EFE
November 11, 2001

MEXICO CITY - Mexican Gen. Francisco Gallardo, who has been in prison since 1993, on Friday accused President Vicente Fox of "covering up" human rights violations committed by high-ranking military officers.

Gallardo was sentenced to 28 years in prison on various charges after he proposed the creation of an ombudsman's office in the military to prevent abuses of power.

"I think Fox agreed not to dig up the past to end impunity in Mexico and this results in the covering up of a lot of things," he said in a press conference conducted from prison by telephone.

"The president ... is trying to cover up a number of human rights violations committed by the military. I think it was an agreement he made with high-ranking military officials," he noted.

Fox, of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), put an end to the 70-year control of the office by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) when he assumed the post almost a year ago.

"If the president does not create a Truth Commission, the pending cases will not be resolved, which will lead to more crime and violence that will make the country ungovernable," Gallardo said.

The Mexican National Human Rights Commission in 1999 joined with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission to call for Gallardo's release.

Amnesty International declared the general a "prisoner of conscience" in 1994.

Despite all of its promises to respect and defend human rights and recognize the role of the Inter-American Commission, Fox's government is showing it the same as its predecessors, according to Amnesty International.