The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Queen welcomes Mexican president to UK
THE Q U E EN ha s welcomed the President of Mexico to the UK amid pomp and pageantry on Horse Guards Parade.
Enrique Peña Nieto and his wife, Angelica Rivera, joined the monarch, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prime Minister David Cameron in Whitehall at the start of the three-day state visit.
As Mr Peña Nieto and Ms Rivera arrived with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, a royal salute of 41 guns was fired in nearby Green Park by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
Humanrightscampaigners are using Mr Pe ñ a Nieto’s visit to highlight whatAmnesty International UK has described as “outof- control” torture in Mexico.
The embattled leader has faced growing pressure and public unrest amid anger over the handling of the abduction and apparent murder of 43 trainee teachers by corrupt police in league with gang members.
The students’ disappearance in Ayotzinapa in September sparked weeks of protests across Mexico against corruption and violence.
Amnesty has reported a six-fold increase in the number of reported torture cases in Mexico in the past decade.
The u p s u rg e coincided with has the country’s nine-year-long “war on drugs”, which has also seen more than 100,000 killings and some 22,000 disappearances, the human rights group said.
Downing Street said Mr Cameron will raise human rights issues in his talks with Mr Peña Nieto during a working lunch Downing Street.
Mr Cameron’s official spokesman said: “You can expect the Prime Minister to raise concerns that have arisen with regard to human rights and the judicial system in Mexico.
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“We have done so before and will continue to do that.
“We will do that in the spirit of collaboration that we have with the Mexican government and the Mexican authorities.”
Mr Peña Nieto, 48, came to power in 2012, representing the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which ruled Mexico for 71 years until 2000.
He vowed to focus on curbing violence and insisted he would not make pacts with organised crime.