News Monitor - Justice in Mexico

www.justiceinmexico.org

Trans-Border Institute University of San Diego

March 2013

News Monitor HIGHLIGHTS

MONTHLY SUMMARY • Movement toward unified police command moves forward under Peña Nieto

administration

• Efforts to regulate arms trafficking largely ineffective: TBI study

• Elba Esther Gordillo remains in prison, now alienated from former political allies

• Legislative Assembly in Mexico City proposes revisions to arraigo

• Chihuahua: First oral trial on labor law to be held in Parral

Justice in Mexico News Monitor March ’13

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INDEX

SECURITY................................................................................................................................................... 2

CARTEL-RELATED VIOLENCE.............................................................................................................. 2 Three bodies found hanging in Saltillo, Coahuila ................................................................................ 2 Secretary of Tourism in Jalisco killed .................................................................................................. 2 GAO releases report on border crime ................................................................................................. 3

POLICE REFORM ................................................................................................................................... 4 Movement toward unified police command moves forward under Peña Nieto administration ............ 4

ORGANIZED CRIME STRATEGY .......................................................................................................... 5 Zetas cell linked to Russia dismantled in Central America.................................................................. 5 Senate Judiciary Committee approves bipartisan bill on straw purchases and gun trafficking ........... 6 Efforts to regulate arms trafficking largely ineffective: TBI study......................................................... 7

PRESIDENTIAL CABINET APPOINTMENTS......................................................................................... 8 Mondragón y Kalb appointed National Security Commissioner .......................................................... 8

TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY.................................................................................................... 9 CORRUPTION......................................................................................................................................... 9

Elba Esther Gordillo remains in prison, now alienated from former political allies .............................. 9 Allegations of corruption in Pemex emerge as energy sector reform legislation approaches........... 10 Former Tabasco accounting director arrested for falsifying statements over missing financial documents......................................................................................................................................... 11 Sanctions sought for officials involved in staged arrest of Florence Cassez..................................... 12 Mexican Congress to limit fuero of public officials............................................................................. 13

JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS............................................................................................................... 14 VIGILANTE JUSTICE ............................................................................................................................ 14

Concerns over possible criminal involvement arise as new reports of self-defense groups emerge 14 DETAINEE RIGHTS .............................................................................................................................. 16

Legislative Assembly in Mexico City proposes revisions to arraigo .................................................. 16 Court rules on unconstitutionality of arresting elders ........................................................................ 17

JUSTICE SECTOR REFORMS............................................................................................................. 18 Increased funding for implementation of new judicial system ........................................................... 18

VIOLENCE AGAINST THE PRESS ...................................................................................................... 18 Director of Ojinaga Noticias killed ..................................................................................................... 18

AROUND THE STATES ............................................................................................................................ 20 AGUASCALIENTES: Congress approves law to implement oral trials ............................................. 20 CHIHUAHUA: First oral trial on labor law to be held in Parral........................................................... 20 COAHUILA: First oral trial in Coahuila for June ................................................................................ 20 EDOMEX: Estado de México signs agreement for Unified Police Command................................... 21


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SECURITY CARTEL-RELATED VIOLENCE Three bodies found hanging in Saltillo, Coahuila Early in the morning on Friday, March 8, five bodies were found on public display in Saltillo, the state capital of Coahuila. All five bodies were found wrapped from head to toe in white sheets, and two of them had duct tape covering their faces as well. Authorities indicate that the victims–all of whom were male–were killed by blunt force trauma, although three of them were found hanging from the Valle Dorado Bridge on the Luis Echeverría Álvarez highway, while the other two were on the ground beneath them. Municipal police, who responded to the scene, discovered a narcomanta, or narco-banner, alongside the bodies, though the contents of that message are not clear. Special operations police, municipal police, members of the Mexican military (Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, SEDENA), and agents from the State Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado, PGJE) arrived on the scene. While none of the victims had identification on them, investigations have led authorities to identify three of the five individuals: Eran Alejandro Banda Tovar, 16, construction worker; Carlos Eduardo Rodriguez Cedillo, 28, car mechanic; and Eusebio Hernández Estrada, 38, taxi driver. According to the PGJE, Banda Tovar and Rodriguez Cedillo were kidnapped by a group of armed men two days before their bodies were found. For his part, Hernández was last seen on March 3. This is not the first case of bodies found hanged in public in Mexico as rival organized crime groups and drug cartels often send messages to one another through such public and visual displays. Last May, for example, nine bodies were found hung from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. Nevertheless, it is still unclear who was behind the recent killings in Coahuila as investigations are ongoing.

SOURCES “Abandonan 5 cuerpos en Coahuila; cuelgan tres de puente.” Milenio. March 8, 2013.

“Cinco Colgados en Valle Dorado.” El Diario de Coahuila. March 8, 2013. “Dejan 5 cuerpos en puente de Saltillo, Coahuila.” Vanguardia. March 8, 2013.

Secretary of Tourism in Jalisco killed José de Jesús Gallegos Álvarez, the recently appointed secretary of tourism (Secretario de Turismo) for the state of Jalisco, was assassinated on Saturday, March 9, 2013, in Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city and the state capital. Authorities say Gallegos Álvarez was shot multiples times during a car chase involving two other vehicles. The driver for Gallegos Álvarez was unharmed, and the assailants have yet to be identified. This marks the first assassination of a state minister in Jalisco since the end of the Mexican revolution. State Government General Secretary (Secretario General del Gobierno) Arturo Zamora stated in a press conference that the attack was likely unrelated to the governmental work of Gallegos Álvarez, who had taken up the post just nine days before. Tourism officials have not typically been targets in Mexico’s wave of violence; local police and political officials tend to bear the brunt of the drug cartels’ and organized crime groups’ lethal tactics, which include kidnappings, extortion, and brutal killings.

Photo: El Diario de Coahuila


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According to Mexican news sources, Gallegos Álvarez was a successful businessman and founder and president of JEGAL Project Construction and Management. His business dealings included the development of important tourist, residential, and commercial complexes in Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, and other cities and resort towns throughout western Mexico. Gallegos Álvarez also created a security firm called 22 de abril (April 22), after a previous assassination attempt on his life over seven years ago. He fled to Texas at the time, but returned to Guadalajara where he lived until his death earlier this month.

SOURCES Notimex. “Asesinato del secretario de Turismo de Jalisco nada tenía que ver con su cargo, afirma Arturo Zamora.” Excélsior.

March 9, 2013. “New state tourism minister assassinated in Mexico.” USA Today. March 9, 2013.

Ramírez Yáñez, Jaime. “Investigan móvil de asesinato de Secretario.” El Economista. March 10, 2013. “Sin pistas de los homicidas del secretario de Turismo.” El Informador. March 10, 2013.

GAO releases report on border crime The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report last month analyzing data on Mexican drug cartel-related crime in U.S. Border States. The report, titled “Southwest Border Security: Data are Limited and Concerns Vary about Spillover Crime Along the Southwest Border,” was based on federal and municipal crime data and on-the-ground visits and interviews from January 2004 through December 2011 in 24 southwest border counties. The purpose of the study was to identify trends in reported data, efforts to track data, and concerns and initiatives on crime and violence related to drug cartel activity spilling over from Mexico to the four U.S. states—California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas—that border Mexico.

