Top Mexican Official Apologizes Over Disturbing Video of Soldiers Torturing Woman
Mexico’s top defense official issued a public apology this weekend over an incredibly disturbing video showing two soldiers and a federal agent torturing a woman.
This incident reportedly took place in early 2015 but only got attention after the video was posted to YouTube a few days ago.
The video has since been pulled, but Vice reported on the video last week and described exactly what happened (CAUTION: NSFW details):
The video… shows a young woman being constantly abused as she sits crying on a dirt floor, with her hands tied behind her back.
It begins when her head is covered by a shirt and one of the soldiers, a woman, is yelling questions about a person named María. Moments later, the federal police officer, who is also a woman, rolls a plastic bag over the detainee’s head and threatens her with electric shocks or waterboarding. At one point the female soldier points a gun to her head, asking “do you remember now?”
After the video caused huge controversy in Mexico, the nation’s army said the two soldiers featured were arrested and are facing serious charges. And according to the Associated Press, while the woman in the video has not been publicly identified, she has reportedly been in prison for over a year on weapons charges.
Defense minister General Salvador Cienfuegos publicly addressed the matter this past weekend and offered an apology:
“In the name of all of us who make up this great national institution, I offer my heartfelt apology to all in society wronged by this impermissible event,” Cienfuegos said…
“Bad members of our institution besmirch the honorable behavior of thousands of women and men in military uniform,” he added.
“Although isolated, (such incidents) damage in a major way our image and the prestige we have worthily earned.”
[image via screengrab]
— —
