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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | December 2006 
Mexico's New AG Vows to Fight Cartels
 Alfredo Corchado - Dallas Morning News
| | Funerals, like this one for a Nuevo Laredo police officer, have become commonplace in Mexican border towns, where cartels battle for control of smuggling routes into the U.S. (Erich Schlegel/DMN) |
Facing the Mexican Senate this week, the man chosen to fight the country's powerful drug cartels, Eduardo Medina Mora, didn't mince words. He called Mexico's crime situation "very delicate" and compared its trafficking groups to La Cosa Nostra.
Mr. Medina Mora won Senate confirmation on Thursday and became Mexico's attorney general. He pledged to wage a "firm, categorical" fight against corruption inside police circles and to restore public trust and confidence, acknowledging that "today there are signs that society is unsafe."
"The two major problems that we confront are one, a weakened institutional system, and drug traffickers," Mr. Medina Mora said. "Because of the scenario we face, we must respond with all our force. ... This challenge will not be, cannot be, tolerated."
A veteran law enforcement and intelligence official, Mr. Medina Mora faces a colossal task, colleagues and analysts say. Large swaths of Mexico are now in the firm control of warring drug traffickers, who enforce their power through kidnappings, murders and the torture of citizens, police and rival gang members.
And the problems aren't confined to Mexico. Across the border, U.S. communities are often caught in the battle for control of smuggling routes into the United States, as in the case of Laredo and Texas towns south of El Paso.
"The drug trafficking problem is the No. 1 negative that our two countries have," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said. "Look, this isn't just Mexico's problem. If you don't have a market for it, you don't have the demand, the supply side goes away. We have just as much responsibility for this."
Mr. Perry, in Mexico City for President Felipe Calderón's inauguration last week, said he plans to visit with Mr. Medina Mora within 60 days to discuss better ways to coordinate law enforcement efforts along the border.
U.S. officials have privately told officials in the Calderón administration that Mexico needs to "take control of a serious situation," said one U.S. law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Some crime experts warn that Mr. Calderón and Mr. Medina Mora cannot simply focus on using greater force in taking on drug traffickers, saying that they also must strengthen social networks, education and basic institutions such as families. Mexico and many other Latin American countries are seeing an increase in drug use.
José Arturo Yáńez Romero, a professor at Mexico's National Institute for Criminal Law, said Mr. Medina Mora must make the attorney general's office much more efficient and train its agents for increased coordination with other institutions.
Mr. Yáńez said studies show that between 2002 and 2005, the attorney general's office prosecuted more than 29,000 petty criminals, including minor drug users. In that same period, only 652 members of organized crime organizations were prosecuted.
Another study by Mr. Yáńez found that 3,502 federal investigators of the attorney general's office have been investigated for corruption since 2001, and hundreds more for other crimes.
Mr. Yáńez described Mr. Mora Medina's task as "very difficult."
Mr. Medina Mora, a veteran intelligence agent, also has his detractors. Leftist leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, called Mr. Medina Mora a "criminal" for his crackdown against protesters in the southern state of Oaxaca while head of the federal Public Security Ministry.
The PRD, Mexico's No. 2 party in Congress, voted as a bloc against confirming the new attorney general.
Political analyst José Antonio Crespo said that Mr. Medina Mora has not proven effective in past jobs, such as head of intelligence for the Interior Ministry.
During his Dec. 1 inauguration ceremony, Mr. Calderón called for a crackdown on organized crime and the corrupt officials who facilitate the worsening crime situation in exchange for bribes.
Mr. Calderón also asked his top crime fighters for a plan within 90 days to take on the drug traffickers. Moreover, he's pushing for reforms that would impose tougher sentences on drug traffickers and other criminals.
Mr. Calderón's crime-fighting Cabinet also includes National Defense Minister Guillermo Galván Galván, Interior Minister Francisco Javier Ramírez Acuńa and Public Security Minister Genaro García Luna.
