
