Mexico almost dead last in impunity index

Mexico News Daily: The numbers confirm what most people already know: impunity in Mexico is about as bad as it can get.

With 75.7 points, Mexico trails behind only the Philippines, at 80. To determine a country’s level on the impunity index the study analyzed 14 indicators, including the number of police and judges per 100,000 inhabitants, the incidence of extrajudicial executions and kidnappings and the percentage of people incarcerated without sentences.A new analysis called the Global Impunity Index 2015 (IGI) ranked Mexico at second from the bottom on an international scale. It also found that a country’s wealth does not favorably impact its impunity index, nor does increasing police funding without ensuring effective judicial processes. Read more. 

The Mexican morass

Note: This editorial by The Economist has caused waves in Mexico. It's a very strong condemnation of the Peña Nieto administration, combining the deteriorating security situation, especially the case of Ayotzinapa, and the corruption scandals  of conflict of interest. Here in Mexico, Peña nieto gained few points with his commitment to be investigated by a hand-picked investigator.

The Economist: In a new year message Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, promised to work to “liberate” his country from crime, corruption and impunity. His cabinet has duly set these as its priorities. The message is the right one. But unfortunately for Mr Peña, Mexicans are increasingly cynical about the messenger.

Mexico is still seething over the government’s leaden response to the kidnap in September of 43 students by municipal police in the south-western state of Guerrero and their apparent murder by drug traffickers. The investigation of the case seems to have stalled. Mr Peña’s main policy response to the massacre is a proposed constitutional amendment to abolish municipal police forces. But Congress may not approve it, not least because some are less rotten than the state forces, which would take their place. Read more. 

UN Human Rights Visitor Comments On Torture In Mexico

Justice in Mexico Project
May 31, 2014

Following his visit to Mexico in April, Juan E. Méndez, special rapporteur on torture for the United Nations, expressed concern that there is a “generalized situation” of torture in Mexico, that needs to be addressed. Méndez, who is from Argentina, was in Mexico from April 21 through May 2 investigating the increase in allegations of torture in Mexico as part of a review of the country’s protocols and protection mechanisms for human rights. He engaged in over 100 meetings with officials and representatives at the local, state, and federal levels, and visited prisons, migration centers, and psychiatric hospitals in the Federal District (Distrito Federal, DF), Nuevo León, Baja California, Chiapas, and Nayarit. Méndez’s assessment and evaluations will assist in developing plans to prevent, investigate, and sanction the practices of torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment. Read more.

Head of Mexico's Powerful Teachers' Union Jailed

ABC News
By Olga R. Rodriguez Associated Press
Mexico City February 27, 2013 (AP)
One of Mexico's biggest political kingfish sits in a women's prison in the capital, accused of embezzling millions in funds from her teachers' union to pay for property, private planes, plastic surgery and her Neiman Marcus bill.

Elba Esther Gordillo, 68, leader of the 1.5 million-member National Union of Education Workers, was arrested late Tuesday afternoon as she landed at the Toluca airport near Mexico City on a private flight from San Diego. Assistant Attorney General Alfredo Castillo told the Televisa network that she was taken off the plane and flown by authorities to Mexico City.

Upon arrival in Mexico's capital, she asked to see a doctor then was taken in a caravan of Federal Police and Marine vehicles to Santa Martha Acatitla prison, Televisa reported.  Read more. 

Mexico moves away from secret military tribunals

The Washington Post, By William Booth
Published: November 12

OJINAGA, Mexico — This rough little border town in the middle of nowhere has seen its share of lawless men, the cocaine cowboys whose wild rides end out in the desert with a shovel of dirt tossed into their shallow graves.

Then the General came to town, and the place went to hell.

Brig. Gen. Manuel de Jesus Moreno Avina, commander of the Third Infantry Company, arrived in the spring of 2008 in Ojinaga, across the Rio Grande from tiny Presidio in Texas’s Big Bend country.

The General, as he is known by all here, quickly began what his own officers described in court testimony as a “reign of terror.”

Instead of confronting organized crime, the Mexican soldiers here quickly became outlaws themselves. Then people began to disappear, according to the charges filed against them.

Now, four years after Moreno’s 18-month tenure in Ojinaga, the landmark case against Moreno and his men may finally change the way Mexico prosecutes soldiers tied to the alleged abuses during the country’s bloody drug war. Read more. 

Calderon’s Pursuit of Developed Nation Status and Why it is Denied

Chivis Martinez, Borderland Beat:

Corruption, The Drugwar, Impunity and Inequality are Primary Factors

While addressing the US Chamber of Commerce last spring, Mexican President Felipe Calderon pitched the strength of the Mexican economy which he says experienced a growth rate of 1.5% CDP per year over the past two decades. It is his position that Mexico should leave the list of developing nations and join the ranks of developed countries. Read more. 

Time to End Impunity in Mexico

Huffington Post, The Blog: October 17, 2012

Valentina Rosendo was just 17 years old when she was raped by members of the Mexican Army in February 2002 near her home in the Mexican state of Guerrero. A month later, Inés Fernández was raped by soldiers in a nearby community in the same state. Although the women reported the rapes, civilian and military authorities never carried out a full and transparent investigation of the crimes. Ten years later, Valentina and Inés are still waiting for justice.