Despite the limitations in available data—ranging from the lack of a standard definition of spillover crime to underreporting by federal, state, and local agencies—the GAO found that both violent and property crime in border states was generally lower in 2011 than in 2004. This finding contradicts the general assumption that Mexico’s drug cartel violence is spreading to neighboring U.S. states. As reported by the Trans-Border Institute in its report “Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis through 2011,” in roughly the same period the GAO report covers, the six Mexican states that share a border with the United States have witnessed a quintupling of homicides related to organized crime. Interviews with local, state, and federal U.S. officials by the GAO revealed varying concerns about spillover crime along the border. While 31 of 37 state and local agencies did not observe violent crime from Mexico affecting their communities, 33 of 37 did express concern for the

safety of law enforcement officers and residents. For example, one official in New Mexico reported that drug smugglers being pursued by law enforcement personnel ram police vehicles to avoid capture. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assessments also highlight the increasingly aggressive tactics used by armed drug and human smugglers to evade U.S. law enforcement. The GAO report further describes a number of U.S. government strategies and initiatives to combat security threats to the United States posed by Mexico’s drug cartels. Some of these include the Mérida Initiative, a multi-year, $1.6 billion security and institutional improvement partnership between the United States and Mexico; the creation of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) unit, the Latin American Southwest Border Threat Section, which focuses exclusively on drug cartel issues; and the DHS Border Violence Protocols, which detail steps to report border violence incidents and set out enhanced coordination policies between U.S. and Mexican agencies. On a local and state level, officials interviewed by the GAO stated that their agencies had undertaken individual or cooperative efforts to combat spillover of drug cartel crime in their jurisdictions.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons


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The GAO report was requested by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), a ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), a ranking member of the Committee’s Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee, and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX).

SOURCES González, Ethel. “Es la frontera sur, de las más seguras.” Líder Informativo. February 18, 2013.

“Southwest Border Security: Data are Limited and Concerns Vary about Spillover Crime Along the Southwest Border.” Government Accountability Office. February 2013.

Gomóra, Doris. “Datos limitados de cárteles en Estados Unidos.” El Universal. March 4, 2013. Molzahn et. al. “Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2011.” Trans-Border Institute. March 2012.

POLICE REFORM Movement toward unified police command moves forward under Peña Nieto administration Since being elected president in December 2012, Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI) has vowed to carry forward his predecessor’s plan for a unified police force (Mando Único) in Mexico. Former Presdent Felipe Calderón sent a proposal to Congress in 2010 for the creation of 32 state police commands that would absorb control over each state’s municipal police forces, which themselves would be under federal oversight. The plan would standardize salary scales, which vary widely, as well as training and vetting procedures for prospective officers. The measure was approved in Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies, but never made it through the Senate. In a meeting with governors and members of his cabinet in February in the city of Chihuahua, Peña Nieto told his interior minister, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, to work with the governors on the steps toward establishing unified police commands. In addition, he has assigned twelve members of his administration as delegates to assist the states in the process. Mexico has more than 2,000 police forces nationwide, many of which, particularly the municipal forces, have been widely reported to be infiltrated by organized crime. Peña Nieto appears to have the support of the nation’s governors in his plans for integrating Mexico’s security forces. Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte called it an “opportunity to strengthen the training and response of municipal authorities,” to the threats posed by organized crime. In Veracruz, two central municipalities were brought under state control this month to begin the process of integrating the state’s municipal police forces into a unified command. Duarte announced on March 20 that the municipalities of Córdoba and Fortín de las Flores have been brought under state control, and that it was done with the approval of both cities’ town councils. Public security in the municipalities is currently being managed by the Mexican Navy (Secretaría de la Marina, Semar) and Army (Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, Sedena). Last November, Proceso reported on a band of Zetas operating in Córdoba with the aid of a network of businesses, politicians and functionaries of the Veracruz Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado, PGJE), at which there is currently an internal investigation into the matter. Veracruz Interior Minister Gerardo Buganza said that the roughly 300 municipal police officers affected will have to report to the El Lencero Police Academy in Xalapa, where they will face evaluations and training procedures. Last month, Morelos became the first state to officially commit to a unified police command model, when the state’s 33 mayors and Governor Graco Ramírez signed an agreement to integrate the state and municipal police forces. The new model will begin with a corps of 1,000 preventive police officers (policías

Photo: NTR Azteca


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preventivos), uniformly certified, trained, and armed, with a standardized salary schedule and guaranteed access to housing, uniforms, vehicles, and protective armor. Other states have signed agreements to establish united police commands. In early March, Mexico State Governor Eruviel Ávila Villegas signed an agreement to integrate 119 of the state’s 125 municipalities into a unified command, representing 90% of the population. A similar accord was signed in Guerrero, where Governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero assured mayors of the state’s 81 municipalities that the measure would decrease crime rates in the state without affecting their autonomy or resources. Aguirre said that the first stage of implementation would be to send 600 Acapulco municipal police for training with Sedena to begin work as agents of the mando único this year. At that point, others interested in joining will be invited to apply. While mayors in Guerrero appear to be on board with the move toward a unified police command, the community police and self-defense groups mostly around the crime-affected city of Acapulco that have recently garnered much media attention are rejecting the plan. Leaders of the Union of Peoples and Organizations of the State of Guerrero (Unión de Pueblos y Organizaciones del Estado de Guerrero, UPOEG), and the Regional Coordination of Community Authorities (Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias, CRAC), who have recently been at odds with one another have argued that the model leaves no room for community justice groups, which they claim are protected under current state law. (For more information on recent developments on community police and self-defense groups, please see this month’s Justice and Human Rights section).

SOURCES Miranda, Justino. “Morelos, primero en implementar Mando Único.” El Universal. February 6, 2013.

“Impulsan mando único policial en México.” Univisión. February 19, 2013. González, Concepción. “Mando único en el Estado de México.” La Crónica de Hoy. March 5, 2013.

Ocampo Arista, Sergio. “Rechazan policías comunitarios mando único en Guerrero.” La Jornada. March 19, 2013. Zavaleta, Noé. “Disuelven policías en dos municipios veracruzanos; inicia Mando Único.” Proceso. March 20, 2013.

Covarrubias, Adriana. “Signan en Guerrero acuerdo para mando único.” El Universal. March 21, 2013.

ORGANIZED CRIME STRATEGY Zetas cell linked to Russia dismantled in Central America

On March 11, Victor Petrovic Ivanov, director of the Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation (FSKN), informed Russian President Vladimir Putin that a drug trafficking network linking Central America and Russia was dismantled this month. Mexican national Martín Sánchez Flores, who is allegedly tied to the Zetas cartel, one of Mexico’s most notorious and brutal organizations, headed the network. According to Ivanov, the operation was launched in the beginning of March with the help of the Nicaraguan government. In February 2012, Russia and Nicaragua signed an agreement in which each country vowed to cooperate with one another in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime. According to Nicaragua’s El Nuevo Diario, the agreement stipulates the exchange of technical assistance, counsel and

information, logistical aid, and coordinated operations against drug trafficking and organized crime. Ivanov praised his country’s operation with Nicaragua stating that the joint effort and support of Nicaragua has enabled the two countries to gradually sever the extensive contacts of drug trafficking networks in smuggling drugs (namely cocaine) from Central America to Europe and Russia.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega (left) and Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov during Lavrov’s 2010 Tour of Latin America. Photo: Elmer Martinez, AFP


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Nicaraguan police spokesman Fernando Borge said that during the operation that brought down Flores’ network, Operation Temis, 63 raids were undertaken in Nicaragua–namely in Managua, Rivas, Masaya, Matagalpa, and Chinandega–the last of which is where Flores was captured. In addition to Flores, Mexican drug trafficker José Joel Torres Chaperón, who oversaw cells in the network that provided logistical support in receiving and distributing drugs, as well as providing security during drug transports, was also captured. Overall, the dismantled network consisted of Nicaraguans, Panamanians, Salvadorians, Guatemalans, and Hondurans, according to Univision. During the operation itself, 26 people were detained and $13,769 (USD) in U.S. currency, $207,083 in Canadian currency (approximately $202,400 USD), and $33,500 Mexican pesos (over $2,600 USD) were seized. 63 properties, two big rigs, 20 light rail vehicles, 15 motorboats, 15 marine motors, and four firearms were also confiscated. El Nuevo Diario of Nicaragua claims that experts have recently observed a dramatic increase in drug trafficking activity from Central America to Europe through Western Africa, as well as an increase in transnational crime. In light of this, the FSKN began training Central American police officials in May 2012 to combat the growing drug trafficking phenomenon. Up to 30 police forces across Nicaragua, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Honduras have undergone such training courses.

SOURCES ”Cae cabecilla de los Zetas en Nicaragua; traficaban droga en Rusia.” Univisión. March 12, 2013.

Redacción. “Desmantelan red Zeta que traficaba droga a Rusia.” El Universal. March 12, 2013. “Rusia y Nicaragua desmantelan red narco en el Istmo.” El Nuevo Diario. March 12, 2013.

Senate Judiciary Committee approves bipartisan bill on straw purchases and gun trafficking The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill on Thursday, March 7, that would curb gun trafficking and straw purchases—the practice of buying guns for someone who is unable to pass a background check. The bill, authored by Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), was approved on a bipartisan vote. The proposed legislation would create a federal gun trafficking statute, with penalties for both the straw purchaser and the seller. The gun trafficking statute would be the first of its kind in the United States, and sponsoring senators hope it will have an impact on the illegal trade of guns from the United States to Mexico. “The practice of straw purchasing firearms is undertaken for one reason—to get a gun into the hands of someone who is prohibited from having one,” Leahy said. “We know that many guns used in criminal activities are acquired through straw purchases. We need a meaningful solution to this serious problem.” While it is seemingly impossible to identify every firearm illicitly trafficked from the United States to Mexico, recent studies point to the increasingly important role that U.S. military-style assault rifles have played in Mexico’s drug cartel violence. As reported by the Trans-Border Institute in “Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis through 2012,” between 2006 and 2012, during Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s (2006 – 2012) crackdown on drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and organized crime groups (OCGs), an estimated 45,000 to 55,000 of the country’s more than 100,000 homicides were drug related. According to U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) data, nearly 70% of weapons seized by Mexican officials in Mexico from 2007 through 2011 were of U.S. origin, having been

Photo: CNN México


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manufactured in the United States or imported to the United States before being trafficked to Mexico. A working paper from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars highlights the use of semi-automatic assault rifles by Mexico’s DTOs and OCGs, with AK and AR variants accounting for the top two types of U.S. guns recovered by Mexican officials. The Senate Judiciary Committee reconvened on Tuesday, March 12, when an assault weapons ban proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was removed from proposed legislation by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who said the bill lacked bipartisan support to pass the full Senate. Many gun control advocates and critics who point to the United States as the primary supplier of assault-style weapons to Mexican criminal organizations saw this as a defeat.

SOURCES Goodman, Colby and Marizco, Michel. “U.S. Firearms Trafficking to Mexico: New Data and Insights Illuminate Key Trends and

Challenges.” Woodrow Wilson Center and the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego. September 2010. “Mexico Trace Data for Calendar Years 2007 – 2011.” Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Data query.

March 12, 2012. Molzahn, et al. “Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis through 2012.” Trans-Border Institute. February 2013.

Cohen, Tim. “Senate Panel Agrees to New Legislation on Guns.” CNN. March 7, 2013. Patrick Leahy, United States Senator for Vermont website. “SJC Approves Bipartisan Legislation to Combat Gun Trafficking

Authored By Chairman Leahy.” Press release. March 7, 2013. Condon, Stephanie. “Assault weapons ban dropped, gun control supporters move on.” CBS News March 20, 2013.

Efforts to regulate arms trafficking largely ineffective: TBI study On March 18, 2013, the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego and the Igarapé Institute from Brazil released the report “The Way of the Gun: Estimating Firearms Traffic Across the U.S.-Mexico Border,” which explores the issue of arms trafficking from the United States to Mexico. While the report recognizes the high levels of violence in Mexico, it highlights that Mexico does not manufacture small arms or light weapons, nor is ammunition available there in sizeable quantities. Moreover, Mexico has some of the most restrictive gun legislation in the world. Overall, the report finds that:

o A significant proportion of U.S. firearm dealers are dependent on Mexican demand: 46.7% of U.S. Federal Firearms Licenses to sell small arms during 2010-2012 depended for their economic existence on some amount of demand from the U.S.-Mexico;

o A sizeable and growing percentage of U.S. firearms sales are destined for Mexico: 2.2% of U.S. domestic arms sales are attributable to the U.S.-Mexico traffic;

o The volume of firearms crossing the U.S.-Mexico border is higher than previously assumed: 253,000 were purchased annually to be trafficked between 2010-2012. This number is starkly higher than the 88,000 firearms trafficked from 1997-1999, during the federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB);

o The value of firearms sales destined for Mexico are significant and growing appreciably: The trade represented annual revenues of $127.2 million for the U.S. firearms industry during 2010-2012;

o U.S. and Mexican authorities are seizing a comparatively small number of firearms at the border: Based on seizure reports for 2009, U.S. and Mexican authorities in recent years have been seizing just 14.7% of total arms bought with the intention of trafficking them. Specifically, Mexican authorities have seized roughly 12.7% of the total annual trade while the United States has intercepted around 2.0%.

Photo: Trans-Border Institute


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Based on the empirical findings, the report concludes that ongoing government efforts to regulate firearms trade and trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border are largely ineffective. Notwithstanding improvements in the efficacy of Mexican authorities in seizing illicit firearms between 2008-2009, they are still meager in relation to the overall volume of weapons likely crossing the border. “The Way of the Gun” is co-authored by Kroc School of Peace Studies Professor Topher McDougal, Trans-Border Institute Director David A. Shirk, Igarapé Institute Research Director Robert Muggah, and recent Kroc School graduate John Patterson. The report uses a unique econometric approach that is different from other studies previously conducted to estimate the demand for firearms in Mexico by examining the distribution of retail gun distributors throughout the United States. Based on the heavy concentration of gun dealers along the border, the authors were able to estimate a total demand for trafficking across the border, both in terms of firearms and dollar sales for the firearms industry.

SOURCES McDougal, Topher, et al. “The Way of the Gun.” Trans-Border Institute, Igarapé Institute, 2013.

PRESIDENTIAL CABINET APPOINTMENTS Mondragón y Kalb appointed National Security Commissioner

On February 26, Manuel Mondragón y Kalb, former undersecretary for Planning and Institutional Protection (Subsecretario de Planeación y Protección Institucional) and deputy secretary of Public Safety (Encargado de Despacho de la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública) under the administration of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, was accepted by the Senate as National Security Commissioner (Comisionado Nacional de Seguridad) with 115 votes in his favor, zero against, and two abstentions. Senators Fernando Yunes of the National Action Party (Partido Acción Nacional, PAN), to which Mondragón also belongs, and Cristina Diaz of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI) praised the appointment recognizing Mondragón’s

professionalism, experience, and capability in filling the position. Shortly after his appointment, Mondragón addressed the public during a press conference answering to the issue of community police forces that have formed in Mexico. While the commissioner denied that such groups–also known as self-defense groups (grupos de autodefensa)–pose a serious threat to national governability, he recognized the importance of analyzing the causes and roots under which these diverse groups emerge in order to adequately prescribe solutions, and highlighted the differences among the groups, notably their use of various weapons and arms. The commissioner rejected the claim that the presence of these forces has rendered Mexico a violent and ungovernable country. To this he added, “A great part of the inhabitants of this country live peacefully, a great part of these entities are under peaceful terms as well; the fact that in some sites this phenomena is developing, does not speak of ungovernability.” Instead the new commissioner spoke of Mexico as a country with “absolute governability,” though noting that, like all other countries, it has its areas that need attention and resources. Mondragón received his medical education from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM). He also has a degree in Public Administration from

National Security Commissioner Manuel Mondragón y Kalb. Photo: Website, México Presidencia de la República Oficial


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the Panamerican Business Institute (Instituto Panamericano de Alta Dirección de Empresas, IPADE) and over 40 years of experience in public service within the areas of health, prevention, and public security.

SOURCES Torres, Mauricio. “El Gobierno De Mexico promete aceptar críticas sobre su plan de seguridad.” CNN México. January 18, 2013. Flores, Claudia. “Mondragon Y Kalb protesta como comisionado nacional de seguridad.” Noticieros Televisa. February 26, 2013.

Justice in Mexico Project. “February 2013 Monthly News Monitor.” Trans-Border Institute. February 28, 2013. “Yo Político: Manuel Mondragón y Kalb.” El Universal. March 3, 2013.

TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY CORRUPTION Elba Esther Gordillo remains in prison, now alienated from former political allies Mexico’s national teachers union (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación, SNTE) has replaced its former leader Elba Esther Gordillo after she was arrested in late February and charged with fraud. In an extraordinary congress, the SNTE appointed Juan Díaz de la Torre, effectively stripping Gordillo of her title of president for life, and ensuring that she will face the charges against her without the backing of the SNTE, the most powerful union in the country, according to BBC News. Gordillo had been president of the SNTE since 1989. Gordillo, popularly known in Mexico as “The Teacher” (La Maestra), was once one of the most powerful women in Mexico, having served as the Secretary General of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI), before forming the New Alliance Party (Partido Nueva Alianza, PANAL), which has also reportedly abandoned her since the news of the charges against her broke. As reported by BBC News, Gordillo was arrested on February 26, charged with embezzling union funds on personal luxuries, such as millions of dollars worth of purchases at a U.S. department store, a lavish home in San Diego, California, plastic surgery, and a private plane. She was taken immediately to the Santa Martha Acatitla women’s prison facility in the Iztapalapa district of Mexico City, where she remains. While the arrest of Gordillo has generally been met with a positive reaction from the Mexican public, which approves of a more aggressive stance by the government against corrupt public figures, others suspect that it may have come as part of an effort by the Enrique Peña Nieto administration to stamp out opposition to the recent education reforms championed by Peña Nieto that will subject teachers to regular assessments, and end practices previously condoned by the SNTE such as the inheriting of teaching positions. Gordillo, who reluctantly supported the reforms but has been critical of Education Secretary Emilio Chuayffet, was arrested just one day after the reforms passed through the Mexican Congress. For his part, Gordillo’s successor, Juan Díaz, has spoken out vehemently against how the union was treated through the reform process, but insisted that its members would not go on strike in response to the reforms, or to Gordillo’s arrest. Meanwhile, Federal District Interior Minister (Secretario de Gobierno) Héctor Serrano said that a number of people were likely facing arrest for their part in leaking Gordillo’s mug shots and other personal data to social networking sites after her arrest. On Saturday, March 16, the Federal District’s prison authority

Elba Esther Gordillo. Photo: BBC News, AFP


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announced that a woman by the name of Samantha Olivares Vázquez, a guard at the Santa Martha prison in the Federal District where Gordillo is being held detained for allegedly leaking the document. Serrano said that it is likely that others were involved in the act, and that anyone found responsible will be held accountable.

SOURCES “Mexico union replaces Elba Esther Gordillo.” BBC News. February 28, 2013.

Montes, Rafael. “Prevén más detenidos por filtrar ficha de Gordillo en la red.” El Universal. March 17, 2013.

Allegations of corruption in Pemex emerge as energy sector reform legislation approaches Government officials in the energy sector brought claims to the Mexican Congress of a corruption network within Mexico’s national oil conglomerate, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), involving a number of businesses, contractors, employees, and company officials from a variety of levels. The officials cited cases of no-bid contracts being awarded or competitions designed to benefit friends and family of politicians, overpayment for services, and payment for services and contracts that were never fulfilled. These irregularities were all reportedly discovered under the administration of Pemex’s new director, Emilio Lozoya, a long-time loyalist of President Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI), having served as secretary of energy during the government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994). Officials warned that the corruption could threaten the reforms proposed by President Peña Nieto planned for the second half of 2013.

Corruption scandals are not new to Pemex. In the 2000 incident popularly known as Pemex-Gate, the then-director of the company, Rogelio Montemayor, made an unauthorized transfer of 1.1 billion pesos (roughly $89 million USD) to the petroleum workers’ union (Sindicato de Trabajadores Petroleros de la República Mexicana, STPRM), which was deposited in a Houston bank and later transferred to Mexican accounts belonging to the PRI. In 2011, a more than 500 million-peso (about $40.5 million USD) no-interest ten-year loan was granted to the STPRM, also without proper authorization. Unofficial allegations of favoritism paid toward companies Mexicana de Lubricantes (MexLub), German company Siemens, overpayments for upgrades to Pemex’s Caderey refinery, as well as reports of use of company funds for personal use by company officials were made public

months ago, but are only now being officially investigated by the Peña Nieto administration. New authorities appointed by the Peña Nieto administration in the energy and petroleum sectors have warned that corruption in Pemex runs so deep that it is the single biggest threat to the proposed reforms, which seek to transfer more loss risk to Pemex’s contractors in order to lower the burden on the Mexican treasury. Proceeds from Pemex represent around 37% of federal budget allocations. The Bank of Mexico (Banco de México) also benefits greatly from Pemex earnings, which represent nearly 90% of the bank’s cash reserves. During the 75th anniversary of the nationalization of the country’s petroleum industry, the government of President Peña Nieto has placed reforming Pemex at the center of its legislative agenda. The president has stated his intention to liberalize the company, which Pemex Director Emilio Lozoya has deemed necessary for the company to be able to take advantage of technological advances needed to keep the company competitive in the global marketplace. President Peña Nieto has worked to allay fears that Mexicans could lose a centerpiece of the country’s revolutionary identity, and has emphasized that the current efforts are towards reform, not privatization. Meanwhile, leaders in the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution (Partido de la Revolución Democrática, PRD) have pointed to the petroleum workers’ union as the primary obstacle to reform. Jesús Zambrano Rojas, president of the National Executive Committee (Comité Ejecutivo Nacional) of the PRD, said that Peña Nieto’s party could not begin to modernize Pemex if it remains tied to STPRM leader Carlos Romero Deschamps, who “the

Photo: Wikimedia Commons


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whole world knows as Elba Esther Gordillo II or better said the first, but they caught [her] first.” Zambrano was referring to the former leader of the national teacher’s union, Gordillo, who was arrested late last month on corruption charges. Zambrano is not alone in hoping that the hard line taken by the Peña Nieto administration against Elba Esther Gordillo will extend to other corrupt officials, particularly union leaders, who are widely seen as enjoying lavish lifestyles at the expense of public funds, immune from prosecution. Others, though, are less hopeful, citing Gordillo’s opposition to Peña Nieto’s educational reforms as the reason for her arrest. Romero Deschamps, who is currently a senator and who previously served in the chamber of deputies for the PRI, has led the STPRM since 1996, with his current term extending until 2018. Like Gordillo, Romero Deschamps has drawn attention for the wealth he has accumulated since holding his leadership position, including a luxury yacht, waterfront condominium in Cancún, and similar luxuries for his two grown children. There are various pending investigations into Romero Deschamps’ activities, including in the PGR and the Federal District’s Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de Justicia del Distrito Federal, PGJDF). The PGR is investigating him in connection with an unauthorized eight billion-peso (approximately $6.48 million USD) transfer from Pemex to the union coffers in 2004. Romero Deschamps also escaped an apprehension order in 2003 in connection with Pemex-Gate when a federal appellate court judge issued an amparo to stave off the arrest order. Amparo is a stop injunction unique to Latin America and primarily Mexico that protects individual’s rights from inappropriate acts or failure to act by authorities. The proceedings were finally dropped in 2011. Romero Deschamps was also the object of controversy in October 2012, when Jorge Hernández Lira, director of the Independent Petrol Coalition (Coalición Petrolera Independiente), was elected as the new general secretary of the STPRM with 71% of the vote. The following day, Romero Deschamps re-elected himself for another six-year term in a closed session. Hernández Lira and allies within the union have carried out a legal challenge to what they characterize as an illegitimate election, which is currently pending.

SOURCES Robles de la Rosa, Leticia. “Hallan en Pemex red de corrupción; denuncian ante legisladores.” Excélsior. March 7, 2013.

Villamil, Jenaro. “Romero Deschamps: décadas de impunidad.” Proceso. March 7, 2013. Esquivel, Eduardo. “Explotación, explosión y corrupción en PEMEX.” SDP Noticias. March 8, 2013.

Former Tabasco accounting director arrested for falsifying statements over missing financial documents Leonicio Lorenzo Gómez, the former accounting director (Director de Contabilidad) for Tabasco’s treasury ministry (Secretaría de Finanzas de Tabasco), was arrested March 20 for falsifying statements he made regarding supposed loss of financial documents detailing expenditures during the administration of former Governor Andrés Granier Melo. This is the first arrest made in connection with the widely reported financial disorder left by the Granier Melo administration. According to Tabasco Attorney General Fernando Valenzuela Pernas, Lorenzo Gómez claims that the documents were lost when a vehicle carrying them was robbed. Ensuing police investigations, however, determined that the vehicle that was reportedly stolen could only contain 78 of the boxes used to hold financial documents, far fewer than the 120 boxes reported lost by Lorenzo Gómez. He added that the documents originally reported lost in that theft are not the same documents detected missing from the treasury, and that there have been inconsistencies in the statements made by the supposed driver of the vehicle, who first reported it stolen. Authorities believe that the missing documentation could prove misappropriation of funds during the Granier Melo administration, among other crimes. Granier Melo was elected governor in 2006 with a wide margin of victory, promising deep reforms and to assist the underprivileged. His administration, however, resulted in a crisis in the state’s health care sector, an exponential growth in the public debt, and a loss of nearly two billion pesos (about $161.9 million USD at current exchange rates) from the health, education, and public security sectors, among others. Granier inherited a 450 million-peso debt (roughly $36.4 million USD) from his predecessor Manuel Andrade, also of the PRI, and left the state with a debt exceeding ten billion pesos (about $809,350,000 USD), according to reporting by the Granier Melo administration. For his part, Tabasco


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Governor Arturo Núñez, however, has said that the debt could be much higher, possibly exceeding 17 billion pesos (about $1.376 billion USD). Following the announcement of financial inconsistencies found by the current administration, on February 23 of this year an extensive investigation was announced looking into the treasury’s incomes and expenditures, as well as Granier Melo’s properties and former associates, including Lorenzo Gómez. The documents disappeared in August 2012, one month after the statewide elections that saw the defeat of Granier Melo’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI) by the Party of the Democratic Revolution (Partido de la Revolución Democrática, PRD), and four months before power was handed over to PRD Governor Arturo Núñez Jiménez. The government released a statement that “a truck was robbed with hundreds of boxes that contained thousands of folders and files of verifying documents from fiscal years 2007-2012.” The documents in question detail the management of an estimated 1.3 billion pesos (about $105 million USD) during the Granier Melo administration. There were numerous claims of corruption against Granier Melo during his tenure, in which he reportedly lived with his family in a luxurious mansion surrounded by 160 employees, and traveled in armored vehicles paid for with treasury funds. There are also reports that Fabian, his son, purchased expensive properties in Quintana Roo and Miami. In addition, authorities have frozen bank accounts belonging to Granier Melo’s daughter Mariana totaling three billion pesos (roughly $24 million USD). Granier Melo’s name did not appear in a complaint filed by the Núñez Jiménez administration to Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR) for misappropriation of funds during his tenure, although Núñez himself has said that such irregularities could not have happened without Granier Melo’s knowledge. For his part, Granier Melo denied any involvement in financial irregularities in an open letter, and said that he would be available to clear up any questions regarding his job performance.

SOURCES “Arrestan a ex funcionario de Andrés Granier.” El Informador. March 22, 2013.

“Detienen a ex funcionario de Tabasco.” El Universal. March 22, 2013. “Todo indica a que en Tabasco hubo autorrobo de documentos: PGJE.” El Golfo. March 23, 2013.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Sanctions sought for officials involved in staged arrest of Florence Cassez Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, CNDH), along with members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI) in the Mexican Congress, are seeking sanctions against former Public Security Minister Genaro García Luna in connection with his involvement in the staged arrest in 2005 of Florence Cassez, who was released from federal prison by order of the Mexican Supreme Court in January and immediately returned to her home country of France. Cassez was apprehended on Thursday, December 8, 2005, as she drove with her boyfriend, Israel Vallarta, leader of the kidnapping gang Los Zodíacos, on the Mexico City-Cuernavaca Highway. She was detained overnight, and the following day, members of the now-defunct Federal Agency of Investigations (Agencia Federal de Investigaciones, AFI), then led by García Luna, staged an arrest at Vallarta’s home in Mexico City in front of television crews from the Televisa and T.V. Azteca networks. She was

Former Governor of Tabasco Andrés Granier Melo. Photo: Felipe Pérez, El Heraldo de Tabasco


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sentenced to 60 years in prison for her alleged involvement in Vallarta’s gang, a charge she has always denied. Several attempts had been made to secure her release prior to the January Supreme Court decision, including by former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but the administration of Felipe Calderón, then with García Luna at the helm of Mexico’s federal police forces, remained steadfast in its commitment to seeing Cassez serve out her sentence in Mexico.

In investigating the case, the CNDH found numerous irregularities involving more than 20 AFI employees, including former director García Luna. As a result, the commission, led by Raúl Plascencia, filed a criminal complaint with Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR) on March 22 against the individuals in question, which also include the then-head of the Investigation and Kidnapping Unit (Unidad de Investigación y Secuestro), Israel Zaragoza, the former director of Police Investigation (Investigación Policial), Luis Cárdenas Palomino, and the ex-director of Special Operations (Operaciones Especiales), Javier Garza, along with two agents from the Office of the Public Prosecutor (Ministerio Público) and an additional 15 AFI agents. Luis García López

Guerrero, principal investigator (Primer Visitador General) for the CNDH, said in an interview with El Universal that the public servants in question had a corruptive influence on the justice system, putting kidnapping victims on public display while compromising the processes that should have brought them justice. He clarified that Cassez was released because of crimes of abuse of authority, not because she was innocent. He also indicated that the alleged crimes did not reach beyond the AFI, and thus the resulting charges would not extend beyond García Luna. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto echoed López Guerrero’s concerns in an interview with French weekly L’Express, saying that Mexico must make “adaptations in its judicial system” and reflect on the best manner of judging suspected criminals, saying that the Cassez case has left many Mexicans with “a bad taste,” given the common perception that flaws in the Mexican judicial system has led to the release of a guilty person. Meanwhile, the PRI delegation in the Mexican Senate, led by Senator María Verónica Martínez Espinoza, called on the PGR to investigate and sanction the mid and upper-level authorities of the AFI along with García Luna involved in the staged arrest of Cassez. In a statement presented by Martínez Espinoza on March 21, the senators urged Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam to also ensure that the individuals identified as kidnappers in this case be held responsible for paying reparations to victims of kidnappings for which they are responsible. The resolution was expected to come before the entire senate during the week of March 25.

SOURCES “Tras el caso Cassez, México debe adaptar su sistema judicial: Peña.” EFE. March 5, 2013.

Jiménez, Horacio and Francisco Nieto. “Pide PRI castigo a García Luna por caso Cassez.” El Universal. March 21, 2013. Alcántara, Liliana. “’Autoridades engañaron a víctimas en caso Cassez.’” El Universal. March 24, 2013.

Mexican Congress to limit fuero of public officials Mexico’s Congress is analyzing a proposal to eliminate the use of fuero for elected officials and public servants, with exemption of the president. Under Mexican Law, fuero constitutes a privilege by which a public official cannot be subject to a judicial procedure or be held responsible for a crime committed. If the reform passes, almost all public officials could be investigated and prosecuted, and if found guilty, they would have to face their punishment as regular citizens.

Florence Cassez, center, was greeted in France after her release from prison in January. Photo: AFP


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The proposed reform passed through the Chamber of Deputies, but was then rejected by the Senate because of a procedural mistake, which sent the proposal back to the Chamber of Deputies for review. There are allegations suggesting that there were deliberate omissions in the document the Revolutionary Institutional Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI) sent to the Senate, specifically with regard to fuero when it involves the president. Nevertheless, Francisco Arroyo Vieyra (PRI), the president of the Board of the Chamber of Deputies, said that he would remove the modifications he added, so there are no more misinterpretations. Similar proposals are being discussed at the state level, where some states, such as Veracruz, are seeking to reform fuero for elected state officials, including state legislators, governors, and mayors. In Morelos, where the reform was already approved to amend the State Constitution and eliminate fuero at the state level, mayors are now challenging the reform before the Mexican Supreme Court (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, SCJN). Mexico is plagued with high levels of corruption throughout its government, and such a reform would work to target the impunity under which elected officials have long operated. If passed, the reform could lead to greater accountability of public officials.

