MARK STEVENSON
 Associated Press

 MEXICO CITY -- In some of Mexico's poorest, most isolated communities, tens of
 thousands of soldiers are the law.

 It's often a brutal law, rarely answerable to anyone but the generals, say critics of
 Mexico's increasing use of troops to fight crime.

 U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, for instance,
 complained a few weeks ago about the use of military courts unconstrained by
 the civilian judicial system.

 Such allegations sting for Mexico's soldiers, who had a long tradition of staying
 out of politics and a reputation for being relatively free of corruption.

 Over the past five years, though, the government has turned to one of Latin
 America's most loyal armies to cope with drug gangs and even street crime,
 problems that had overwhelmed often-corrupt and inefficient police.

 Putting the military into a police role has brought an unwelcome spotlight for the
 once almost cloistered army, tarring it with increasing allegations of brutality and
 corruption.

 POLITICAL CRITICISM

 Leading politicians have joined human rights groups in complaining about the use
 of soldiers for everything from rural anti-drug patrols to directing traffic in Mexico
 City.

 One strategy has been to dress up soldiers as police officers. While phasing out
 the use of troops in its anti-drug police, the government has transformed nearly
 5,000 soldiers into an anti-riot squad of the newly created Federal Preventative
 Police.

 In recent years, it also temporarily drafted soldiers into Mexico City's police force
 to patrol the streets in an anti-corruption campaign.

 Opposition Congressman Gonzalo Rojas claims those arrangements violate
 Mexico's constitution, which says soldiers cannot arrest civilians unless police
 specifically ask them to, nor can the army hold civilians.

 In the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, ``Daily life is becoming militarized. Soldiers
 detain and interrogate civilians, despite the fact they don't have the authority to do
 that,'' said Rafael Juarez of the Jesuit-run Miguel A. Pro Human Rights Center.

 ARMY `UNTOUCHABLE'

 ``It appears that the army is untouchable.''

 Robinson, the U.N. rights official, said villagers she met during a five-day tour of
 the southern state of Chiapas told her that ``human rights violations are not
 investigated, or are sent to a military court instead of a civilian one.''

 Robinson acknowledged the army presence in Chiapas is complicated because
 the restive region is home to a guerrilla movement. But she recommended some
 troops be returned to their barracks, civilian trials be held for soldiers charged with
 rights abuses and an ombudsman be named to review complaints against the
 military.

 The army's chief legal officer, Gen. Rafael Macedo, insisted that ``impunity does
 not exist in the armed forces.''

 ``We only ask that allegations of rights violations be well founded, and we will
 pursue the guilty party with rigor,'' he said.

 Digna Ochoa, a lawyer for the Pro center, said the army does little to investigate
 rights abuses.

 ``In one instance, the (civilian) prosecutors referred the case of two women who
 were raped by soldiers to military justice,'' Ochoa said. ``When lawyers for the
 women went to the military prosecutor to file a complaint, they weren't even
 allowed to enter his army base.''

 WIDERANGING CHARGES

 Soldiers currently face accusations of murder, rape, torture and kidnapping in
 dozens of cases in Guerrero and Chiapas. Military prosecutors say that in recent
 years they have tried 80 to 90 soldiers across the country for illegal detention and
 acts of violence.

 Several high-ranking soldiers also have been convicted of corruption in the fight
 against drugs, in which the army plays a key role.

 Prior to the Zapatista rebel uprising in Chiapas in 1994, the army played a
 low-key role, helping out in natural disasters and with health-care campaigns,
 building a good public image.

 Such programs have continued in Chiapas, where the army daily reports on meals
 dispensed, health talks given and haircuts provided to civilians.

 ``If you read (army press releases), you will see that the 60,000 soldiers in
 Chiapas did community service and gave 60 haircuts,'' the Zapatistas' leader,
 Subcomandante Marcos, wrote in a recent statement.

 ``These have to be the most costly and bloody haircuts in history.''
 

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald