MEXICO'S FEDERAL POLICE MERGER MAY BE DEAD

C O N F I D E N T I A L MEXICO 000873

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR MX
SUBJECT: MEXICO'S FEDERAL POLICE MERGER MAY BE DEAD

REF: A. MEXICO 2951

B. MEXICO 00867

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


1. (C) Summary. President Calderon has reportedly dropped
plans to reorganize the country's federal police forces by
merging the some 4,700 members of the PGR's Federal
Investigative Agency (AFI) with the Secretariat for Public
Security's (SSP) Federal Preventative Police (PFP).
President Calderon and SSP head Genaro Garcia Luna have long
sought to consolidate federal police elements into a single
combined Federal Police force, a plan which has encountered
resistance from opposition political parties and from within
federal police ranks themselves. The impact of Calderon's
decision to let the reform proposal stall on Mexico's federal
law enforcement entities is at this point uncertain, but what
is clear is that the PGR has real work to do if it wants to
bring the AFI up to standard. The USG will have to refocus
attention on AFI as a vital investigative police force with a
key role to play in the country's justice reform efforts and
fight against organized crime. End Summary.

Police Merger Plan to Fade Away
--------------


2. (C) Mexican Attorney General (PGR) Eduardo Medina Mora
told the Embassy's DEA attache that President Calderon has
decided to drop plans to reorganize the country's federal
police forces by merging the some 4,700 members of the PGR's
Federal Investigative Agency (AFI) with the Secretariat for
Public Security's (SSP) Federal Preventative Police (PFP)
under the SSP's exclusive authority. Medina Mora noted that
the PGR will reabsorb AFI elements that had already been
transferred to SSP, and that while the old AFI organizational
structure is still mostly in place, some reorganization might
be necessary as the AFI units are returned. Few details as
to how this reorganization may look or take place are
available, suggesting that the PGR is still very much in the
planning stages. Adviser to Medina Mora, Oscar Rocha, said
that the PGR is focused on finding appropriate candidates to
fill commander-level slots, and has asked for U.S. assistance
in vetting them. Medina Mora privately named Nicandra Castro
as the new head of AFI. Castro is currently a prosecutor in
the PGR/SIEDO's anti-kidnapping unit, and reportedly is
highly respected with a reputation of being "tough."
According to the DEA attache, Castro passed a U.S.
administered polygraph exam on December 10, 2008.


3. (C) Poloffs have been told by other sources that the
reform measure has been, for all intents and purposes,
abandoned. The federal prosecutor in Ciudad Juarez told
Poloff earlier this month that PGR would maintain control
over remaining AFI elements, and Poloffs have heard rumors
over the past months that AFI elements already transferred to
SSP were, in fact, being slowly moved back. PRD Senator
Tomas Torres told Poloff on March 23 that, while he did not
consider the proposal completely moribund, it was off the
table at this point. SSP contact Hector Sanchez told Poloff
on March 24 that he also did not think the merger would
happen.

Opposition, Election Politics Likely Factors
--------------


4. (C) Calderon may have backed away from the proposal after
gauging that the required legislation would either not pass
or would require too much political sacrifice or compromise
on his part. His calculus probably was impacted by election
year politics, which may have convinced him to quietly
abandon the measure -- at least for now -- rather than
publicly fight a battle that he might not win. The
reorganization plan has encountered resistance from
opposition political parties and from within federal police
ranks themselves. PGR contacts have told the Embassy that a
rift developed between the officers remaining at PGR and the
AFI elements who had already been turned over to SSP, with
the transferred elements believing that those working-level
cops remaining at PGR were corrupt and ineffectual. AFI
officers also looked down on their generally less-educated
PFP counterparts and were concerned that they would be
unfairly treated by their new SSP bosses. Angst and
uncertainty amongst AFI elements sparked protests last fall
that led to marches on the Senate and a takeover of AFI
headquarters by the PFP (ref a).


