CAT/C/75 page 7 on 2 July 2000, since such a visit could be used for political ends by groups with an interest in the electoral contest. Furthermore, the new administration would not be in place before November 2000. While agreeing that it might not be appropriate to visit the country during the electoral period, the Committee members said that they did not think it would be appropriate either to postpone their visit until after the installation of the new administration. They suggested, therefore, that the visit should take place in August 2000. They emphasized that the authorities should not view the visit as anything negative: it formed part of the process and was a means of gaining the most objective and well-founded opinion possible concerning the actual state of affairs in the country. 15. On 30 January 2001, the Government invited the Committee members to visit the country. The members suggested a visit between 23 August and 12 September 2001; the Government accepted those dates. In the mean time, the Committee had designated another of its members, Mr. Ole Vedel Rasmussen, to take part in the visit along with the two designated previously. In the end, Mr. Silva Henriques Gaspar was prevented by personal reasons from taking part in the visit. The Committee members were accompanied by two members of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Carmen Rosa Rueda Castañón, the Committee Secretary, and Ms. Mercedes Morales Fernández. III. VISIT TO MEXICO FROM 23 AUGUST TO 12 SEPTEMBER 2001 A. Activities of the Committee members during the visit 16. During their stay in Mexico the Committee members visited the Federal District, where they held discussions with the following officials: the President and judges of the Supreme Court; the Federal Director of Public Security; the Attorney-General of the Republic; the Director of Public Security of the Government of the Federal District; the Federal District Attorney-General; the Military Prosecutor-General; the President and board of inspectors of the National Human Rights Commission; the President and inspectors of the Federal District Human Rights Commission; and the Interdepartmental Commission to Monitor Mexico’s International Human Rights Commitments. They also had discussions with representatives of non-governmental organizations and visited Mexico City’s Reclusorio Norte prison. They also met the Human Rights and Civic Protection Attorney of the State of Baja California, who was in Mexico City at the time. Lastly, they visited the La Palma Federal Centre for Social Rehabilitation (Almoloya de Juárez, Mexico State). 17. They also visited the States of Tamaulipas, Oaxaca and Guerrero. In Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas, they met a number of State officials: the Director of Judicial Police, the Attorney-General, the Deputy Director of Expert Services, the President and three members of the Supreme Court and the President of the State human rights commission. In the towns of Reynosa and Miguel Alemán they had discussions with representatives of non-governmental organizations and visited the social rehabilitation centres;5 in Reynosa they also visited the premises of the judicial and preventive police and met the Commander of the Eighth Military Zone. 18. In Oaxaca, they met the President and a number of members of the High Court, the Director of Public Security and Civic Protection, the Director of Prevention and Social Rehabilitation, the Attorney-General, the Director of Judicial Police and officials of the Forensic