Mexico's San Fernando Massacres: A Declassified History

National Security Archive 
Electronic Briefing Book No. 445
Edited by Michael Evans and Jesse Franzblau
November 6, 2013

Four months before the feared Zetas drug cartel kidnapped and murdered 72 migrants in northeastern Mexico, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said that narcotrafficking organizations in that region operated with "near total impunity in the face of compromised local security forces." As the date of the massacre drew nearer, another U.S. agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), reported new evidence linking the Zetas to soldiers from the Kaibiles, an elite Guatemalan special forces known for spectacular acts of cruelty and brutality during that country's civil war.

These records are among a set of U.S. documents declassified under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and published today by the National Security Archive, providing a glimpse of what U.S. diplomats and intelligence analysts were saying about the extreme violence that has engulfed Mexico's northern border state of Tamaulipas in recent years and the apparent complicity of Mexican officials. Just this week, a new round of violence in Tamaulipas took the lives of 13 more people, as drug-related violence flared yet again.

Some of these documents are featured in this week's edition of Proceso magazine, in an article by award-winning investigative journalist Marcela Turati. Her report highlights the unchecked power of the Zetas in the region and the inability or unwillingness of federal, state and local officials in Mexico to provide security for citizens and migrants traveling in the region.  Read more.

Former Mexican official's boasts add fire to corruption probes

Los Angeles Times
By Richard Fausset and Cecilia Sanchez
June 12, 2013

It was the kind of big-man boast that would have made Jay-Z or Bo Diddley proud: He owned 300 suits, he said. Four hundred pairs of pants, 1,000 shirts and 400 pairs of shoes. He shopped Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, "the best of Los Angeles."

Unfortunately for Andres Granier, the ex-governor of the state of Tabasco, his fellow Mexicans are in no mood to hear such stuff from the political class.  Read more. 

In the hot land, Mexicans just say no to drug cartels

Los Angeles Times
By Tracy Wilkinson
June 11, 2013

COALCOMAN, Mexico — Rafael Garcia slaps the oversize wooden desk where he sits, one of the last mayors still in office in this region of Mexican farm country known as Tierra Caliente — hot land.

Mayors from a couple of the nearest towns fled with their drug-cartel pals, people here say, when locals took up arms against them.

But at Garcia's City Hall, the facade is festooned with hand-lettered signs supporting local gunmen who challenged the cartel, loosely referred to as community "self-defense" guards, comunitarios. Several cities in Tierra Caliente are now patrolled by such groups, whose members, often masked, man checkpoints and pull over passing vehicles for inspection. They have reached a kind of tense coexistence with the army, which moved in a couple of weeks ago in an attempt to bring order.  Read more. 

Amnesty International: Calderon Turned "Blind Eye" to "Torture Epidemic" in Mexico

Amnesty International, By Phillip Smith October 15, 2012

The number of annual, state level torture prosecutions can be counted in the single digits.

Mexico must take decisive action to rein in systematic and widespread use of torture, ill-treatment, and other human rights abuses, which have increased dramatically since outgoing President Felipe Calderon unleashed the military to fight the country's so-called cartels nearly six years ago, Amnesty International said in a report released Thursday.

The report, Known Abusers, But Victims Ignored: Torture and Ill-Treatment in Mexico, documents the increase of cases of torture and ill-treatment by the police and military forces, the lack of effective investigations and almost total lack of prosecutions, and the juridical weaknesses and lack of political will that allow such abuses to go unpunished and even allow testimony obtained through torture to be used to convict its victims. Read more. 

Mexico's Senate approves bill to fight money-laundering epidemic

LA Times: October 11. By Richard Fausset and Cecilia Sanchez. 

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico’s Senate on Thursday unanimously approved an anti-money laundering bill in hope of stemming a multibillion-dollar tide of illicit cash that flows from the nation’s powerful drug cartels and has seeped into nearly every corner of the Mexican economy.

The bill, which was approved this year by the lower chamber, has been under consideration for more than two years in the Mexican Congress and could help the struggling nation in its fight against the narco gangs. Although the outgoing administration of Felipe Calderon has managed to kill or capture more than two-thirds of the country’s most-wanted drug capos, it has struggled to hit them in their bank accounts.