SOURCES “Senado recibe reforma para acotar fuero.” Diario Crítico de México. March 12, 2013.

“El Senado devuelve la reforma al fuero por un ‘error’ de los diputados.” CNN México. March 14, 2013. García, Lev. “Busca Veracruz quitar fuero a Gobernador.” Reforma. March 19, 2013.

Méndez, Enrique and Garduño, Roberto. “Retirarán cuatro modificaciones a ley de fuero constitucional.” La Jornada. March 19, 2013.

Tonantzin, Pedro. “Eliminan fuero en Morelos y los alcaldes se amparan.” Excélsior. March 19, 2013. JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIGILANTE JUSTICE Concerns over possible criminal involvement arise as new reports of self-defense groups emerge In the municipality of Tlalixcoyan, Veracruz, local media have reported on the appearance of self-defense (autodefensa) groups, supported by photographs and statements from local residents, although the Veracruz government has denied the groups’ existence. Activities of similar groups in the rural municipalities around the city of Acapulco, Guerrero, became widely covered in the press in January responding to a worsening security situation in that region with makeshift checkpoints staffed by community members armed with sticks, machetes, and bolt-action rifles. Similar groups have also emerged in nearby states of Morelos and Michoacán, and have been met with differing responses from local and state officials, ranging from dismissal to reluctant support. The federal government, however, has characterized the makeshift police forces as a threat to the rule of law, while Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, CNDH) considers them to be a threat to human rights, and has urged the state and federal governments to establish control over the regions where the groups have appeared, to mitigate future arbitrary detentions by the groups and unjust punishments meted out by their tribunals.

Photo: Associated Press


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The groups in Tlalixcoyan–armed with sticks, machetes and shotguns–have been reportedly carrying out night patrols in the municipality, which lies about 97 miles from the port of Veracruz, and is near where eight municipal police officers disappeared from the town of Ursulo Galván in January. Several journalists from online news outlets traveled to the area to interview the group, which calls itself the “civilian guard.” One man interviewed admitted that none of them had any self-defense or weapons training, but were forced to take action because “[criminals] have taken the little that we had,” and the failure of the authorities to protect the population. Regardless of the reports of the Tlalixcoyan self-defense group, the state government released a statement that “there do not exist self-defense groups in Veracruz.” In a press conference, Veracruz Interior Minister Gerardo Buganza rejected the reports by digital news outlets Plumas Libres, AVC, La Jornada Veracruz, and Imagen, adding that if Tlalixcoyan needs additional support, the state will take over security detail in the municipality.

Meanwhile in Michoacán, authorities have reportedly uncovered a troubling intersection between community police forces and organized crime. Early this month, members of the Mexican Army (Secretaría de Defensa Nacional, Sedena) arrested 34 men reportedly masquerading as members of a community police force in the municipality of Buenavista Tomatlán for carrying high-caliber weapons for exclusive use of the military. The Michoacán Interior Ministry (Secretaría de Gobierno) later stated that the men were members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, CJNG). According to El Universal, the operation also freed the municipal police

director, Otoniel Montes Herrera, along with five municipal police officers, who were being

held captive by the group in the municipal capitol building. The arrest has raised concerns that the self-defense groups could be manipulated by organized crime groups on a broader scale. One of those concerned is Eliseo Villar Castillo, leader of the Regional Coordination of Community Activities (Coordinadora Regional de Actividades Comunitarias, CRAC), who in a press conference called on authorities to investigate the self-defense groups that have emerged in various states across the country. CRAC, which represents community police forces (policía comunitaria) in Guerrero, has worked to distinguish its organizations from the so-called self-defense groups, some of which they say have been involved in crimes and abuses against the populations they claim to protect. The legitimate community police forces, he said, have operated for years and do not patrol with masked faces, but rather as uniformed servants, recognized by the people. Villar said that the emergence of the new self-defense groups under the collective name of the Union of Peoples and Organizations of the State of Guerrero (Unión de Pueblos y Organizaciones del Estado de Guerrero, UPOE) “has stained the image of our project,” which emerged out of a need to confront kidnappings, extortion and homicides in the region, unaddressed by police forces who he said are “colluding with the criminals.” The community police forces under the auspices of the CRAC also affirm their legitimacy under Guerrero’s Law 701, which affords indigenous communities rights to certain traditional practices, which, according to CRAC, include community justice. Moreover, Villar ejected a proposal put forth by the state government to in effect make the community police forces auxiliaries to Guerrero’s Public Prosecutor (Ministerio Público), claiming that such a move would violate Law 701. Under the proposed changes, community police forces would only be allowed to make arrests of individuals in the act of committing a crime in flagrante, would be required to immediately hand them over to the corresponding authorities, and would lose the right to their so-called “popular tribunals.” Villar vowed to fight the proposed changes, arguing that over 17 years their judges have handed down punishments geared toward the “re-education” of criminals, consisting of community

Photo: Víctor López, Xinhua


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service during the day and receiving counsel from community elders. He added that prisoners are afforded a healthy diet, conjugal visits, and otherwise have their human rights respected. Meanwhile, however, Bruno Plácido, head of the UPOEG, has embraced the proposal to regulate the community police and self-defense groups, volunteering his group to begin the process of reforming the community police forces, signaling the likelihood of escalating tensions between the CRAC and the UPOEG.

SOURCES “Detienen a 34 narcotraficantes involucrados con autodefensas.” Univisión. March 7, 2013.

Gurrea C., José Antonio. “En puerta, conflicto entre policías comunitarios y gobierno de Guerrero.” El Financiero. March 13, 2013. Otero, Silvia. “Demanda policía comunitaria indagar a autodefensa.” El Universal. March 13, 2013.

“Ahora aparecen grupos de autodefensa en Veracruz; el gobierno niega su existencia.” Proceso. March 14, 2013.

DETAINEE RIGHTS Legislative Assembly in Mexico City proposes revisions to arraigo On March 8, the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District (Asamblea Legislativa del Distrito Federal, ALDF) convened to discuss the possibility of amending a preventative form of detention known in Mexico as arraigo. Arraigo is a juridical measure that can be solicited by the prosecutor before a judge within the respective district. Under current law, an arraigo detainee may be held without any formal arrest or criminal charges for up to 40 days, or up to 80 days with explicit judicial approval, as long as there is some allegation of connections to organized crime. It has been a controversial juridical instrument given that it prolongs detention without first establishing probable cause. According to Excélsior, the Attorney General’s Office of the Federal District (Procuraduría General de Justicia del Distrito Federal, PGJDF) made its position clear regarding the issue of arraigo at the discussions this month in Mexico City. The PGJDF proposed to limit arraigo investigations to 20 days without the possibility of extension. In an interview with Excélsior, José Antonio Mirón Reyes, the assistant attorney general for Legal Affairs, Planning, Inter-institutional Coordination, and Human Rights at the PGJDF (subprocurador Jurídico de Planeación, Coordinación Interinstitucional y Derechos Humanos), stated that the PGJDF found 20 days a sufficient period of time for prosecutor investigations to be conducted, a position supported by members of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (Partido de la Revolución Democrática, PRD) within the Legislative Assembly. For its part, the PRD has expressed that it does not wish to see arraigo abolished. As well, Mirón also offered the PGJDF’s proposal to limit the use of arraigo only to individuals who have been found ‘presumably’ guilty of committed crimes that merit preventive prison sentence, such as for crimes involving kidnapping, homicide, human trafficking, and organized crime. Nevertheless, presumptive responsibility for a crime remains a lax precondition. According to authorities in Mexico City, an arraigo is issued in the DF on average every three days. As Excélsior reports, “[I]n 2012, 104 arraigo cases were solicited before a judge, making up 0.06% of the total criminal incidence rate in the Federal District. This means that of the 179,146 criminal investigations only 104 requested an arraigo.” Though Mirón denied the unconstitutionality of arraigo solicitations, he clarified that they should be used only in exceptional cases. The New Alliance Party (Partido Nueva Alianza, PNA/PANAL) is the only party currently pushing for the abolishment of arraigo.

