In the regions of high military concentration, Army troops frequently violate the Mexican Constitution by infringing on the right to free transit and free expression, an explicit violation of Article 129 of the constitution. Additionally, the majority of Mexico's thirty-two states now have federal military participation in their civilian police command structures. In some areas, soldiers are even administering social services such as public assistance and literacy programs, which increases their control over the community. Rebel insurgencies, urban crime, and growing drug trafficking have been used to justify unwarranted police and army sweeps and arrests in urban and rural areas. In fact, not only have government officials been co-participants in the unconstitutional operations, but some have gone so far as to support the development of paramilitary groups, which maintain a climate of terror in indigenous communities that oppose the government.
Militarization exacts an enormous human cost.
In recent years hundreds have died as result of armed conflicts in Mexico with military or government-backed paramilitary forces causing an overwhelming majority of these deaths. As Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented in their most recent reports on Mexico, cases of torture and disappearances are steadily rising. The growing violence and human rights abuses on the part of army and local security forces have led both of these prominent human rights organizations to conclude that Mexico has become one of the worst abusers of human rights in the western hemisphere. The gravest results of the militarization of Mexico have surfaced in the Southern states of Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Chiapas, where the large majority of military actions have occurred. In Chiapas, since the Zapatista uprising of 1994 and the ensuing military occupation of the highlands region, hundreds have died, tens of thousands have fled their homes and many more have been forced to live their lives in constant fear.