Calderon, who leaves office in December, has long supported a stronger anti-laundering statute, and on Thursday -- a day when Amnesty International was criticizing him for failing to have taken more effective action to stem human-rights abuses committed in his six-year fight against the narcos -- the president sent a tweet congratulating the legislators. Read more.

Is Bribery 'Business As Usual' South Of Border?

NPR: "Now, we turn to a business scandal that could have repercussions on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Wal-Mart, America's biggest retailer, is also Mexico's largest retailer and there, the company has been accused of paying more than $24 million in bribes to Mexican officials to obtain construction permits to build new stores.

The New York Times broke that story this weekend. If true, these actions could mean Wal-Mart violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act here in the U.S. That law makes it illegal for companies to pay bribes to foreign government officials and political figures and, this week, Wal-Mart has also been accused of participating in a lobbying campaign to soften that law.

The U.S. Justice Department is probing this question and, on Wednesday, Mexican officials announced that they'll be opening an investigation of their own. read more

'Murder Capital of the World': Sobering take on Mexico's drug war

The Seattle Times: "We've all seen the news reports: Across the border of El Paso, Texas, the city of Juárez, Mexico, has become a war zone where bloodbaths are a daily routine. As Mexican drug cartels continue their deadly campaigns of narco-terrorism, it quickly becomes clear why Charlie Minn's film is titled "Murder Capital of the World."

The film is rife with news clips and staggering statistics, like more than 50,000 people have been murdered in Mexico since 2006. Many of the victims were innocent civilians, including journalists and law-abiding officials who've been rendered helpless against rampant corruption at every level of police, military and political power. read more

The Mexican government now shares responsibility for the safety of drug war victims

La Jornada: (Americas Program Original Translation)Towards the end of the legislature, the Senate unanimously approved the Victims Law, a legal framework that represents the beginning of a new road with more justice, attention, and care for those who have suffered due to human rights violations or the onslaught of organized crime, according to the PRI’s Jesús Murillo Karam in a forum discussion.

“It’s a very important step that vindicates human rights in this struggle between a police state and a state of total freedom in which we are currently immersed,” said PRD Senator Pablo Gómez, welcoming the new generation of law, which names the Mexican state partly responsible for attacks against life, property, and security of people and ordered compensation for the damage.

In the end, after participation of legislators from all parties, and some last minute changes to their views, the new law was passed with 94 votes in favor and none against, amid applause from relatives of victims, members of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, who remained excited in the debate guest area.

“The compromise between the Senate and the movement made in July 2011 was honored,” exclaimed Senate President José González Morfín (PAN) from the podium.

Before, there had been attempts to stop this new bill. Murillo Kara, president of the Commission of Government and one of the architects of the reform, said, forming his opinion, that it is a law “that will make us feel satisfied about having participated in this legislative session.”

The legal system, he said, was born “of brutal feelings” experienced by those who have had a relative kidnapped, disappeared, or killed, who receive no answers or solutions from the state. The Victims Law, he stressed, requires the state to respond to the aggrieved.

On behalf of the PAN, Senator Fernando Elizondo said that with this law, Mexico has put itself at the height of the provisions of international treaties on human rights. He noted that it establishes the National System for Victims, which will be responsible for ensuring that their rights are respected at all levels of government.

Former member of the PRD Thomas Torres, another one of those who worked on the law, noted that he felt it laid the basis for rebuilding the social fabric, which has been so badly affected by violence.

In turn, the PRI Fernando Baeza of Chihuahua emphasized that the main objective of this legislation, driven in conjuction with the Moviment for Peace with Justice and Dignity in the past nine months, is to legally repair the damage done to victims due to violence associated with organized crime through restitution, satisfaction, and eventually financial compensation, fixed at about 950 million pesos.

It is a law to save the memory, identity, and dignity of victims and their relatives; to know for sure what happened and who is responsible; see that they are stopped, tried, and punished; and thus combat impunity.

Carlos Sotelo, member of the PRD, mentioned other cases of victims of Felipe Cadlerón’s war and called for a moment of silence in their memory. Made in recognition of the advisory Eliana García, for her efforts with UNAM and other academic institutions in helping build the law.