In December 2009, Shohn Huckabee and Carlos Quijos were arrested by members of the Mexican army in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua state, near the border Mexico shares with the United States. According to Shohn Huckabee, soldiers reportedly planted drugs in their vehicle and took them to a military barracks where they were beaten, given electric shocks and subjected to mock executions in order to obtain information on their supposed links to drug gangs. But the Mexican government never held anyone accountable for the alleged mistreatment of Shohn and Carlos.

These separate incidents are illustrative of a human rights and public security crisis that continues to plague many regions of Mexico. While this situation predates President Felipe Calderón's administration, it has grown more acute on his watch. The next president, Enrique Peña Nieto, will inherit an unenviable security challenge. He has pledged to address it, but he should do so in a way consistent with rule of law and while respecting the basic human dignity of every person in Mexico.  Read more. 

Human Rights Violations: Federal Attorney General refuses to protect Norma Andrade and investigate the recent attack that she suffered

La Jornada: "The federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) refused to provide protection and to investigate the assassination attempt made against activist Norma Andrade outside her home in Coyoacan, Mexico City, last Friday, arguing that it is not within its jurisdiction.

The founder of the organization, Our Daughters Return Home, said she and her lawyers met yesterday for several hours with representatives of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes of Violence against Women and Trafficking (FEVIMTRA) of the PGR as well as representatives of the governments of the State of Chihuahua and Mexico City. She said that the only commitment that could be obtained from the federal authorities is to analyze the case and determine within 15 days if they responsibility to investigate the attack.

It is Ms. Andrade's belief that the government is minimizing the assault and wants to wash its hands of it by saying that the crime isn't under its jurisdiction, despite the attacks that have occurred against her in the past 11 years. "My life depends on the PGR and they cannot get away with saying they have no responsibility, and if they don't have it, it is not my fault. They can not distance themselves from being responsible."

In this regard, Ms. Andrade's lawyer, Ms. Karla Michel Salas, was concerned because the federal government refuses to accept the protection of the activist, although the National Commission on Human Rights issued precautionary measures in their favor that cannot be overruled by another investigation.

.... Norma Andrade said that, during the meeting, representatives of the Government of Mexico City pledged to maintain protection they have provided since last Friday which consists of four investigative police officers guarding her 24 hours a day, until the PGR makes a decision about whether or not it has jurisdiction or she decides to seek asylum abroad.

Ms. Andrade said that so far she has not decided as to which country she might emigrate. "If I could, I would stay in my city (Juarez), but I know that is unthinkable, so I'm looking at the full range of options and my lawyers are helping me obtain what is best for my family. My thought is to leave the country," she said, "although I have not presented that possibility to the federal government, which I would hope would help with implementation of the required bureaucratic procedures, but if I stay, I want them to guarantee the safety of my family."" read more

Mexico Rule of Law: Murder Impunity at 90% in Some Areas of Mexico

Justice in Mexico: "According to a new study on rule of law in Mexico, impunity runs rampant throughout the country. Guillermo Zepeda, a professor at Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO), was stirred by the lack of response to investigations of murders in Mexico. To combat the culture of acceptance to impunity, Zepeda authored a study to measure the level of impunity for murder in Mexico. His findings were dismal were that in 2010, 80% of homicides in Mexico went unpunished without trial or conviction." read more

Human Rights Violations - Guerrero Students: Congressional committee will require clarification of what happened between student teachers and police in Guerrero

The story of the killing of two students from a teachers college in Guerrero in December continues, with ongoing investigations and back and forth accusations between various federal bodies and state officials. 


We are maintaing a running summary of headlines in this complex story, which is highly illustrative of many dynamics in Mexican political conflicts: between citizens and state and federal governments; between government agencies and between political parties. Here is the latest development, which provides something of an overview of the players and the conflicts. Translated by MexicoBlog


La Jornada: "The special commission of congressional deputies to followup on the acts of repression against students from the rural normal school in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, has been established. At this point, the coordinator of the parliamentary group of PRD (the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, of which the governor of Guerrero is a member), Armando Rios Piter, demanded that the state government clarify the facts and exhibit to the participants in the skirmish: who detonated weapons, who committed criminal acts against the student teachers and who set fire to the gas station, so that they may be shown to be criminals.

Rios Piter added that the student teachers "are going beyond simple protest. We have indicated the need to clarify as soon as possible what happened, who killed the two students and the gas station manager, who--in a heroic act--prevented it from exploding. ... We cannot allow the demonstrations of the student teachers, however legitimate, to violate the law. We cannot allow for these events to be given leeway and then the students begin to take actions contrary to the public, whether (in Guerrero) or elsewhere."

... The congressional commission will monitor the investigation of the confrontation between student teachers of Ayotzinapa and state and federal police in order to gather information leading to those responsible for the killings. Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, President of the Permanent Commission of Congress, reported that the working group will be accompanied by a group of students in meetings scheduled with the governor of Guerrero, Angel Heladio Aguirre; the Attorney General's Office of Maricela Morales and Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna, to report on the status of the investigation." Spanish original