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Cardenas, two police officers, and the chief of a police unit were detained and charged with
having worked with the Zetas to carry out robberies, acts of extortion, and kidnappings. 50
Family members of the victims recognized one of the people charged as the police officer
who had threatened them when they had traveled to Cardenas in October seeking
information on their missing relatives. 51 They reported this to the public prosecutor’s office,
but at the time of writing, no officers had been charged in the crime. 52
Enforced Disappearances by Federal Police
Human Rights Watch found strong evidence that 13 enforced disappearances were
carried out by federal police, including that of teenagers Roberto Iván Hernández García
and Yudith Yesenia Rueda García, both 17. 53 Hernández and Rueda, boyfriend and
girlfriend, were at the home of Rueda’s grandmother on March 11, 2011, in Monterrey,
Nuevo León, when at approximately 9 p.m. armed men in masks broke down the door. 54
The eight men were wearing uniforms that said “Federal Police,” according to Rueda’s
grandmother and aunt, who were both home at the time, and said they were looking for
someone nicknamed “Piña.” When the family said there was no one by that name in the
house, the men in police uniforms brought a detainee in handcuffs into the home and
walked him over to Hernández and Rueda. 55 One of the uniformed men gestured to
Hernández and asked the detainee: “Is it him?” “No,” the man answered. Then one
uniformed man said to another, “Well, if you want to, take them.” With that, the officers
removed Hernández and Rueda with force from the house—beating Hernández as they
went and pulling Rueda by her hair—and loaded them into cars waiting outside. 56
According to Rueda’s grandmother and aunt, there were two pick-up trucks and a third
50 “12 Suspected ‘Zetas’ Detained in San Luis Potosí” (Detienen a 12 presuntos “Zetas” en San Luis Potosí), Notimex,
October 27, 2011, http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldesanluis/notas/n2286232.htm (accessed December 18, 2012).
51 Human Rights Watch interview with Martin Faz Mora and Ricardo Sánchez García, human rights defenders accompanying
families in the case, San Luis Potosí, México, September 18, 2012.
52 Ibid.
53 For the purposes of this report, “federal police” refers to officials from the Federal Police (Policía Federal) and federal
judicial police. The Policía Federal force was part of the Ministry of Public Security (Secretaría de Seguridad Pública) until the
ministry was dissolved in January 2013, at which time the police were placed under the authority of the Ministry of the
Interior. Federal judicial police—ministeriales federales—include those who worked for the now defunct Federal Investigation
Agency (Agencia Federal de Investigacion, or AFI), which was dissolved in 2009.
54 Nuevo León State Prosecutor’s Office, Testimony of Claudia Irasema García Rosas (Comparecencia de Claudia Irasema
García Rosas), Averiguación Previa 157/2012-I-2, June 1, 2012.
55 Human Rights Watch interview with family members of victims, Monterrey, Nuevo León, June 5, 2012. The identity of the
individuals has been withheld out of concern for their safety.
56 Ibid.
MEXICO’S DISAPPEARED 28