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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2006 
Ex-Mexico Leader Cleared of Genocide
 AFP
| | Members of the students movement of Mexico 68 and Tlatelolco massacre survivors display a banner outside former Mexican President Luis Echeverria's residence in Mexico City, July 5, 2006, where he is under house arrest for a 1968 student massacre. Echeverria was cleared of genocide charges on Saturday. The sign reads, 'October 2, We don't forget.' (Jorge Silva/Reuters) |
Former Mexican President Luis Echeverria was cleared of genocide charges on Saturday for his role in a 1968 massacre, in a blow to efforts to prosecute former leaders for rights abuses.
Echeverria, 84, was charged with genocide a week ago and was placed under house arrest, but on Saturday a judge ruled the statute of limitations had expired and he could not be put on trial, defense lawyer Juan Velasquez said.
Velasquez said he expected a government special prosecutor to appeal the ruling, but he predicted Saturday's ruling would end efforts to put Echeverria on trial.
"It's over. I would say everything around 1968 is about to end," he told Reuters. "I have no doubt the prosecutor will appeal, but I also have no doubt that the appeal is just a formalism for the final failure."
Echeverria was Mexico's president from 1970 to 1976, at the height of a so-called dirty war against suspected left-wing radicals.
He was interior minister in charge of national security when security forces stormed a student rally in the capital on October 2, 1968, days before the Mexico City Olympics began.
The tragedy remains a potent symbol of years of violence when the government cracked down on student radicals in Mexico City and small guerrilla groups in the countryside. |
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