Human rights fears raised; 7 found dead in Cuernavaca

As Mexico continues to prosecute its war against drug cartels, human-rights groups in the country are concerned over the government's conduct.
Representatives of 20 such groups voiced their concerns during a meeting of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights -- a subgroup of the Organization of American States -- in Washington, DC on Tuesday, El Universal reported.
"In Mexico we are living under a state of emergency, but a state of emergency has not been decreed," said Marie Claire Acosta of the Network of Defenders of Human Rights and Families of Disappeared Persons in the Northern Mexican States.
Among the specific practices criticized by the human-rights groups were arbitrary detentions, torture and harassment allegedly committed by forces of the state -- including the military. Many of the accused violations occurred in the northern states of Mexico.
Representatives of the government were present at the meeting and vowed that the nation remains committed to human rights.
Felipe de Jesus Zamora, undersecretary of Legal Issues and Human Rights, said that "the struggle for security is the same as the struggle for human rights," and that the national strategy against organized crime employs a "strict respect" for human rights.
Seven dead in Cuernavaca
The press (including La Prensa and La Union de Morelos) is covering the horrific discovery of seven bodies -- six men and one woman -- in a car in Temixco (near Cuernavaca, Morelos) on Monday morning.
Reports state that a "narco-message" was found on a card among the slain, claiming that the victims had made anonymous calls to the military and threatening that the same fate would befall two captains -- "Barrales" and "Castillo." It was signed "El CDG."
The bodies were found inside a wheat-colored Honda Civic near the Hotel Paris Burgos in the Las Brisas estate. Their hands and feet were tied, and they showed signs of torture. The victims were apparently killed by gunfire. Four were in their 20s -- one was the son of the writer and poet Javier Sicilia -- and the other three were in their 40s. One report stated that the previous night, the victims left a party and went to a dive bar, "La Rana Cruda," after which they were tortured and assassinated and their bodies dumped at the hotel.