MEXICO: TAKING STOCK OF LEGISLATIVE SECURITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 MEXICO 003743

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/12/2027
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SNAR KCRM MX
SUBJECT: MEXICO: TAKING STOCK OF LEGISLATIVE SECURITY
ACCOMPLISHMENTS

REF: A. MEXICO 3690

B. MEXICO 2699

C. MEXICO 3099

D. MEXICO 2951

Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Charles V. Barclay.
Reason: 1.4 (b),(d).


1. (C) SUMMARY. Congress' work this session fell short of
its 75 point security pact promises, but the legislation that
did pass represents important steps forward in judicial and
security reform and restructuring. The path to approving
the legislation was not without some debate and concession,
and laws still pending, most notably police reorganization,
will be similarly fraught. Moreover, Mexico's most
fundamental problem is not essentially due to a lack of laws,
but rather the uneven and inefficient application of them.
The new measures will do nothing to solve the country's
embedded corruption issues nor help make significant advances
in the war on organized crime unless they are effectively and
uniformly implemented--something that is, of course, always
easier said than done. END SUMMARY.

Congressional Scorecard Mixed
--------------


2. (SBU) Congress started this session with an ambitious
mandate to fulfill its commitments as established by the
August 75 point security accord (ref a and b) -- to process
all security legislation presented by the start of October,
which included amongst other items, federal police
reorganization, asset forfeiture, reforms to the penal code,
anti-kidnapping measures, depenalization of small quantities
of drugs purchased for consumption, and changes to the
national public security system. Congress was able to make
significant progress on a number of key bills, but other
items will languish in committee through the winter recess as
parties continue to hash out differences.


3. (SBU) With the end of the session rapidly approaching,
Congress determined in early December that it would have to
narrow its focus in the remaining days to successfully pass a
number of bills. Congress pledged that it would consider
four of the six key items of security legislation, including
the General Law for the Public Security System, an
anti-kidnapping reform, the creation of a national cell phone
registry, and the "miscellaneous penal" reforms. Exceeding
more pessimistic estimations that few--if any--of the
measures would be passed this session, four bills were indeed
approved by both houses.

Security Legislation Roundup
--------------


4. (SBU) The approval of the four bills resulted from a last
minute push to see results before the end of the session.
They include:

--GENERAL LAW FOR THE NATIONAL PUBLIC SECURITY SYSTEM.
Despite PRD reservations, both the Senate and Chamber of
Deputies approved this bill, which the President submitted to
Congress with the intent of improving coordination between
federal, state, and municipal police forces, as well as
establishing vetting and certification standards for all of
the country's police officers. The law makes obligatory
collaboration between the three levels of government and
prohibits state and municipal bodies from designing security
policy or strategies that are unregulated and do not follow
specific national criteria. The bill calls for a new
National Council for Public Security, which the President
will head and will include the Secretaries of Government,
National Defense, Marines, and Public Security; the Attorney
General; the country's governors; the mayor of Mexico City;
and an executive secretary for the National Public Security
System. This council will be charged with determining
criteria for the distribution of public security resources to
the states and to Mexico City. The law also creates new
centers for information, certification, and prevention to
better coordinate government security efforts. Perhaps most
critical to improving Mexico's corruption-ridden police
forces, the legislation establishes a four year deadline for
all of the country's 2,500 police forces 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. A new disciplinary

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regimen will be established to enforce legality, objectivity,
efficiency, professionalism, and a respect for human rights
amongst police forces. The law mandates economic sanctions
for states that make poor use of resources and criminal
penalties for federal, state, and municipal functionaries who
misuse such funds.

--MISCELLANEOUS PENAL CODE REFORMS. Despite its rather vague
name, the "miscellaneous penal" bill includes some of the key
secondary legislation necessary for the implementation of
justice reform measures passed via constitutional changes
earlier this year. Important measures include: allowing law
enforcement agencies to protect the identities of undercover
agents even in judicial proceedings; permitting the use of
privately taped conversations as evidence; requiring the
immediate registration of all suspects apprehended into a
federal database; establishing punishments for illegally
detaining suspects and tampering with evidence; allowing
investigators to take their petitions for warrants to a
special tribunal if permission is not ruled on by a judge
within 24 hours; allowing investigators to provide special
protection to victims of crime and witnesses; mandating crime
scene protection measures; establishing minimum standards
required for the rehabilitation of prisoners; putting
convicted organized crime members in special maximum security
prisons; allowing convicts from indigenous communities to
serve sentences in prisons near their homes; and permitting
the detention of organized crime suspects to be held for up
to 80 days with judicial authorization before being formally
charged while the investigation continues. The reform has
been sent to the Executive for promulgation.

--CELL PHONE REGISTRY LAW. Both houses approved and sent to
Calderon a new law calling for the creation of a national
registry of cell phone owners to counter kidnappings and
extortions, in which criminal networks often use untraceable
mobile phones--particularly the pay-as-you-go variety--for
ransom demands. Telecommunication companies will be required
within the year to ask customers purchasing cell phones or
phone memory cards to provide their name, address, and
fingerprints. It is not clear how the GOM will cope with the
many informal cell phone and memory card vendors who sell
such products unregulated in Mexico's streets.

--ANTI-KIDNAPPING CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE. The proposed reform
to Article 73 of the Mexican constitution would give Congress
the ability to "expedite" a general federal kidnapping law to
harmonize the kidnapping penal code throughout the country.
It would also grant states new abilities to investigate and
combat kidnapping, except in cases of organized crime
activities, which the federal authorities will continue to
investigate and prosecute. Once the constitutional change is
promulgated, local state congresses will have to reform and
adapt their local penal codes to the new law. The proposed
change was approved by the Chamber and the Senate and will
now have to be approved by 17 state congresses in order to be
ratified.

