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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | March 2007 
Mexico Exhumes Elderly Woman's Body
 Associated Press
| | Veracruz state Gov. Fidel Herrera confirmed the body was exhumed on Friday and pledged "a thorough investigation." |
Veracruz, Mexico - Specialists from the National Human Rights Commission exhumed the body of a 73-year-old woman allegedly raped by four Mexican soldiers last month, amid claims that state investigators committed errors in handling the case.
New tests were conducted by two forensic pathologists and a criminologist from the commission, said Nohemi Quirasco, human rights chief for the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, on Friday.
Prosecutors say Ernestina Ascensio Rosario, an Indian, was bound, beaten and sodomized on Feb. 25 in the mountain town of Soledad Atzompa, about 120 miles east of Mexico City, in a case that has outraged Indian groups in the state.
The Defense Department said Tuesday its investigators have found no evidence that the soldiers committed the crime, but said they are cooperating with state prosecutors. The soldiers remain jailed.
The National Human Rights Commission requested permission to exhume the body after local investigators concluded that a blow to the head and a fractured hip, not internal injuries as a result of the alleged sexual abuse, were the cause of death, Quirasco said. She said they failed to take samples from the bloodstains on the victim's clothing.
Veracruz state Gov. Fidel Herrera confirmed the body was exhumed on Friday and pledged "a thorough investigation."
Soledad Atzompa Mayor Javier Perez has demanded that soldiers be withdrawn from the predominantly Indian region. The army has since dismantled three nearby military encampments. |
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