Of Shit And Fans: U.S. Detains Mexican Human Activist, Mutilated Body Found Hanging In Tijuana

As should come as no surprise to people who are least marginally aware of current events, violence keeps bubbling up in and Mexico, some of which is either ignored or quietly supported by authorities. One example of this support, as we mentioned yesterday, can be seen in certain instances involving the kidnapping and torture of Central American migrants who pass through Mexico on their way to the United States. 

Yesterday, a nude, mutilated body was found hanging from a bridge in Tijuana a mere nine days after the body of an official accused of giving fake driver’s licenses to drug gang members was found hanging off another bridge in the city. The body found yesterday had received various blows and cuts, including the removal of its tongue - usually a sign that the murdered man had been an informant against gang members. Additionally, a woman’s body was also found yesterday in Tijuana, its hands and head missing. 

In related news, Mexican human rights activist Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson was detained this week by US Customs who, in a highly unusual move, urged him to seek political asylum for his safety. Hickerson (pictured above) has been an outspoken and tireless in his mission to educate people about the crimes committed by Mexican officials ostensibly supposed to serve and protect Mexican citizens:

Two weeks ago, Hickerson said he had documentation of 170 instances in which Mexican soldiers extorted, kidnapped, tortured, beat or killed innocent people while based in the state of Chihuahua to control the violence that has gripped it since 2008.

Hickerson, who has worked for the Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission for more than four years and has been an advocate for human rights for 37 years, said none of the abuse cases were being prosecuted by the Mexican government. He also said that he was afraid for his safety and that of his family.

US officials were said to have conducted a “credible fear interview” to determine, we suppose, the extent to which this man is afraid for his life. Border officials at the Santa Fe Port of Entry said Hickerson was asked whether he was afraid due to his line of work, to which he responded that he was, but did not want asylum.

So they went ahead and detained him anyway.

US customs detains Mexican human rights activist [Chron]