Mexico Senate ratifies soldier as attorney general

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (Reuters) -- The Mexican Senate ratified on Thursday the controversial appointment of a career soldier as attorney general, despite rights groups' concerns about his ability to reconcile military loyalties with law enforcement.

Retired Brig. Gen. Rafael Macedo, the nation's first attorney general drawn from the ranks of the military, is arguably the most controversial member of President Vicente Fox's new government.

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"We will act at the Attorney General's Office (PGR) in strict accordance with the law and with full respect for the fundamental rights of all Mexicans," Macedo told reporters following his ratification to head the nation's key crime-fighting agency.

The Senate voted 93-15 to ratify the appointment, with the entire bloc of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) opposing the nomination.

"The Army exists to protect security not to perform the functions of the police," said PRD Senate leader Jesus Ortega.

Since his election last July, Fox of the National Action Party (PAN), has been under pressure from rights groups to curtail the army's role in the justice system and improve Mexico's weak human rights record. They allege the military's involvement in the drugs and crime fight is to blame for most abuses.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said in a visit to Mexico last weekend that she had raised concerns with Fox, on behalf of human rights groups, "that he was appointing an attorney general who is from the military."

Macedo, 50, a lawyer and former chief prosecutor in the military, has fought for decades to uphold the law in the Mexican armed forces, becoming known as a vigorous crusader against illicit links between the army and drug traffickers.

In recent years, as the Mexican military was prodded by Washington to become more involved in the war on drugs, Macedo spearheaded a purge of corrupt officers with alleged links to powerful drug trafficking cartels.

Most recently, he ordered the arrest in August of two Mexican generals with alleged links to the powerful Juarez Drug Cartel, once run by the infamous Amado Carrillo Fuentes, known as the "Lord of the Skies."

That record seems to fit the profile of a crime-fighter for Fox, who ousted the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after 71 years in power and pledged to crack down on government corruption upon taking office last Friday.

But Macedo's record has been questioned by rights activists, especially his prosecution of jailed Gen. Jose Francisco Gallardo Rodriguez, who is viewed by Amnesty International and others as a prisoner of conscience.

Gallardo was imprisoned for theft and desertion shortly after calling for the military to establish an independent, civilian ombudsman to monitor human rights abuses. Macedo drew up the raft of charges against him.

"Macedo's presence as (military) attorney general has meant in some cases the negation of justice," the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights said in a letter opposing the nomination.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Presidency of the Republic of Mexico
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Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI)

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