"Torture Museum" message:
Human rights awareness should be high priority
for Manzanillo citizens
by Susan Dearing
As you walk into the museum, the hidden sound
system emits screams of agony and cries of suffering; whips cracking and music
typical of a funeral dirge from the dark days of
the Inquisition. Add to that eerie lighting, and graphic dioramas built to shock
the senses, and you have Manzanillo's new Museum of Perversity.
(There are many dioramas, but it would
spoil and desensitize your experience if you were to see all of them in
this article.)
Please click on photos to enlarge
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The Judas Cradle,
a terrible medieval torture where the victim would be placed on top of a
pyramid-like seat. The victim's feet were tied to each other in a way that
moving one leg would force the other to move as well-- increasing pain.
The triangular-shaped end of the Judas Cradle was inserted in the victim's
anus or vagina. This torture could last, anywhere from a few hours to
complete days. |
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"Instruments of Torture" have
always held the interest of millions of visitors and the press, not only for the
great visual impact, but also for its clear message against the violation of
human rights. Such violations have given rise to a great amount of resistance
throughout the centuries and in the most diverse cultural contexts, and
unfortunately continue to be very topical today.
Gary Hirsch, owner of the "Museo de Perversidad" (Museum of
Perversity) wants everyone to understand that the museum is meant as a wake-up call. As
a practicing attorney for many years in Manzanillo, he has had to deal with
serious human rights issues, especially rights of those accused of a criminal
act. In order to bring human rights issues to the forefront here in Mexico, he feels that the
public needs to see what it used to be like compared to what it is now.
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Gary Hirsch, attorney and founder of the "Museo de Perversidad"
practicing criminal law in Manzanillo, a human rights advocate |
But "now" in Mexico isn't perfect, he states, but through the use
of the museum, he hopes that people--all people--will get behind a movement to
promote human rights in this country. For example, he tells a story about a
person accused of theft. The police have the right to hold a suspect for 48
hours for "questioning," the object being to get him to
"confess." During that time the suspect has no right to an attorney,
and many times, if his family learns of his detainment and tries to contact a
lawyer, the suspect will "disappear"--meaning the police, when
contacted, deny they know where he is, or that he is being held. This gives
them time to extract a confession, which Hirsh says is often obtained by
torture.
What is torture today? Certainly not the rack, or the "iron
maiden," but Hirsch says putting a plastic bag over a suspect's head and
cutting off his air is certainly right up there with waterboarding at Gitmo. He
says that if the accused can hold out for the first 48 hours (that means not
confessing after repeated suffocation torture), he can see an attorney and be
legally represented, if he has the money. There is hardly ever a pro bono case
in Mexico.
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Plastic bag torture, used in countries throughout the world by the
police. Hirsch says it is commonly used in Mexico.
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Slave trade in Mexico
in the 1400s
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Hirsch's commitment, which he would
like to share with all who are interested in combating violence, torture, and
capital punishment against living beings, is to show how throughout the
centuries humans have been tortured, both in body and soul, in the name of the
truth.
According to the International Council
for Torture Victims:
"Although torture is prohibited in
Mexican law, it continues to be a serious problem. In 2001, two designated
members of the UN Committee against Torture found that the Mexican police
'commonly used torture and resorted to it on a systematic basis as a method of
criminal investigation, readily available whenever required in order to advance
the procedure'."
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Water or hot oil torture
during the Inquisition
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Whipping of slaves and those accused of crimes, part of the Mexican
Inquisition.
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Despite the prohibition of using
confessions and information obtained under torture as evidence, the courts in
Mexico frequently recognize statements and confessions obtained under torture.
Confessions are the primary evidence in many criminal convictions and since
torture generates confessions, torture hereby fulfils a significant function
within the Mexican criminal justice system.
The other problem, Hirsch says, is
that, here in Colima, there are no forensic labs like you see on the popular TV
show, "CSI." There's no way to take fingerprints, study ballistics,
DNA, no way to detect poison, or process evidence of a crime. Colima cops don't
even have "Luminol"! So, unless the police actually catch the suspect
with the goods, their only alternative is to coerce a confession.
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Often, women were
stripped naked for crimes
such as witchcraft
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Hirsch says that the museum's dramatic
exhibits are meant to "shock people."
"I want to shake the people up,
tell them, 'You have rights now,'" Hirsch says emphatically. "If
people don't learn their rights and fight for them, it could go back to the way
it was," he believes, and he also wants to deliver a message to the
authorities to invest more money to solve this situation. "We need labs, we
need our officials to be more educated, our police to be better trained,"
Hirsch continues. He has invested more than $180,000 USD in the "Museum of Perversity"
to prove his point.
It took two years to reproduce the
torture instruments, meticulously copied by local artisans. Then more than 60 mannequins
were made of fiberglass by a local artist, and set up in dioramas throughout
the museum. Wall plaques in Spanish explain what the visitor is seeing, so since
our audience for this article is largely non-Spanish-speaking, the messages on
the plaques will be explained in the following articles, as will the methods of
torture, so the readers/museum visitors will be able to interpret what the
exhibits are portraying.
There are several excellent articles on
the Inquisition, which are listed below, so there is no need for this author to
reiterate what has already been researched and written by learned scholars. You will find
it very helpful to read these articles beforehand, and then, when you visit the
museum, the dioramas will make more sense.
"Mexican
Inquisition History"
"How
the Spanish Inquisition Worked" by Shanna Freeman
"Rare
documents shed light on grisly Mexican Inquisition" by Leslie Katz
To learn about Medieval Torture Devices, click here.
Excellent explanations of methods of torture with drawings of torture devices.
The Museo de Perversidad is located downtown Manzanillo behind
the new 4-story parking building on Av. Juarez, #160, one block from the
Presidencia Municipal (City Hall) across the street from Banamex. The museum
is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Phone (314) 332-5599 (no
English spoken). Visit the web site at www.manzanillomuseo.com.
Admission is 50 pesos (about $4 USD).
Susan Dearing is the owner of www.gomanzanillo.com
and has written 2 tourist and retirement guidebooks: "Manzanillo & the State of
Colima: Facts, Tips & Day Trips" and "Barra de Navidad
& Melaque: Facts, Tips & Day Trips."
Note: Hirsch says that although the
suffocation technique is often used to extract a confession, foreigners
(tourists and residents) are treated differently, and need not worry about being
mistreated in the hands of the police. Cops are told to be lenient with
foreigners, so unless a tourist commits an act of violence or is caught with
drugs, the police will let most offenses slide. The main part of the populace
affected by the routine police torture tactics is the poor and uneducated. (Of
course, it is those same people who are usually thieves, and/or addicts,
committing crimes to support a drug habit.) It should also be noted that most
suspects caught by police do not come from this state, but from poorer states,
such as Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Hidalgo and Michoacan. The majority of
suspects that are arrested are guilty and have been caught with the "goods," as
evidenced by articles on the police page in the local newspapers. Mexico is not
the only country faced with accusations of human rights violations.
Reading material,
Amnesty
International.
Extended reading:
Human Rights Watch.
