CALDERON CONTINUES ANTI-CORRUPTION SWEEP

180111 2008-11-25 22:24:00 08MEXICO3498 Embassy Mexico CONFIDENTIAL 08MEXICO2371|08MEXICO3321 VZCZCXRO9712 RR RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM DE RUEHME #3498/01 3302224 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 252224Z NOV 08 FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4125 INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE RHMFISS/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL RHMFISS/HQ USNORTHCOM RUEAHLA/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SNAR KCRM MX C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 003498 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR INL E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SNAR KCRM MX SUBJECT: CALDERON CONTINUES ANTI-CORRUPTION SWEEP REF: A. MEXICO 2371 ¶B. MEXICO 3321 Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor James Merz. Reason: 1.4 (b),(d). ¶1. (C) Summary. The Calderon administration's anti-corruption initiative Operation Cleanup most recently produced the arrest of the head of Interpol in Mexico and a former Deputy Attorney General/anti-drug czar. While the revelations of narco-infiltration into the upper echelons of law enforcement community have given rise to alarm in public circles, they also help Calderon burnish his credentials as a leader committed to combating organized crime and corruption -- an effect that may come more into view over the longer term. The only real loser may be Secretary of Public Security Genaro Garcia Luna, who will have to work hard to overcome the perception that he is either oblivious to what goes on around him or tolerates his subordinates' activities. End Summary. Operation Cleanup: Cleaning House -------------- ¶2. (SBU) As part of the Mexican Government's anti-corruption Operation Cleanup (Limpieza),an ongoing investigation into information leaks by law enforcement officials to drug traffickers (see reftels),Rodolfo de la Guardia Garcia, a former top official at AFI, was placed under forty- days arrest-in-place after being taken into custody in October. More recently, the Director for International Police Affairs at the Federal Investigative Agency (AFI) and head of Interpol in Mexico, Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas, was similarly placed under forty -days arrest-in-place last week for his alleged links with drug cartels. Interpol announced November 20 that it sent a team to Mexico to investigate the possibility that its communication systems and databases are not being used for legitimate law enforcement purposes, even while the Mexican government sought to assure Interpol that no sensitive information from the international police agency's system was leaked to cartels. Mexico's Interpol office, or National Central Bureau, is staffed and run by AFI. ¶3. (SBU) In addition to these apprehensions, Mexico's former head of the Attorney General's (PGR) Office of the Sub-Prosecutor for the Investigation of Organized Crime (SIEDO),Noe Ramirez Mandujano, popularly regarded as Mexico's anti-drug czar, was also arrested last week for his alleged involvement with cartels. Ramirez had served in that position for twenty months until he resigned in July. Attorney General Media Mora announced that information from a member of the Sinaloa cartel accused Ramirez of accepting a 450,000 USD monthly payment from the cartel in exchange for confidential information. Over thirty Mexican government officials have been arrested or dismissed since July in connection with Operation Cleanup. Good For President Calderon -------------- ¶4. (C) Gutierrez and Ramirez are two of the highest ranking GOM officials uncovered by Operation Cleanup, demonstrating the Calderon administration's ostensible commitment to cleaning house even as investigations encroach on the upper echelons of government. Political and security analyst Juan Pardinas told Poloff on November 24 that he was "pleasantly surprised" by the arrests of Gutierrez and Ramirez and opined that Calderon is "hitting the right targets" with Operation Cleanup. Pardinas also said that this was the strongest anti-corruption message the president has sent so far. ¶5. (C) Pardinas expects that the recent round of arrests and investigations probably will lead, at the very least, to more apprehensions of mid-level officials. In the short term, the arrests may undermine public confidence in both Calderon and Mexico's security apparatus as the extent of narco-infiltration in government is made clear. Pardinas suggested that in the long term, however, the housecleaning will help to build Calderon's track record as being truly committed to restoring the integrity of and public faith in MEXICO 00003498 002 OF 002 Mexico's public security system. Bad for Garcia Luna? -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Mexican media outlets have highlighted that many of the recent investigations have been focused on officials close to Secretary of Public Security (SSP) Garcia Luna, including Gutierrez, Francisco Navarro, chief of SSP's Special Operations, Gerardo Garay Cadena, head of the Federal Preventative Police, and Mario Velarde Martinez, who had served as Garcia Luna's private secretary. While in Peru attending the APEC Summit, Calderon publicly expressed his confidence in Garcia Luna and said that Garcia Luna would not be the Public Security Secretary if the president had any doubts as to his abilities. Calderon exhorted observers not to interpret Operation Cleanup as targeted at any one person. ¶7. (C) Nevertheless, some perceive the investigations into the behavior of so many of Garcia Luna's close colleagues and subordinates as potentially undermining his authority as an effective Public Security Secretary. While high-level PGR officials also have been subject to investigations and arrests, Medina Mora's reputation does not appear to be taking a similar hit, probably in some measure because PGR is conducting its own anti-corruption sweeps. SSP, on the other hand, appears to be less an active agent in an anti-corruption campaign and more a passive participant as the PGR is investigating and prosecuting corruption cases in the Secretariat. Pardinas noted that the number of corrupted officials surrounding Garcia Luna points to either negligence or tolerance on his part, even if thus far evidence has not been presented to publicly implicate Garcia Luna in corrupt activities. While press sources speculate that Calderon may soon ask Garcia Luna to step down, it bears recalling that press and political circles have been rife with such rumors practically since Garcia Luna assumed his current post. ¶8. (C) Concerns about Garcia Luna's ability to manage his subordinates may complicate Mexico's ability to work bilaterally on sensitive security issues. In addition to Interpol's concerns regarding the integrity of its information and databases, Colombia also is worried about the levels of corruption in Mexican law enforcement. Political Officer Paola Holguin at the Colombian Embassy in Mexico City told Poloff on November 19 that the Director of Colombia's National Police had recently told Garcia Luna that if he does not better vet--and demonstrate to Colombia that the vetting process was thorough--Federal Police officers receiving training from Colombia, Bogota will need to look at cutting off the program. Comment -------------- ¶9. (C) Calderon may be stung in the short term by a public reeling from revelations of narco-infiltration into high levels of the Mexican security apparatus. In the longer term, however, such efforts will help him to build a reputation as being committed to combating organized crime and the cartels both inside his own house and in the country writ large. The key will be developing an institutional capacity to keep the forces clean, something that will take a sustained commitment over many years to achieve. The real loser in all this may be Garcia Luna, who while to date not implicated personally in the corrupt activities of his subordinates, will have to work hard to overcome the perception that he is either oblivious to what goes on around him or tolerates his underlings' less-than-savory activities. Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / GARZA