SLOW START TO WORK ON KEY REFORMS IN MEXICO'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 000652

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR MX
SUBJECT: SLOW START TO WORK ON KEY REFORMS IN MEXICO'S
CONGRESS

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


1. (C) Summary. Congress is off to a slow start on passing
several key items of security legislation despite earlier
assurances from congressional contacts that this session will
be fruitful. Squabbling amongst the parties appears to have
delayed the passage of narcomenudeo, asset forfeiture, and
federal police reform. While congressional insiders are
optimistic as to the passage of asset forfeiture, they are
less sanguine about the prospects of the other pending
legislation. Nevertheless, despite the slow start, there are
still two months left in the congressional period to move on
important bills, and if last December is an indicator,
Congress may see a spate of activity right before the close
of session that results in the passage of a number of
important laws. Opposition parties seem unwilling to come to
terms on Federal police reorganization, however, which may
either be carried over to the next Congress or passed in a
more watered down form in compromise with the PRI. End
Summary.

Slow Start
--------------


2. (C) Despite assurances from congressional contacts that
this session will be more fruitful than last sessions of the
legislative period usually are, Congress is off to a slow
start on passing several key items of security legislation.
Congress pledged in the August 75 point pact to vote last
session on bills dealing with narcomenudeo (small time drug
trafficking),asset forfeiture (facilitating the seizure of
ill-gotten gains from organized crime activities),and
federal police reorganization (calling for the merger of the
Attorney General Office's (PGR) Federal Investigative Agency
(AFI) with the Public Security Secretary's (SSP) Federal
Police (PFP). Congress was unable to vote on such measures
before it closed for recess in December, in part due to time
issues and partly because of political disagreements, but
promised to pick them back up for consideration when Congress
again convened in the middle of last month.


3. (C) Congressional contacts assured Poloff in early
February that asset forfeiture and narcomenudeo, at the very
least, would be approved within days after Congress opened,
but squabbling amongst the parties appears to have delayed
their passage. The Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI)
last week submitted last minute opposition to the asset
forfeiture law -- which was at the point of leaving
commission in the Senate after being primarily negotiated by
the President's National Action Party (PAN) and Revolutionary
Democratic Party (PRD) Senator Tomas Torres -- and called for
additional time to hold forums to discuss the proposal.
Torres told Poloff on March 5 that the PRI was punishing the
PAN for PAN leader German Martinez's recent volley of public
criticisms against the PRI, accusing the party of being
responsible for the country's security woes. Torres also
claimed that Martinez's rhetorical attacks are a panicked
attempt by the PAN to shore up its support and deflect blame
for security and legislative problems onto other parties
given its flagging poll numbers. The PAN has rejected PRI's
call for additional discussion but probably will be unable
unilaterally to move the bill through the Senate given both
PRI and PRD support for such forums. Torres was guardedly
optimistic that the law will pass sometime this session, and
said that he hopes at least some of the criminal code
procedure legislation -- follow-on measures to constitutional
reforms made to the justice system last year -- may also be
approved before Congress closes in April.


4. (C) Torres was less sanguine on the prospects for
narcomenudeo and federal police reorganization. Echoing
comments made by PRI Deputy Edmundo Ramirez to Poloff on
March 2, he claimed the AFI-PFP merger is almost dead. PRI
from the start -- apart from electoral concerns or
politicking -- has continually expressed publicly and
privately that it is concerned that combining the two forces
puts too much power in the hands of the Public Security
Secretary, particularly when the Secretary is a person "they
cannot trust." The PRD has similar reservations, and Poloffs
have heard from other contacts that some AFI elements already

MEXICO 00000652 002 OF 002


moved to SSP have, in fact, been moved back under PGR
authority. President Calderon may secure some kind of
federal police reform, but Torres did not expect to see a
full reorganization passed this session. He was relatively
pessimistic as to Congress' ability to come to terms on
narcomenudeo legislation, either, as parties continue to
disagree over the quantities of drugs that would be
classified as "for consumption" or "for sale and
distribution." More importantly, Torres noted that a number
of state governments are concerned by the bill's proposal to
transfer authorities from the federal government to states in
investigating and prosecuting this kind of crime, and that
the PRI is also unenthused by such a transition. The
President and his PAN adherents have argued that such a
reform is necessary in order to better combat small time drug
trafficking and to more efficiently utilize resources in this
fight.


5. (U) Rhetorical fireworks, particularly between the PRI and
PAN, have not abated after last week's dispute initiated by
German Martinez and seized by PRI leaders. PRI President of
the Chamber of Deputies Cesar Duarte publicly insisted that
the PRI is indeed working to ensure the approval of security
and justice reforms and called on Martinez to leave
politicking aside, to which Coordinator of the PAN's Chamber
of Deputy bloc Hector Larios responded with similar
accusations. PRI Chamber Coordinator Emilio Gamboa publicly
echoed Torres' private comments by claiming that Martinez's
accusations are looking to blame the PRI for security
problems because of distress over the PAN's poor showing in
recent polls.

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


6. (C) Pre-election disputes between the parties seem to have
delayed progress on several key security reform items, but
congressional insiders have assured Poloff that election
posturing is not preventing real work from being done in both
the Chamber and the Senate. Despite the slow start, Congress
still has two months to move on important bills. If last
December is an indicator, Congress may see a spate of
activity right before the close of session that results in
the passage of a number of important laws. Opposition
parties seem unwilling to come to terms on Federal police
reorganization, however, which may either be carried over to
be debated in the next Congress or passed in a more watered
down form in compromise with the PRI.
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