CAT/C/75 page 8 Medicine Service, the Commander of the Twenty-eighth Military Zone and the President and inspectors of the State human rights commission. They also had discussions with non-governmental organizations and visited the social rehabilitation centres at Ixcotel and Etla. 19. In Guerrero, they had discussions in the capital, Chilpancingo, with the President of the High Court, the Director of Public Security and Civic Protection, the Director of Prevention and Social Rehabilitation, the Attorney-General, the Commander of the Thirty-fifth Military Zone and the President and inspectors of the State human rights commission. They also had discussions with non-governmental organizations and visited the social rehabilitation centres at Chilpancingo, Acapulco and Iguala. B. General conditions in which the visit took place 20. Before starting their visit, the Committee members agreed with the authorities that it would take place according to the following principles: access to any place where there might be persons deprived of liberty; guaranteed access in all such places to all premises, not just cells; access to any written document that the members might feel it useful to consult, including registers of detainees; possibility of private conversations with anybody, including detainees and officials of detention centres, whom the members might wish to interview; possibility of returning to places of detention that had already been visited. 21. The Mexican Government supported the visit to the full and was very cooperative throughout. It respected the above principles and, both in the Federal District and in the States, took the measures necessary to enable the members to carry out their programme of work and, when necessary, to guarantee their security. As a result, the Committee members were able to visit places of detention at little (one or two hours’) or no notice. They were able to talk in private with all the detainees they asked to see. They were also able to hold unimpeded discussions with relatives, former detainees and representatives of non-governmental organizations. They informed all the people they spoke with of the purpose of their visit and of its confidential nature. IV. CHARACTERISTICS AND FREQUENCY OF CASES OF TORTURE 22. In order to determine the characteristics and frequency of cases of torture in Mexico, the Committee members took as their basis the following sources of information: • The testimony of alleged victims or their direct relatives; • Information from public agencies for the protection and defence of human rights; • Information from non-governmental human rights organizations; • Information from State and Federal governmental authorities. A. Testimony of alleged victims or their direct relatives 23. In the course of their visit to Mexico, the Committee members interviewed 91 detainees. These interviewees were selected according to two criteria: (1) information had already been received to the effect that they had been tortured; (2) it was apparent from medical and legal