FEW TANGIBLE TAKEAWAYS FROM NATIONAL PUBLIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 003403 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/24/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR MX SUBJECT: FEW TANGIBLE TAKEAWAYS FROM NATIONAL PUBLIC SECURITY MEETING REF: A. MEXICO 3208 ¶B. MEXICO 002579 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Gustavo Delgado. Reason: 1.4 (b),(d). ¶1. (C) Summary. President Calderon at the November 26 meeting of the National Public Security System highlighted GOM accomplishments in overcoming Mexico's security challenges and took heat from local and state governments for not affording them sufficient resources to effectively deal with their own security woes. Few concrete agreements came out of the session, which highlighted Calderon's continued security efforts even while emphasizing the continued divisions between the three levels of government in addressing these issues. End Summary. Calderon Highlights Accomplishments -------------- ¶2. (SBU) President Calderon attended the 27th meeting of the National Public Security System (SNSP) on November 26, which included participation from members of the security cabinet, all 31 state governors and the mayor of Mexico City, municipal leaders, and civil society representatives. While acknowledging that Mexico still has a great deal of progress to make in addressing the country's security woes, Calderon highlighted advances such as anti-kidnapping efforts, police vetting improvements, and the construction of a new legal framework. He noted that since the signing of the August 2008 National Security, Justice, and Legality pact, security forces have detained more than 1800 suspected kidnappers, disbanded 270 kidnapping rings, and liberated more than 300 victims. He noted that 27 states have established special anti-kidnapping units in accordance with the 2008 agreement, with five more in process. Claiming that kidnapping rates are decreasing throughout the country, he cited a reduction from 138 cases in July, 88 in October, and only 56 in November. Calderon also underscored progress made in the professionalization and purging of Mexico's security institutions, reporting that 25 federal entities have established vetting centers. He noted the inauguration of the new Federal Police Intelligence Center the day prior, as well as the entrance-on-duty of the first Federal Police Investigators. Calderon also mentioned the new legal architecture, such as the narcomenudeo law to combat small-time drug trafficking, as an additional achievement. ¶3. (SBU) Calderon exhorted government officials to act within the bounds of the law in combating organized crime in a likely warning to Mauricio Fernandez Garza, the controversial mayor of San Pedro municipality, Nuevo Leon State. Fernandez's outspoken advocacy for and recent implication of himself in extralegal activities to fight drug trafficking has drawn fire from all political quarters and sparked rumors that he will soon be expelled from the PAN (ref a). Calderon called on officials to respect the law, even while insisting that any sort of pact with organized criminal groups would only lead to more violence, the degradation of society, and its institutions. Governors Demand More Funding -------------- ¶4. (SBU) State and local governments primarily focused their message on requests for more federal funding of their security efforts, according to local press reporting. Emilio Gonzalez Marquez, Governor of Jalisco and member of the President's National Action Party (PAN),spoke on behalf of the National Conference of Governors (CONAGO) and argued that states do not have sufficient resources to confront organized crime, particularly since the GOM's participation in investigating and prosecuting federal crimes in the states is uneven. Governors criticized the treatment of state and local security officials by federal agents, and also asked for greater coordination and communication on specific security matters. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico State Governor Enrique Pena Nieto, and Chihuahua State Governor Jose Reyes Baeza took issue with the means used to measure the success of their anti-crime efforts, including the presentation at the conference of security statistics MEXICO 00003403 002 OF 002 they claim do not accurately represent the results of activities undertaken by the states. ¶5. (C) While Oaxaca Mayor Jose Antonio Hernandez bemoaned the decrease in the funding allocated to the Municipal Public Security Subsidy (SUBSEMUN) in the 2010 budget, Benjamin Fuentes, Coordinator for Institutional Relations at the Federal Superior Auditor (ASF),which monitors federal budget expenditures, told Poloff on November 30 that state and local governments, in fact, chronically underspend their security budgets. There are virtually no incentives for the states to spend federal transfers on time because they can keep budget remainders in accounts that are not audited by the ASF the following fiscal year and they have almost complete discretion to determine how they want to spend the leftover funds. Fuentes noted that state and local leaders are particularly fond of using these leftovers to amass electoral warchests. An ASF audit of the 2007 national public security expenditures found that 44 percent of the National Public Security fund went unspent, with some states underspending by as much as 68 percent. Police Reform -------------- ¶6. (SBU) One of the more noteworthy headlines coming from the conference was President Calderon's reported proposal -- echoing earlier comments by SSP Genaro Garcia Luna -- to unify state and municipal police forces, thereby folding the over 2000 municipal organizations into 32 state-run entities. Calderon argued that a reorganization would allow for more compact, better organized, and more capable police forces. Such a move would require congressional approval at the minimum, and likely a constitutional change. Expert and political reaction has thus far been mixed, but reported support from Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) governors from Mexico (ref b),Veracruz, and Oaxaca states, who all command powerful congressional blocs, could help Calderon shepherd through the reform effort. The proposal is undoubtedly more palatable to governors and, by association, the PRI than Garcia Luna's earlier bid to unify all of Mexico's police organizations into one force under federal authority (see septel on police reform proposal and its prospects). Comment: Accomplishments? -------------- ¶7. (C) Few concrete results came out of this SNSP session. SNSP attendees agreed to develop a better system to evaluate public security policies, as well as to establish a working group to evaluate the country's police forces and determine how to improve them. The conference afforded President Calderon the opportunity to highlight areas in which the GOM has -- or at least is working to -- comply with the August 2008 security pact. Nevertheless, the session also served to emphasize the continued division among the federal, state, and local governments in treating the security problem, and the institutional barriers, such as highly opaque budgeting processes, that still are barriers to meaningful reform at the state and local level. As we work to strengthen law enforcement institutions -- not only at the federal level, but increasingly at the state and local level -- we intend to structure our programs in such a way as to foster greater collaboration amongst these entitites. Only with a more fully synchronized effort, particularly given Mexico's strong federal system, can lasting improvements be made. 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 / PASCUAL