Human Rights Violations: Weighing Calderon's Guilt in Mexico Drug War

InSight Crime: "Mexican President Felipe Calderon, along with top administration officials and Sinaloa Cartel leader 'Chapo' Guzman, have been accused of crimes against humanity in the Hague’s International Criminal Court (ICC), raising questions about the application of international humanitarian law to the “drug war.”

...There is no question that Mexico’s judicial system is highly defective. Corruption in the country’s police force is common, which in turn reduces public faith in authorities and ensures that only a fraction of crimes are ever reported. When they are reported, there is no guarantee that they will be prosecuted effectively. According to a 2010 study by the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), only 15 percent of reported crimes are investigated, and only 1.75 percent of all criminal suspects are ever convicted. This impunity persists in spite of a judicial reform package passed in 2008, which has progressed slowly andhas not been uniformly enacted across Mexico’s states.

... National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) legal professor John Ackerman, who is a supporter of the case, told InSight Crime that its aim is more systemic than personal, and geared at changing the culture of impunity in the country. “What we’re going for is an institutional transformation, it’s not a personal thing against Felipe Calderon or Joaquin Guzman,” said Ackerman." read more