Mexico arrests former police commander in 1974 disappearances of 6 alleged guerrilla members

ASSOCIATED PRESS

4:57 p.m. October 20, 2006

MEXICO CITY – Special prosecutors have arrested a former commander of Mexico's now-disbanded secret police in connection with the 1974 disappearance of six alleged guerrilla members, officials said Friday.

Jorge Bustos, a commander with the defunct Federal Security Directorate, was arrested Thursday in Mexico City and sent to a local jail where he's awaiting charges, said Jose Luis Contreras, a spokesman for a federal special prosecutor investigating past crimes.

Contreras said Bustos arrested six members of the Brigada Lacandona, a 1970s guerrilla faction, who disappeared after Hidalgo state authorities turned them over to the federal intelligence agency. The fate of the men remains unknown.

Throughout the 1960s and '70s, small bands of Marxist guerrillas attacked the army and agents of the Federal Security Directorate. The government responded with a so-called “dirty war” to weed out suspected rebels and activists accused of supporting them.

The National Human Rights Commission has documented the disappearance of at least 275 suspected rebels.