MEXICO'S 75 POINT SECURITY PACT: 100 DAYS LATER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 003690 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/12/2027 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SNAR KCRM MX SUBJECT: MEXICO'S 75 POINT SECURITY PACT: 100 DAYS LATER MEXICO 00003690 001.2 OF 003 C O R R E C T E D C O P Y - PARA 3 & 5 MARKINGS ADDED AND PARAGRAPHS RENUMBERED REF: MEXICO 2669 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Charles V. Barclay. Reason: 1.4 (b),(d). ¶1. (C) Summary. President Calderon's government has made genuine progress against the obligations outlined in last summer's 75 point security pact, purging law enforcement institutions of many corrupt officials, getting Mexico's legislature to boost security spending in the 2009 budget and establishing a mechanism to improve security coordination among all levels of government. If fully implemented, many of these measures should improve policing here. However, it is far too early to gauge their impact, and many of the objectives in the pact, such as strengthened law enforcement institutions, were ill-defined and broad sweeping. By creating new institutions and programs through executive fiat and legislation, President Calderon and Mexico's Congress have managed to check some, but not all, important boxes. Concrete success, however, will require sustained efforts over the long term. End Summary Evaluating the GOM's Compliance -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The 75-point agenda, borne out the August security summit among GOM officials, legislators, the judiciary and civil society, committed virtually every institution here to contribute to the war against crime. Implemented over the next three years (reftel),it called on all branches of government to move forward on a number of key points within 100 days of signing. Local media outlets have been carefully counting down the 100 days, and on November 28 President Calderon outlined to the National Public Security Council progress in meeting these objectives. ¶3. (C) Based on Calderon's account, and through conversations with some of the players charged with implementation, we cite key areas of progress -- with our own caveats: -- PURGE AND STRENGTHEN SECURITY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT INSTITUTIONS. Calderon frankly offered a mixed account of the progress his administration had achieved against this objective, underscoring recent arrests of top law enforcement officials, but also highlighting in written testimony to congress a recent federal review of police officers, in which half of the 56,000 tested failed to reach minimal service standards. While his Secretary for Public Security admitted that the government has only evaluated some 15 percent of the country's 420,000 police officers, the president described the GOM's move to develop national standards for evaluating and vetting police officers. Legislation passed this month establishes a four year deadline for all of the country's 2,500 police forces -- from municipal to state to federal -- to submit themselves to confidence control centers for common screening including a drug test, a medical exam, psychological and personal assets screening, and a polygraph. Comment: The Calderon administration deserves praise for targeting high-level corruption, although each high level arrest serves as a reminder of just how widespread the problem of corruption is and prompts many to wonder whether the government is only touching the tip of the iceberg. The concept of vetting the entire police sounds great in theory. In practice it is a daunting task. No doubt, corrupt officials will devise ways to work the system, making it imperative that the government aggressively prosecute those implicated in corrupt acts. --ALLOCATE ADDITIONAL SECURITY RESOURCES IN THE 2009 BUDGET. Congress passed a 2009 budget with a 33 percent increase from last year in resources dedicated to security and public order. Security and justice spending next year will total USD 5 billion. Comment: Earmarking a sharp increase in spending is one thing; actually making additional resources available to law enforcement is another. GOM elements have been oftentimes hard-pressed to quickly absorb and put to use new monies. --ENGAGE CIVIL SOCIETY TO STRENGTHEN REPORTING ON CORRUPTION AND POOR GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE. The GOM's most significant achievement has been to institute new procedures. On December 9, Calderon announced an entirely new accountability program that allows Mexicans to report corruption through MEXICO 00003690 002.2 OF 003 federal government websites, the post office, a toll-free telephone number and other outlets. Also, according to the president of PGR,s Citizen Participation Council (CPC),an independent PGR oversight mechanism established in 2002, his office is now receiving all citizen complaints against PGR directly via email and a toll free number. (Before, PGR staff would review and then pass them to the CPC.) At the same time, he reports, the number of such complaints has more than doubled. Comment: The surge in citizen complaints against the PGR suggests that public has greater trust in this mechanism now that PGR is not the intermediary. Traditionally, Mexicans, both as individuals and members of civil society groups, have been reluctant to engage government on the problem of corruption because they doubted authorities would take their complaints seriously. New channels for registering complaints, if they are