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The observation of human rights in Latin America still raises some questions. This is following the recent mass killing of civilians by the state security personnel yet the same go unpunished. The efforts put by the government are shoddy, irrelevant and incompetence is prevalent in dealing with cases regarding the human rights saga. The recent killing of more than 42 civilians, according to the official statement, in the Michoacán state of Mexico prove that the government is doing very little to rectify the matters.
The three-hour confrontation between the police and the civilians left a whopping 42 civilians dead while the police had a single causality. The shooting is said to have been prompted by the shooting heard in the civilians. The human right activists are raising a question as to the necessity of the use of that magnitude of the force. The human right watch has demanded a thorough and conclusive investigation into the matter to come up with a solution into the matter.
Similar cases involving extra-judicial killings and violation of human rights have been experienced in other countries including Brazil and Colombia. In Brazil, indigenous have been violated through discrimination in initiating development projects. In Colombia, extra-judicial killing is prevalent while the people behind it are protected by the state authorities. Witnesses are mistreated, threatened and in some extreme cases eliminated. The cases provided an incite into the region violation of human rights is prevalent.
The government official has been reportedly denied the claims that the police officer committed extra-judicial killings. The officers include Rubida Alejandro, the national security commissioner, and Galindo, the general police commissioner. The national human right commission, the office of the attorney general of the state of Michoacán and the federal attorney general office are investigating to unfold the happenings as they were. Witnesses into the matter suggest that most of the injuries sustained were related to head and in the faces. That is a prove that the officers intentions were to kill. Family members of those who died are also said to have reported similar claims, and the human rights group suspect more due to the systematic infliction of injuries to the civilians (Hrw.org, 2015).
The continued denial of human rights in the Latin America is raising an eye of international human right and activists toward the region. Tlatlaya case investigation scandal is not expected to be repeated in the Michoacán state killings. In that case, police were involved in extra-judicial killing by opening fire towards civilians in a warehouse resulting into killing of 22 civilians. To make the matter worse, the police beat, and tortured the remaining witnesses. This was to make them collaborate with their statement. Sexual harassment and comments were made toward them to make them recant statements in favor of the security officers. They were to make statements to the effect that the military was not involved in the actions.
The state prosecutors, who in their capacity are expected to help threatened the witnesses, threatened the witness in their hand and forced them to put a sign in documents whose content was never disclosed to them. The Michoacán state witnesses also are facing a similar fate and are not expecting the situation to change. The human right activists are demanding an independent forensic audit of the evidence to help in increasing credibility of the investigations (Human Rights in Latin America, 2015).
