The Annual Report 2016 of Amnesty International was presented on February 22, which states that in 2016 there was an acceleration of the
human rights crisis in Latin America. Countries like Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were among the hardest hit from abuse and impunity for human rights violations.
"The crisis is interconnected with everything going on in the region", said Erika Guevara-Rosas, director of Amnesty International for the Americas. "The violent actions of the security agencies and the lack of an effective response of the authorities to respect human rights, makes ways to address social problems in each country increasingly complex".
The case of Mexico, indicated by the report as one of the most serious, highlights that "impunity for torture and other ill-treatment remained almost absolute".
The prosecutor's office in this country reported that 4,715 cases are being studied for this type of abuse.
Another element that makes the Mexican case complex is the huge influx of immigrants it receives each year, because of its geographical proximity to the United States.
It is estimated that each year about 400,000 undocumented people cross the southern border of Mexico.
The document shows that up to October 2016 6,898 applications were submitted for asylum, but the refugee status was granted to only 2,162 people. 93 per cent of applications came from citizens of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.
"Mexico has one of the worst human rights crisis in the hemisphere. It counts the largest number of expulsions in the past two years: in 2016 alone about 150 thousand citizens of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were expelled", said Guevara-Rosas.
The report concluded by noting that, according to the Mexican government, at the end of 2016 29,917 persons were missing (22,414 men and 7,503 women) and 11 journalists were killed.