For a year the government of Mexico asked Juan Méndez, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, to reconsider affirming that there is "generalized torture" in the country. Mexico's diplomacy regrets failing to convince the rapporteur to be more objective and accurate in his report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, submitted on March 9. 

At a press conference, Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo, Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of Mexico's Foreign Ministry said: "For a year we asked the rapporteur, both directly and in writing, to reconsider using that term and to document the complaints received during his visit to Mexico." 

He added that the rapporteur himself admitted in his presentation to the Human Rights Council that his methodology was "rudimentary and unsatisfactory on many levels." 

Gómez added that this is the first discrepancy between Mexico and a U.N. rapporteur. 

He explained that Mexico is concerned about the term used by the rapporteur in his report because of its international legal implications and the negative impact it can have on the evaluation of the problems faced by the country. 

According to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the International Criminal Court, torture can be considered a "crime against humanity" when the State commits it as part of a widespread or systematic intentional attack against civilian population. 

"A report of this nature... obviously has negative effect on the evaluation of Mexico's situation," he added. 

The rapporteur was in Mexico in April and early May 2014. 

Last week Foreign Minister José Antonio Meade supported the statements made by Gómez at a meeting in the Senate, where he said that the rapporteur had been "irresponsible and unethical" when he made the "unsubstantiated" claim that torture was widespread in Mexico. 

Yesterday, Gómez Robledo said that many of the recommendations made by Méndez are valuable and that some of them have already been implemented. He added that in the next weeks Mexico will work with the United States and the European Union on human rights issues, which proves that Mexico is willing to cooperate at international level on this subject.