used and result in actions against corrupt/inept officials, could improve confidence levels over time. --IMPROVE PUBLIC SECURITY COORDINATION AMONG FEDERAL, STATE, AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS. Calderon's National Public Security System bill, passed in early December, creates information and crime prevention centers that are designed to better coordinate federal, state, and local government efforts. Details have yet to be worked out. The bill also provides the National Public Security Council (consisting of Secretaries of Government, National Defense, Marines, and Public Security, as well as the Attorney General, governors, the mayor of Mexico City, and President) power to determine criteria for reallocating federal resources to the states and Mexico City. Comment: It remains to be seen how such coordination will be implemented in practice given the lack of trust federal police have for state and municipal elements. Information sharing among the three levels of government has its downside: potentially putting good information in the hands of bad cops. In the best of all worlds, effective law enforcement requires cooperation and coordination at all levels. Earned trust, however, is a prerequisite for this to work at an operational level -- reinforcing the need for stronger vetting procedures and better cops. -- CREATE A BODY OF CITIZEN OBSERVERS TO OVERSEE THE COMPLETION OF GOM COMMITMENTS. According to NGO leader Angel Corona of the National Committee of Public Security and Citizen Participation, the leaders of 10 NGOs have met twice with President Calderon to discuss security concerns since the signing of the accord. Comment: The NGO Mexico United against Crime is spear-heading the effort to establish this Citizen Oversight Body, which is still a work in progress. -- AUTHORIZE PUBLIC SECURITY INSTITUTIONS, INCLUDING POLICE FORCES, TO ACQUIRE LARGE CALIBER AUTOMATIC WEAPONS. Calderon maintained in his address that SEDENA has taken steps to "update" collective firearms permits giving state governments the authorization they need to acquire automatic weapons. Comment: We have been unable to verify Calderon,s claim with either SEDENA or SSP. However, one of the incessant complaints made by police officials in Mexico is that they are outgunned by the cartels. Movement on this front will give these forces greater firepower. Again, success of this initiative will depend on upgrading the performance and reliability of state police elements. --CULTURE OF LAWFULNESS CAMPAIGNS. The profile of GOM public outreach on security has increased in recent weeks with a noticeable uptick in television commercials, social capital commercials at movie theaters, and billboard ads urging citizens not to succumb to those who demand bribes. Comment: Transforming a social culture which has historically regarded corruption as a "cost of getting on with daily life in Mexico" will take time and more than just advertising. Congress Has Work to Do -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The pact also called for Congress to move on all key security justice reform legislation (submitted by October 1) MEXICO 00003690 003.2 OF 003 by the end of the legislative session on December 15, a few days after the 100 day deadline. Mexican Congressional leaders, however, agreed to debate only four of the six key proposals, including the public security law, the creation of a national registry for cell phones, the miscellaneous penal law, which contains secondary legislation necessary to implement the constitutional justice reform changes made last year, and the anti-kidnapping law. Police reorganization and narcomenudeo legislation have been postponed until next session, and opposition from the PRI and PRD to the police reform measures could force the GOM to make significant concessions to secure its passage. ¶5. (C) Jose Nava, Technical Secretary of the Senate Justice Commission, told Poloff on December 5 that the passage of the promised legislation was held up mostly by more serious disagreements among the various parties than expected. The brouhaha over energy reform and the death of Secretary of Government Mourino and former Deputy Attorney General Vasconcelos, who had been charged with developing and implementing legislative measures to advance justice and law enforcement reforms, also contributed to delays in the process. Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) Mexican politicians were initially quick to applaud the 75-point accord as a major advance in establishing criteria for addressing concerns over security. It remains to be seen however whether it serves a credible barometer of success. It bears recalling, for example, that the impetus for pursuing the agreement was public outrage over the country,s soaring kidnapping problem, not the more insidious and broader challenges posed by the drug trade. Second, the vague commitments that make up the accord - such as "strengthening the prison system," with a deadline of two years - make it tempting for leaders to conclude many of the security problems can be solved by instituting minor fixes and throwing some money at them. In most instances, however, fundamental reform of Mexico's law enforcement system across all branches of government, reinforced by political will forged across party divides, will be a prerequisite -- and a long-term proposition --for establishing the kind of security founded on respect for rule of law that Mexicans desire and deserve. 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