5. (C) Opposition parties, and in particular the
Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI),have been unenthused
about the proposal. PRI contacts -- including top party
leaders such as Emilio Gamboa and Chamber of Deputies
President Cesar Duarte -- repeatedly told Poloffs that they
would not support the reform as written. Party insiders most
often cited a strong reluctance to support a measure that
would put so much police authority in the hands of one
person, and were particularly concerned about transferring to
the SSP investigative powers including judicially authorized
telecommunications intercept capability. While PRI has
looked to stall or put their own stamp on some of Calderon's
reforms for pure politicking purposes, the party has appeared
to be more intransigent in their refusal to back this one.

SSP STILL LOOKING FOR BROADER MANDATE
--------------


6. (C) President Calderon and SSP head Genaro Garcia Luna
have long sought to consolidate federal police elements into
a single combined Federal Police force. Early in the Calderon
administration, Garcia Luna transferred much of AFI's
leadership and some units, such as the anti-kidnapping
operation, into SSP, though most rank and file investigators
remained in the PGR. The GOM waited to make the remaining
moves until it could secure legislative authority for the
measure. The administration initially sought congressional
approval for consolidation in the spring of 2007 as part of a
broader constitutional change and legal reform effort that
was signed into law in June 2007. Calderon then submitted
during the last legislative session (September - December
2008) new legislation to formalize and set in motion the new
arrangement, which has stalled in Congress since being
introduced.


7. (C) Garcia Luna in converations with Embassy officers has
in the past been more hopeful as to the prospects of the
legislation in Congress, but as of late has seemed far less
optimistic. Garcia Luna may be looking for ways to work
around the apparent legislative failure by laying the
groundwork through training programs and legal analysis to
maintain and expand the SSP's investigative capabilities even
as its new investigative elements are transferred back to
PGR. Post law enforcement officers said Garcial Luna is
looking to train some 8,000 to 10,000 PFP investigators this
year (ref b) -- although training 1,500 trainees probably
would be a far more feasible project -- and also noted that
SSP attorneys have interpreted the PFP's "prevention"
responsibilities as necessitating a an investigative role.
By rapidly moving future PFP investigators through the
training pipeline and articulating legal arguments, he may be
hoping to convince Calderon and other justice system elements
that the SSP should be allowed to continue with the
development of such capabilities despite the likely failure
to codify such SSP powers into law.

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


8. (C) Until the SSP and PGR sort out whether both bodies or
only one will have investigative authority, the long term
impact of the decision not to move forward with the federal
police merger on law enforcement entities is unclear.
Moreover, academic and expert opinion on the efficacy of the
reorganization in a broader sense has long been mixed. Some
analysts have pointed to the move as potentially improving
and increasing the capacity and efficiency of the federal
police, allowing it to play a more effective role in justice
system reforms which require better investigations and
policework -- without the consolidation of the two forces,
investigative and preventative authorities are technically
split between the AFI and the PFP, with the 25,000-strong PFP
legally lacking investigative authority. Other analysts have
suggested that merging the two forces will do little to
resolve the outstanding problems plaguing the country's
police, such as corruption and low performance standards, and
in fact could only serve to worsen dishonesty within the
ranks as external checks in the form of division of powers
are removed. Still others have suggested that PGR needs an
enforcement body in the form of the AFI in order to do its
work as a prosecutorial agency.


9. (C) What is clear is that the PGR has real work to do if
it wants to bring the AFI up to the standards necessitated by
Mexico's move toward justice system reform and an adversarial
judicial system. The PGR has been beleaguered by high-level
corruption and a slow adaptation to the new justice reform
requirements. The vetting and performance standards mandated
by the new National Public Security System -- signed into law
in January -- will provide the framework to bring the
organization up to par. Nevertheless, the AFI will need
highly capable, honest, and dedicated commanders in order to
do the footwork necessary to clean house, restructure, and
retrain Mexico's federal investigative force. Medina Mora
has privately and informally requested that the USG provide
assistance, particularly training and vetting, in rebuilding
and improving AFI, and the USG will have to refocus attention
on AFI as a vital police force with a key role to play in the
country's justice reform efforts and fight against organized
crime.

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