Mr. Calderón has promised members of the military a "substantial raise" in return for a larger role in the fight against drug traffickers.
"It's not going to be easy or quick. It will take time, it will cost a lot of money, and unfortunately even more lives," Mr. Calderón said. "I will be at the forefront of this battle. We are going to beat crime."
The fight pits the Sinaloa cartel against Gulf cartel, based on the U.S.-Texas border in Nuevo Laredo. So far this year, some 2,200 people have been killed by members of organized crime, according to a tabulation by the Mexico City newspaper El Universal. The total includes hundreds of law enforcement officials and eight journalists, making Mexico the most dangerous place for reporters after Iraq, according to Cepet, an independent journalism watchdog group.
At least 13 people, including four police officers, were killed last weekend in Michoacán, Mr. Calderón's home state.
The record number of gangland killings this year – far surpassing last year's estimate of 1,300 – includes a dozen decapitations. Other victims have been tortured and killed as cameras recorded their deaths. The tapes were later sent to their loved ones.
The latest terrorist tactic, used by drug traffickers in Sinaloa, was to torture and throw three rivals from airplanes, the attorney general's office said this week.
"This problem dominates the entire country, as no one can escape the anarchy that exists in many provinces and the capital itself," El Universal said an editorial this week. It hailed Mr. Calderón's call for urgent measures.
Colleagues and experts describe Mr. Medina Mora as a measured man, part crime fighter and part intellectual. He is known in intelligence circles throughout Latin America and the United States, participating in seminars and roundtable discussions, such as at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which is based in Washington.
"Eduardo Medina Mora's appointment bodes well for the prospect of judicial reform," said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, director of the center's Mexico Project. "He's the right person to try and work with Congress and build consensus behind a judicial reform package."
Staff writer Laurence Iliff in Mexico City contributed to this report. Email acorchado@dallasnews.com
Anti-Corruption Plan Unveiled
Alejandro Torres - El Universal
Coinciding with Saturday´s observation of International Day against Corruption, comptroller general Germán Martínez presented the administration´s six-point plan to battle government fraud and dishonesty.
"Corruption is an insult to the poorest Mexicans," Martínez said in a news conference. "It is an issue of equality and as such it is a priority issue for President Calderón."
The six themes to be included within President Calderón´s National Development Plan (PND) target corruption by emphasizing accountability, transparency and unfettered access to public information.
The PND will be presented to Congress as required by the Constitution. Among the anti-corruption themes are:
1. Synchronizing public accounting procedures and methods of reporting financial information across all levels of government. The focus here will be on federal funds distributed to states and municipalities.
2. The Public Function Secretariat (headed by Martínez) and the Education Secretariat will coordinate efforts to introduce ethics and accountability issues into the curriculum.
3. To strengthen the Access to Public Information Institute by making its mandate a constitutional requirement and not just a legal requirement.
4. Public audits of federal entities will be increased in number and they will be more comprehensive. Performance evaluation of departments and personnel will also be instituted, with emphasis on evaluating how public funds are spent and how effectively public policies are being implemented, particularly those that have to do with the war on poverty.
5. The executive branch will revise training programs for federal bureaucrats, raise the standards for performance evaluation and emphasize professionalism.
6. The executive branch will revise regulations and requirements for public servants to clarify obligations and responsibilities with an eye on encouraging public servants to actively participate in the war against corruption.
After presenting this six- point plan, Martínez insisted the new administration would not overlook the importance of these themes and would try to lead by example.
"The success of this battle depends on the efforts of everyone, from the top on down," he said. "This includes all public institutions, political parties, civic organizations and the citizenry in particular."
Martínez said the Calderón administration would remain grounded in reality and was confident that transparency and accountability was the path to follow.
"My office will coordinate efforts with all spheres of government on all levels to take on this challenge," he said. "The goal of a Mexico without corruption can be explained to our youth in the classroom, but it will have a greater impact if it isclearly demonstrated by the government."
"The Calderón government knows we have work to do." |
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