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By Chris Covert
Ines Fernandez Ortega has been seeking justice for a rape she has maintained was perpetrated by Mexican Army soldiers ten years ago this month.
The case was presumably closed last week when Mexican Secretario de Gobernación (SEGOB) or interior minister, Alexandro Poire publicly apologized on behalf of the government of Felipe Calderon Hinojosa for the assault.
In nearly every case when government officials offer an apology to groups of individuals for past grievances, it is for grievances in which the facts are undisputed and sometimes when, aside from compensation, it is the only thing a government can offer. Perpetrators of human rights atrocities who have passed on cannot be brought to justice because they have died and their families cannot be held liable.
The rape case of Ines Fernandez Ortega matches none of these cases, yet despite that, an apology is the only semblance of justice that can be offered by the Mexican federal government, in or out of court.