Conflict and Compromise
--------------


5. (C) The first several months of this legislative session
were characterized by acrimonious deliberations over
contentious energy reform and the 2009 budget, which hindered
Congress' ability to begin work on security and justice
reforms. The passage of these measures was certainly less
divisive than the earlier items, and congressional debate
seemed to be characterized by a greater sense of urgency and
purpose. Nevertheless, the approval of these laws was not
without some argument and concessions between the various
parties. The National Public Security System Law seems to
have generated the most points of contention during
congressional debate. In fact, the Revolutionary Democratic
Party (PRD) opposed it in the final Chamber of Deputies vote,
feeling that their concerns were not adequately reflected in
the final version of the bill. The PRD primarily objected to
the inclusion of the Secretaries of Defense and Marines in
the National Council for Public Security. In a conversation
with Poloff on December 4, PRD Senator Tomas Torres claimed
that it is unconstitutional for the military leadership to be
involved in decision-making on civil issues, as it conflicts
with their role on the Council.


6. (C) The PAN appears to have made a concession to the PRI
by agreeing to name the President and not the Public Security

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Secretary (SSP) as head of the national public security
council. PRI congressional leaders explained to Poloff that
their logic for the change revolves around ensuring that the
President--the country's highest authority--takes
responsibility for public security matters. Nevertheless,
political and security analysts also suspect that a mistrust
of the SSP in general and SSP head Genaro Garcia Luna in
particular drove the PRI's approach on this issue.


7. (SBU) The miscellaneous penal reforms also caused some
congressional friction prompting concern in some quarters
that Calderon's proposal would give "excessive powers" to the
police forces and risk turning Mexico into a "police state."
Both the PRI and PRD rebuffed measures, for example, that
would have allowed police to execute searches without a
warrant. The PRD also secured a change to the originally
submitted text--which had called for the complete secrecy of
preliminary investigations--to allow some discretionary
access be given to those involved in the case.

Controversial Measures Still Pending
--------------


8. (C) Still on the congressional docket for next session are
police reorganization, narcomenudeo, and asset forfeiture.
Senate Justice Commission Technical Secretary Jose Navas told
Poloff earlier this month that the Senate was on the verge of
approving a draft of the asset forfeiture bill, which looks
very similar to the original proposal submitted by Calderon.
Nevertheless, local press reports suggest that federal
deputies felt pressed to move to quickly on the measure and
instead decided to devote more time to considering it next
session. Most congressional insiders and analysts expect the
bill to be approved relatively soon after Congress again
convenes, but parties could decide to play politics, wrangle
over terms, and delay its passage if it seems politically
expedient. Navas opined that narcomenudeo, or legislation
establishing penalties and investigative and prosecutorial
authority for small time drug dealers (ref c),will probably
also pass next session despite quibbling among the parties
over quantities of drugs and types of drugs that should be
considered drug dealing or simply drug using. Some PRD
deputies are also reportedly advocating for the legalization
of marijuana, which the GOM roundly rejects.


9. (C) Police reorganization to formalize the merging of
federal police forces is more fraught and its prospects less
clear. While the process to meld the Federal Investigative
Agency (AFI),which has been under the Attorney General's
(PGR) authority, with the Federal Police under the command of
the SSP has already started, (ref d) opposition to the
creation of a "superpolice" is strong within the PRI and the
PRD. PRI deputies, including the coordinator of the PRI bloc
in the Chamber of Deputies Emilio Gamboa and Speaker of the
Chamber Cesar Duarte have reiterated to Poloffs that they
oppose the creation of a single federal police force, arguing
that it puts too much authority into the hands of an already
questionable institution, the SSP. Analysts and other
opposition political leaders have also argued that expanding
the Federal Police and eliminating the AFI, which could be
seen as providing checks and balances on each other, will
only increase susceptibility to corruption and decrease
police efficiency. Analysts also suggest that the PRI may be
attempting to apply limits to Garcia Luna's powers.
Technical Secretary for the Chamber's Public Security
Commission, Manuel Ramos, told Poloff that the police reform
legislation might be pushed off to the new congress (which
will not convene until the fall of 2009),as parties start to
harden their positions before the July 2009 legislative
elections. Senator Torres confirmed that the parties
currently are far from consensus on this matter.

Comment
--------------


10. (C) Congress' work this session fell short of its 75
point promises, but the legislation that did pass represents
important steps forward in judicial and security reform and
restructuring. The new measures, if properly implemented,
have the potential to significantly strengthen and homologize
Mexico's disparate police forces, as well as discourage
corruption within the ranks. Penal code reforms are also key
to advancing the President's vision of more open,
adversarial, and honest investigative, prosecutorial, and
justice systems. The anti-kidnapping constitutional change

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and cell phone bill, beyond potentially improving government
anti-kidnapping and extortion efforts, will also demonstrate
to a frustrated Mexican public that serious work is being
done to combat the problem.


11. (C) International and domestic human rights
organizations, as well as some of the President's political
opponents, have expressed some concerns that the President's
focus on enhancing security and combating organized crime
comes at the expense of respect for human rights. This
concern finds little echo, however, given the public clamor
for even more drastic responses to Mexico's crime problem.
More critical to the success of the government's efforts will
be the execution of the new measures. Analysts and
politicians across the spectrum agree that Mexico suffers not
for a lack of laws, but rather the uneven and inefficient
application of those already on the books. While the
creation of oversight bodies and police control centers in
theory provides another way to screen out corrupt officers,
it will do nothing to solve the country's embedded corruption
problem nor help contribute significantly to the war on
organized crime unless it is effectively and uniformly
implemented and corrupt officials are made to pay a price for
their crimes.

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