E/CN.4/1992/17 page 51 152. On 30 January 1991 the Government replied to the Special Rapporteur's letter of 15 October 1990 (E/CN.4/1991/17, para. 113) and said that torture and ill-treatment of detainees were not regular practices in Mexico; on the contrary, any complaint of violation of the laws in force on the subject was a ground for investigation and criminal proceedings by the competent authorities. Concerning the case of Armando Prado Mena in particular, the Government reported that three officers of the Judicial Police of the State of Chihuahua had been formally charged with the offences of homicide and abuse of authority. In the case of Ubaldo Santillán Aguilar, the Government said that two Judicial Police officers were being tried for aggravated homicide and abuse of authority. Finally, in the cases of Edgardo Canseco Ruiz, Octavio Rendón Pérez, Irma Verónica Guerra Guerrero and Manuel Huerta López, the Government reported that an investigation was being conducted; in the latter two cases, members of the Federal Judicial Police had been temporarily suspended. 153. On 17 April 1991 the Special Rapporteur sent a letter to the Government of Mexico transmitting information received to the effect that torture was practised throughout the country and in nearly all branches of the police (in particular the Federal Judicial Police and its Narcotics Division) and the armed forces. The methods allegedly used ranged from beatings, death threats and other forms of psychological intimidation to more sophisticated techniques designed not to leave any marks. Torture was allegedly used to intimidate or punish members of the political opposition and also as a method of extracting confessions and obtaining money from the prisoners or their families. Particular mention was made of the following cases: (a) Rubén Oropeza Hurtado, aged 39, an inmate of the La Mesa State Prison in Tijuana, Baja California del Norte. He was detained without a warrant in June 1990 by officers of the Federal Judicial Police at Tijuana and subjected to torture which, according to the doctors, left him with a ruptured diaphragm for which he had to undergo an emergency operation on 14 July 1990; (b) In December 1990 Federal Judicial Police officers arrested Juan José González Ordonez in Ciudad Juárez, State of Chihuahua, and tortured him in order to make him sign a statement admitting that he had killed three persons in order to steal their belongings; (c) On 26 December 1990, 19-year-old Juvencio Dante Morales died after being detained by officers of the municipal police and charged with smuggling by the Treasury Police. An initial, unofficial autopsy conducted at the family's request showed that the body bore numerous signs of blows, five of which were considered to be fatal. The official medical report prepared by the services of the State Attorney-General's Office, however, made no reference to this fact. A second autopsy confirmed that Mr. Morales had been tortured, and four Customs Police officers were arrested. Three of them were subsequently released, and one was charged with torture and incitement to suicide. No information has been received as to whether the trial is over or the outcome; (d) Information was also received on ill-treatment of many inhabitants of the town of Aguililla, Michoacán, by the Federal Judicial Police. In particular, it was reported that as a result of the detention of