Students Accuse Police of Abuse in San Miguel de Allende; Municipal Government Denies
While many were celebrating, three students report that they were taken from their hotel, detained and then taken to the San Miguel de Allende jail where they were beaten by municipal police officers on the evening of Sunday, September 15th.
The Municipal Government released a statement on September 17th which claims the police only followed protocol and admit no wrongdoing. The official statement made no mention of how the students received any of their bruises or injuries nor did it mention any maltreatment when the students were taken to the jail. They paint a picture of a routine event, while the students tell a very different story.
Three students from the Autonomous University of Querétaro (UAQ) say they were physically assaulted by municipal police officers in San Miguel de Allende after they visited the city this weekend.
In an interview given by the University Presence news broadcasting on Radio UAQ 89.5 FM and channel 24 of TvUAQ, the students explained aggressions they were subjected to and the consequences of the blows. Each are seen with a neck brace and clear signs of physical trauma to their faces.
Mánelick Cruz Blanco, Ramses Cruz Blanco and Alitzel Hernández Blanco crossed the bridge to head to the national holiday of September 15th at the Live Aqua Urban Resort. They state that they were taken from the hotel where they were staying and were taken to the local jail. They say they were insulted, beaten and one of them had his tied hands and feet tied, all for no apparent reason.
In the interview, they say,
“In a clear act of discrimination, the hotel security took my brother and handed him over to the police. When my cousin and I realized, we went out of the hotel and the police were beating him. We asked why they were detaining him; instead of answering, they began to beat us too. At no point did they read us our rights or give us a reason for why they were detaining us.
They brought us to the San Miguel jail and continued to beat us. They bound my brother’s hands and feet.
We have opened a case with the State of Guanajuato and my brother has made his declaration. My cousin and I have will make ours shortly. We will also open a human rights case.”
“We had every right to be at the hotel for the event. We had paid; our family had stepped out about 15 minutes prior and then returned nearly immediately; they were not informed of what had happened. The municipal police did not allow us to contact anyone for at least 12 hours.”
Ramses was beaten badly, left with lesions on his face, a black eye, an injury in his neck and pain in his back from having his hands and feet bound for 3 hours. His back has many bruises and his wrists show marks from being restrained. “The police acted very rudely towards me, they insulted me and never allowed me to use the restroom.”
The attacked go on to say, on social media, that one of the victims was tortured by the police. The rector of the UAQ, Teresa García Gasca, said that legal advice will be provided to young university students, who went to San Miguel de Allende to celebrate the national holidays.
The university official reproached the attitude of the police and called for the municipal authorities to exemplarily sanction the abuse of authority. “We will be closely watching that these young people can utilize the legal department to asses their situation and advise them on legal matters,” said García Gasca.
The San Miguel police force is currently headed by Rolando Eugenio Hidalgo Eddy, former secretary of Municipal Public Security of Querétaro, during the first part of Marcos Aguilar Vega’s government (2015-2018).
The incident comes just 10 days after the local San Miguel government promoted their “Aqui No” (Not here) campaign,” a so-called social movement of civil resistance against crime and bad habits that lead to social breakdown”.
The Municipal Government tells a different story, claiming that the students were intoxicated and trying to enter an area that was already closed. After this article was published, on September 17th, the San Miguel Municipal Government released the following statement:
On September 17th, the Municipal Government released the following statement:
“Following the complaint filed by three students from Queretaro about an alleged abuse of authority committed against them by elements of the Ministry of Public Security, the Municipal Government of San Miguel de Allende releases the following facts:
1) On [the early morning of] September 16th, a report was received by the Emergency Call Center, which explained that outside of a hotel located in the downtown area [Live Aqua Hotel] there was a commotion caused by young people seeking to enter a place that It had already been closed.
2) Outside of this establishment, three young people were found, who were apparently intoxicated when asked to leave, reacted aggressively against the police.
3) One of the young detainees hit a police officer in the head, who was taken to a hospital and received three days of disability.
4) When not following the police instruction and, on the contrary, behaving violently, the three young people were arrested and transferred to the municipal jail, where the routine examinations were carried out resulting in a high degree of blood alcohol content in some of them.
5) The Directorate of Public Security, Municipal Transit and Civil Protection performed only what the protocols establish and strongly denies having committed an abuse of authority against the alleged aggrieved.
6) In order to clarify this matter, the Municipal Government of San Miguel de Allende will make available to the corresponding instances the evidence that they consider.
The Municipal Government of San Miguel de Allende restates its commitment to the truth and good actions of public servants in order to build more security.”
The official statement is quite vague. It says that the students “did not follow police instruction” but did not explain further. It places all of the blame on the students, citing failure to comply and intoxication by alcohol.
Furthermore, it claims the police only followed protocol and accept no wrongdoing.
The official statement made no mention of how the students received any of their bruises or injuries nor did it mention any maltreatment when the students were taken to the jail. They paint a picture of a routine event, while the students tell a very different story.
We will continue to update this story as more information becomes available. We leave it up to the reader to decide which version of the story they believe.
Information via Notimex; parts of interview translated by The San Miguel Herald
September 17: Article revised to include the statement by the Municipal Government.
