Human Rights Panel Uncovers Police Abuses

International investigators announced Wednesday that they recorded numerous accounts of police torture, illegal detention and lawlessness in a recent tour of the troubled state of Guerrero, where thousands of army troops have been deployed in a monthlong search for a new, self-styled rebel army.

The human rights commission of the Organization of American States warned at a news conference here that the army’s growing presence in Guerrero and elsewhere in Mexico could lead to more human rights abuses.

“Based on its experience, the International Commission on Human Rights would like to call attention to the consequences of using armed forces in civilian security functions,” said commission president Claudio Grossman. He added that it “could cause serious human rights violations due to the military nature and training of those forces.”