Numerous decorations and more than 30 years of service to the Mexican army were not enough to spare General Jose Gallardo a prison sentence in the country he served. The 1993 publication of his master’s degree thesis, which called attention to human rights violations committed by military personnel, caused one of the youngest Brigadier Generals in Mexico's history to spend nine years in a Mexican brig.
Gallardo's work, "The Need for a Military Ombudsman in Mexico," describes human rights violations by the Mexican armed forces and recommends the establishment of an office to investigate these abuses. Originally held on unsubstantiated charges, Gallardo served nearly a third of his 28-year sentence - a grim, but not a unique fate for human rights defenders in Mexico.
Often the victims of smear campaigns, spurious criminal charges and state-sponsored surveillance operations, the plight of this group became even worse in the fall of 2001 with the murder of human rights attorney Digna Ochoa and the accompanying threats against her peers. Jose Gallardo's wife and four children also suffered intimidation and harassment during his detention. Investigation and prosecution of these crimes has remained a low priority for the Mexican government, leaving those who work to protect the rights of their countrymen to do so at risk from both state authorities and criminal forces.
International attention to Gallardo's case, including calls for his release by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and an investigation by the Organization of American States, finally won Gallardo his freedom in February 2002. Despite his long incarceration, however, his outlook remains undeterred: "There is nothing else for us but to follow in this struggle."