Legislative Assembly of the Federal District. Photo: Animal Político


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Although supportive of arraigo, the president of the Governance Commission of the ALDF (Comisión de Gobierno en ALDF), Manuel Granados of the PRD has consented to establishing cooperative relations with the Human Rights Commission in Mexico City (Comisión de Derechos Humanos del DF, CDHDF).

SOURCES Monroy, Filiberto C. “PGJDF Propone sólo 20 días para arraigo.” Excélsior. March 8, 2013.

“Proponen limitar arraigo a 20 Días En El DF.” Televisa. March 10, 2013. Aldaz, Phenelope. “Plantean que arraigo sea sólo 20 días.” El Universal. March 18, 2013.

Court rules on unconstitutionality of arresting elders Federal Judge Carlos Alfredo Soto Morales in San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, ruled in favor of an amparo filed by an 82-year-old woman on February 14. The judge declared that the order for the woman’s arrest, which had been granted by a civil court, was unconstitutional, given the age of the elderly woman and the violation of the subject’s dignity had she been detained. The elderly woman’s 12-hour order of arrest came as a result of a case brought forward by her daughter involving a contentious probate dispute. As reported by El Mexicano, the arrest had been validated by a civil judge in favor of a woman identified as the daughter of the elderly subject, who requested the order.

According to the Dictionary of Mexican Legal Terminology by Javier F. Becerra, in Mexico, amparo suits are commonly used as a constitutional remedy to obtain relief against the violation of constitutional civil rights guaranteed by the government or the court of law. It is an injunction unique to Latin America and primarily Mexico that protects individual’s rights from inappropriate acts or failure to act by authorities. In the United States, these sorts of cases are similar to appeals. Judge Soto Morales ruled that an order of arrest made against any adult of 80 years of age or older violates the Mexican Constitution, the laws put in place for the rights of elders, and the concept of human dignity espoused within the Mexican Constitution and the legal standards United Nations. Soto Morales added that an arrest made against such elderly persons

significantly violates the dignity of these individuals, burdening their livelihoods with the emotional anguish brought forth in being detained by police officials, offering examples of being held in an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous environment, and under the supervision of officials insufficiently trained to deal with the needs of the elderly. Soto Morales’ ruling exemplified the notion that it is in the state’s interest to protect the emotional and physical well-being of the elderly, and to recognize their vulnerability especially in the advanced stages of life. The court ruled in favor of the elderly woman, granting her protection from appeal on the basis of the greater vulnerability that adults 80 years of age and older encounter, as well as a recognition of the apparent history of social injustice within Mexico perpetrated against the elderly, specifically citing abandonment and abuse by family members and the larger society in general. Furthermore, the judgment concluded that public offenses, such as infractions, must take into consideration the age of the elderly and assess punishments accordingly. The case is notable because it could influence similar cases that may arise in the future, and also because it illuminates the issue of elderly abuse, calling for the enforcement of the rule of law for the protection of the elderly, particularly of those 80 years and older.

Judge Carlos Alfredo Soto Morales. Photo: Excélsior


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SOURCES “CASO: Inconstitucional, arresto contra adulto de la cuarta edad.” Poder Judicial de la Federacién, Comunicacion Social.

February 14, 2013. Organización Editorial Mexicana. “Juez resolvio inconstitucional, arresto contra adulto de la cuarta edad.” El Mexicano.

February 14, 2013. Reyes, Juan P. “Pide que arresten a su mamá de 82 años; Juez dice que es inconstitucional.” Excélsior. February 14, 2013.

Méndez, Alfredo. “Inconstitucional, arrestar a personas mayores de 80 años.” La Jornada. February 15, 2013. Notimex. “Ilegales, Los Arrestos De Gente De La Cuarta Edad.” El Siglo De Torreon. February 15, 2013.

JUSTICE SECTOR REFORMS Increased funding for implementation of new judicial system The Mexican federal government is set to distribute approximately 458 million Mexican pesos (roughly $36.678 million USD) during the remainder of 2013, divided up among Mexican states to support the state level implementations of the new criminal justice system (Nuevo Sistema de Justicia Penal, NSJP). The Mexican Official Journal of the Federation (Diario Oficial de la Federación, DOF) published guidelines that states have to comply with in order to receive the federal funds. The requirements set forth by the DOF and pending distribution of funds are based on three indicators for each state: population size, crime rates, and the level of progress already made within the state to implement the NSJP. The guidelines published by the federal government consist of 33 key points for states to follow that largely deal with program monitoring, evaluation, and budgetary control, among other areas. Given that each state is moving at its own pace in the implementation process, regulations vary depending on if the state has already implemented the system, is partially operating under the system, or is still in the implementation process. Among the requirements for states to receive financial assistance is that state governments are expected to routinely update their websites with the progress of their implementation, as well as summit their progress reports and results to the Technical Secretariat of the Coordinating Council for the Implementation of the Criminal Justice System (Secretaría Técnica del Consejo de Coordinación para la Implementación del Sistema de Justicia Penal, SETEC), which operates under the Ministry of the Interior (Secretaría de Gobernación, SEGOB). SETEC is also in charge of working with the states to sign the new agreement in order to distribute the funds if the requirements are met. Earlier this year, President Enrique Peña Nieto urged Congress and states to accelerate the implementation process for the new criminal justice system. The NSJP is to be implemented nationwide by 2016, as set forth in the 2008 constitutional reforms passed under former President Felipe Calderón.

SOURCES Hernández Érika. “Peña Nieto llama a acelerar reforma penal.” Terra noticias. February 18, 2013.

Martínez, Fabiola.”Distribuirá gobierno 458 mdp entre estados para reforma de justicia penal.” La Jornada. March 13, 2013. “ACUERDO por el que se establecen las políticas para la obtención y aplicación de los recursos destinados a la implementación de

la Reforma del Sistema de Justicia Penal a favor de las entidades federativas para el ejercicio fiscal 2013.” Diario Oficial de la Federación. March 13, 2013.

VIOLENCE AGAINST THE PRESS Director of Ojinaga Noticias killed Jaime Guadalupe González Domínguez (38) the reporter and director of online newspaper Ojinaga Noticias was assassinated on Sunday, March 3, 2013, at about 6:30 p.m. near the intersection of the streets Trasviña y Retes, in Ojinaga, Chihuahua. According to Univisión, reports indicate that Domínguez was allegedly attacked by a group of armed gunmen, and was shot at 18 times at point blank range. The occurrence is believed to have taken place while Domínguez was making his way back to the Ojinaga Noticias offices, where he was expected to deliver notes and images he had captured on his camera. The assailants, according to these reports, were particularly interested in Domínguez’s digital camera, which they wrestled away from him after opening fire. Witnesses claim that nothing else was stolen during the attack. The public prosecutor has yet to confirm any of these details.


