25 years after the dissappearance of Lieutenant Miguel Orlando Muñoz, case still unpunished: CMDPDH

Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from Aristegui Noticias

 
Twenty-five years after the disappearance of Lieutenant Miguel Orlando Muñoz, the case remains unpunished, as the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) has not wanted to investigate, affirms José Antonio Guevara, executive director of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH).

In an interview for #AristeguiEnvivo, he recalled that despite twelve years since the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) issued a report that “it is found that Miguel Orlando was disappeared and the last time he was seen was in the 26th Infantry Battalion, in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua,” the case remains unpunished. 

“He had coincidentally informed and informed his family and his colleagues that his superiors had links with crime, and coincidentally the last time he was seen was in the military barracks. Since then the case has been a mess as normal when prosecutors investigate cases of enforced disappearance of persons, military jurisdiction conducted a proceeding in absentia, evidence was destroyed.

“For at least four years we have seen how the PGR and the State Attorney of Chihuahua pass the ball. Neither of them assumes jurisdiction over the case and they throw them at each other, and what we have is a state of absolute impunity where neither of the two institutions has wanted to investigate,” he explained.

However, he considers the PGR the ones who should investigate the forced disappearance, since the last time the lieutenant was seen was in a military barracks; “The investigation should point to the those in command that he denounced had links to crime.”

“The Office of the Attorney General of Chihuahua does not have jurisdiction to hear of the disappearance of a federal public servant, who was last seen was in a purely federal facility,” he added.