MEXICAN MILITARY ARRESTS STATE AND LOCAL POLICE OFFICERS

210563
2009-06-05 20:31:00
09MONTERREY213
Consulate Monterrey
SECRET
09MONTERREY210
VZCZCXRO2084
RR RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHMC #0213/01 1562031
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
R 052031Z JUN 09
FM AMCONSUL MONTERREY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3763
INFO RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 4829
RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEABND/DEA HQ WASHDC
RHMFISS/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USNORTHCOM
RUEHMC/AMCONSUL MONTERREY 9348

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MONTERREY 000213

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/5/2019
TAGS: ASEC SNAR CASC KCRM MX
SUBJECT: MEXICAN MILITARY ARRESTS STATE AND LOCAL POLICE OFFICERS

REF: MONTERREY 0210

MONTERREY 00000213 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Bruce Williamson, Consul General, Monterrey,
State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (SBU) Summary. In ongoing operations, 74 police officers,
including some high ranking officials, have been detained by the
Mexican military for ties to organized crime. The arrests
highlight the level of infiltration of local security forces.
While President Calderon has vowed to keep up the fight against
corruption, several Monterrey-based opposition party members are
claiming that these arrests are a cover to gain votes in the
upcoming midterm election. End Summary.

Names of Arrested Police Officers Found on Payoff lists


2. (U) Starting on June 1, the Mexican military began what is
an ongoing campaign in the Monterrey metropolitan area to arrest
municipal and state law enforcement officers with presumed ties
to organized crime. After four days there have been 74 arrests.
Of the 74 arrested, 58 are being held for 30 days pending an
investigation, 6 have been released, and 10 are pending
arraignments. According to press reports, the military is
conducting the arrest based on information found on payroll
lists seized during recent drug raids.


3. (SBU) The arrests include the heads of municipal public
security secretariats and several high ranking police officers.
For instance, Fernando Torre y Cuevas a former Nuevo Leon
sub-secretary of public security and Monterrey's current
director of transit police, was one of those arrested and then
released. Of the 6 high-ranking officials that have been
detained and released, the reasons why they were let go has not
been made public. It is possible that the derogatory evidence
found against them was insufficient to make formal charges or
that they were arrested in an attempt to pressure them to
reveal useful information. In any event, the 6 released
officials have not been reinstated to their previous posts
pending a full investigation.


4. (U) The arrest of the police officers appears to be part
of a larger effort by President Calderon to crack down on
corruption and organized crime. On May 26, federal police
forces arrested 30 government officials (including 10 mayors) in
the state of Michoacan. In a June 2 speech following the arrest
of the police officers in Nuevo Leon, Calderon openly admitted
that organized crime had infiltrated government offices but he
declared his government is working to root corruption out and
that "Mexico will not go backwards in the war against organized
crime."

Opposition Claims Arrests Are Political


5. (C) Nationwide, security has been the top election issue
and the PAN strategy has been to equate the opposition (namely
the PRI and the PRD) with corruption and bad governance.
However, there is no public evidence to suggest the arrests in
Nuevo Leon and Michoacan were politically motivated but the
opposition parties are crying foul. In Nuevo Leon, the
detentions took place in five municipalities: Escobedo,
Guadalupe, San Nicolas, Santa Catarina, and Monterrey. The
first two are governed by PRI mayors; the last three by PAN
mayors. In addition, Nuevo Leon Public Security Secretary Aldo
Fasci had advance knowledge of the military's raids and he
reports directly to the state's PRI governor. Indeed, all the
prisoners were initially held at the state government's police
academy.


6. (SBU) The day after the first round of detentions, Nuevo
Leon Governor Natividad Gonzalez Paras read a message on behalf
of all PRI governors welcoming the arrests of the corrupt police
officers but warned the President not to politicize the arrests.
The governor also called on the military to share more
intelligence with state police forces so they could play a
greater role in the investigations.


7. (SBU) If President Calderon is acting politically to
influence the July midterm elections, there has been little
impact locally. A June 4 poll by El Norte showed the PRI and
PAN candidates for governor statistically tied if the elections
were to be held that day. The poll results have remained
relatively steady for the last three months. Nationally,
however, the PRI's favorability rating has fallen from about 45%
to 39% since March according to a recent poll by La Reforma.


8. (C) Comment. To date, the Nuevo Leon municipalities where
the arrests have taken place are all areas dominated by the Gulf
Cartel. As reported in the press, Post law enforcement sources
indicate that the information upon which the arrests are based
comes from information gathered during previous military drug
raids. While the military arrests are ongoing, so far the
influential suburb of San Pedro, where many state and business

MONTERREY 00000213 002.2 OF 002


leaders, live has not been touched. This could be because San
Pedro's affluence has allowed city leaders to instill a
(slightly) higher degree of transparency in its municipal police
force. Or it could be because that municipality is dominated by
the Beltran Leyva faction of the Sinaloa cartel, an organization
about which military authorities in Monterrey have relatively
less information.


9. (S) Comment continued. Post DEA notes the Mexican
military's increasing use of unilateral intelligence in its
operations. In addition to the recent detentions, the military
also acted unilaterally in the arrests of two Sinaloa cartel
leaders in Nuevo Leon: Hector `La Burra' Huerta Rios, on March
24 and his replacement, Rodolfo `El Nito" Lopez Ibarra on May 18.
WILLIAMSONB