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Following the incident, Ojinaga Noticias published a statement via their website confirming the attack, and added that at the time of the incident, Domínguez was accompanied by a woman who remained unharmed during the act. Univisión reports that Eastern Ojinaga is an area disputed by drug trafficking organizations seeking to control the drug trade to the North. This was not the first journalist to be killed in Chihuahua, and in particular in Ojinaga. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), José Luis Ortega Mata, editor of the weekly Semanario de Ojinaga, was also assassinated in Ojinaga back on February 19, 2001, by an armed group believed to have ties to a drug trafficking organization. Five years later, journalist Enrique Perea Quintanilla was killed in Chihuahua, Chihuahua–the state capital–on August 9, 2006. In April 2012, journalists Héctor Javier Aguirre Salinas García and Francisco Javier Moya Muñoz were then killed in a bar shooting in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, that left 15 dead, two of which were the journalists. Authorities reported that their deaths were “circumstantial,” and not a result of their being targeted for their profession. However, various journalist organizations seemed to think otherwise as they immediately called on the government to thoroughly investigate Salinas García’s and Moya Muñoz’s deaths. According to the Trans-Border Institute’s recent report, “Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2012,” Chihuahua was one of the two states in Mexico, along with Tamaulipas, found to have the highest number of cases in which journalists and media-support workers were killed between 2000 and 2012, each with 11 such homicides. Given its close geographic proximity to the United States, Chihuahua, which is located in northern Mexico and is bordered by four Mexican states (Coahuila, Durango, Sinaloa, and Sonora) and two U.S. states (New Mexico and Texas), makes it attractive territory for drug trafficking organizations and operations, and thus a dangerous region for journalists and media workers, and particularly crime reporters. As a result, news outlets, some reporting direct threats from criminals, are widely reported to be “self-censoring,” avoiding covering stories on organized crime that could attract unwanted attention from criminal organizations. Looking at the country as a whole, the “Drug Violence in Mexico” report argues that Mexico has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to work. The report identified 74 cases of journalists and media-support workers killed between 2006 and 2012 in Mexico, with 2006, 2009, and 2011 having the highest number of killings. This tally of organized crime-related homicide victims included journalists and media-support workers employed with a recognized news organization at the time of their deaths, as well as independent, free-lance, and former journalists and media-support workers.

SOURCES Molzahn et. al. “Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis through 2012.″ Trans-Border Institute. February 2013.

“Asesinan al Periodista Jaime Guadalupe Gonzalez en Chihuahua.” Univisión. March 4, 2013. Fierro, Luis A. “Asesinan a Periodista en Chihuahua.” El Universal. March 4, 2013.

Redacción. “Ejecutan al reportero-director de este medio. Muy probablemente esta sea nuestra última Nota.” Ojinaga Noticias. March 4, 2013.

“El sitio ‘Ojinaga Noticias’ cierra tras el asesinato de su director.” CNN México. March 5, 2013. “Journalists Killed: Enrique Perea Quintanilla.” Committee to Protect Journalists. Last visited March 7, 2013.

“Journalists Killed: José Luis Ortega Mata.” Committee to Protect Journalists. Last visited March 7, 2013.

Journalist Jaime Guadalupe González Dominguez. Photo: Ojinaga Noticias


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AROUND THE STATES AGUASCALIENTES: Congress approves law to implement oral trials

The LXI Legislature of Congress in Aguascalientes unanimously approved the final package of reform initiatives and supporting laws--including the Law on the Enforcement of Criminal Sanctions, and the Law of Attention and Protection to the Victim and the Offended--that will establish the basis for the implementation of the new Adversarial Criminal Justice System (Nuevo Sistema de Justicia Penal, NSJP), which is largely built upon the switch to a system based on oral trials. Aguascalientes Governor Carlos Lozano de la Torre later presented those reforms.

Despite the reform’s approval, Deputy Sergio Augusto López Ramírez of the Ecological Green Party of Mexico (Partido Verde Ecologista de México, PVEM) raised his concern with the continued use of arraigo permitted under the new judicial system, specifically under Article 16 of the Mexican Constitution amended in 2008. Nevertheless, the new judicial system in Aguascalientes is expected to go into effect in 2014. Once the NSJP is implemented, the general public will have access to quicker and swifter justice, justice that more strongly supports human rights, and a judicial system that is capable of hearing all cases

SOURCES Legaspi, Mario Mora. “Aprueba Aguascalientes leyes para juicios orales.” El Sol del Centro. March 6, 2013.

“Aprueba el Congreso de Aguascalientes los juicios orales.” Desda la red. March 14, 2013. CHIHUAHUA: First oral trial on labor law to be held in Parral

The first oral trial on labor law was held on March 19, 2013 in Parral, Chihuahua, which authorities are hoping will set the precedent for future trials. The head of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare for the state of Chihuahua, Fidel Pérez Romero, explained that the effort to implement the system to handle such cases was with the help of the International Labor Organization and the European Union. The goal of oral trials is to expedite the judicial processing of a case within 90 days and to do so in a transparent form. The decision to start the trials in Parral was a strategic move by state authorities

who want to implement the new system in a location where the number of claims and cases are numerically lower than in major cities like Chihuahua, thus avoiding overwhelming the new system given Parral’s smaller volume of cases being processed.

SOURCES Fierro, Pedro. “El 19 de marzo primer juicio oral laboral en Chihuahua: Fidel Pérez.” Tiempo. March 5, 2013.

Organización Editorial Mexicana. “El primer juicio oral laboral en el país será en Parral.” La Prensa. March 15, 2013. COAHUILA: First oral trial in Coahuila for June

According to Penal Judge Hiradier Huerta, oral trials for criminal cases in Coahuila will begin being held in the municipality of Monclova on June 1, 2013. According to the Judicial Reform of Coahuila, the oral trials will not initially cover cases of homicide, though they will be used for cases of crime involving robbery, fraud, abuse, and domestic violence. In preparation for the trials to begin, ten judges who were already trained in the new accusatorial system have instituted a training program for 20 public defenders, private attorneys, and other judicial professionals to ensure their readiness by June.

According to Judge Huerta, Coahuila is one of the 12 to 15 Mexican states that have legislation approved for the new criminal justice system (Nuevo Sistema de Justicia Penal, NSJP), is in the process of training


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legal workers and professionals, and is set to hold its first oral trial in one of the new oral trial courtrooms being constructed in the state.

SOURCES Farías, Criselda. “Tendrá Monclova primer juicio oral.” El Norte. March 12, 2013.

EDOMEX: Estado de México signs agreement for Unified Police Command

On March 4, Eruviel Ávila, Governor of the State of Mexico (Estado de México, Edomex), oversaw the signing of an agreement between municipalities throughout the state to finish establishing the Unified Police Command (Mando Único). Under this model, public security departments at the state and municipal level will unify and coordinate under a single centralized command at the state level. According to Ávila, 119 of the 125 municipalities are incorporated under and moving towards this model already, representing more than 90% of all municipal security departments. As for the remaining six

municipalities that have not yet agreed to join the unified police force, the governor is optimistic. “We still have six municipalities in which we will have to respectfully persuade, with arguments and clear examples, and soon enough I am certain that we will reach an agreement,” said Ávila. “I will ultimately respect the decisions of those municipalities that have other points of view.”

SOURCES Velasco, María de los Ángeles. “Firman convenio de Mando Único Policial en el Estado de México.” Excélsior.

March 4, 2013.

Justice in Mexico Project

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About the Project: The Justice in Mexico Project studies rule of law developments in Mexico, and is coordinated through the Trans-Border Institute (TBI) at Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego. The Justice in Mexico Project conducts and disseminates research on three broad categories related to the rule of law: law and order, transparency and accountability, and access to justice. The project receives generous financial support from the MacArthur Foundation. To make a financial contribution to our organization, please visit: http://www.sandiego.edu/tbi/support. About the Report: The Justice in Mexico Project produces monthly news reports based on regular monitoring of international, national, and sub-national developments affecting the rule of law Mexico. The project also provides periodic updates to its news blog and stores archives of past reports at http://www.justiceinmexico.org. This report was compiled by Research Associate Cory Molzahn. Direct contributions and edits were made by Kimberly Heinle and Octavio Rodríguez, with research assistance from Ricardo Carmona, Tiana Carriedo, Nathalie Gomez, Alma Menera, and Lorena Quezada. The report is coordinated by David A. Shirk, Principal Investigator, Octavio Rodriguez, Program Coordinator, and Kimberly Heinle, Operations Coordinator. Any opinions expressed in attributions for this summary are those manifested in the media reports and op-ed pieces compiled herein, and not those of the University of San Diego, the Trans-Border Institute, or its sponsors. Please report any questions, corrections, or concerns to [email protected]. Copyright Justice in Mexico Project, 2013. All rights reserved.

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