Yesterday, several modifications to the draft were made, including the integration of the relief fund, assistance, and compensation for damage into budgetary resources and private donations.

The law mandates the creation of a national registry for victims, requires the state to seek out all possible options for disappeared persons, and gives the aggrieved the imprescriptible right to know the truth.

Sotelo, the PRD’s Rubén Velázquez, and the Citizen’s Movement’s Julián Huitrón Fuente Villa, called on deputies to approve the minutes that yesterday, with all speed, they referred the Senate President González Morfin. The Movement for Peace demanded the same thing. If not approved at San Lazaro, it will be pending until September. Yesterdaym the Senate passed the amendment for article 73 of the Constitution, which empowers the state to legislate in matters of victims. read more

By Andrea Becerril y Víctor Ballinas

Translation by Michael Kane, Americas Program
 

State in northern Mexico files terrorism charges against 2 motorcyclists- for noisy exhausts

The Washington Post: "Prosecutors in northern Mexico have brought terrorism charges against two motorcyclists because their loud exhaust pipes backfired and caused a sound like gunshots that sent a crowd into a panicked stampede, officials said Wednesday.

It was the second time in less than a year that people have been charged in Mexico under terrorism statutes for spooking the populace in areas of the country hit by drug violence. Officials say state criminal codes often lack lesser but more appropriate charges to handle situations involving acts that may be irresponsible but are hardly criminal." read more

Congress: Warrantless arrests, even for serious crimes

La Jornada: (Original translation by the Americas Program)

The Justice Committee of the Chamber of Deputies tightened its draft opinion on the new Federal Criminal Procedure Code, which will be voted on today, by expanding the catalog of serious crimes that do not require a warrant to arrest suspects. It also added new powers for agents who are infiltrating organized crime.

After a two week period that opened the legislation for commentary, the committee chaired by Humberto Benítez Treviño (PRI) dismissed the request by the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity to approve President Felipe Calderón’s initiative to allow any authority to carry out arrests, searches, and seizures, legalizing the army and vavy’s operations.

The document, which will be discussed in the committee this afternoon, adds that in addition to serious crimes in which a person caught in the act or under reasonable suspicion can be arrested, other crimes with an “average penalty of five years or more” will also be considered under the new legislation.

Asked about the range of offenses that it covers, Deputy Jaime Cárdenas Gracia (PT) thought it dangerous because it deals with virtually all crimes contained in Articles 193 and 194 of the current code, and probably any kind, because the trend is to increase penalties.

So far, the crimes which allow for warrantless arrests under the wording of the draft opinion are: homicide, rape, kidnapping, trafficking, and violent crimes in which weapons or explosives were used.

In addition, piracy, terrorism, genocide, escape from custody, attacks on communication infrastructure, assaults on roads or highways, injury, robbery, theft or improper use of oil or its derivatives, larceny, vehicle theft, forced disappearances, treason, espionage, sabotage, corruption of minors, child pornography, sex tourism, pandering, child abuse, and crimes against public health are included.

More additions to the bill include: torture, trafficking of undocumented immigrants, smuggling, tax evasion, diversion or obstruction of justice, counterfeiting and forgery, crimes against the national wealth and consumption, rape, habitual sale of stolen goods, crimes against the environment, copyright violations, and possession of weapons used excluively by the army, navy, or air force.

It also allows undercover agents to intervene in organized crime’s commercial traffic: they can assume positions in the infiltrated organization, enter and participate in meetings with members, and, if necessary, carry out transactions with them.

As part of their investigations, they may request operations against organized crime. Their participation will be reviewed every six months, and if it is determined that no progress is being made, the undercover operations will be cancelled.

The commission tried to refine the investigation of persons, property, and cars by requiring that authorities inform the person of the reasons and evidence for the investigation and that they will be informed of the legal consequences should they refuse it. See Spanish original


Translation by Michael Kane, Americas Program

Report Describes Police, Judicial Dysfunction Across Mexico's States

InSight Crime: "A new report from a Mexican think tank details the nation’s security challenges at the sub-federal level, painting a vivid and varied picture of the nation’s 32 states.

The report from Mexico Evalua is titled 'Security and Criminal Justice in the States,' and it was released earlier this week. Over the course of its 128 pages, it offers a far more detailed picture of crime in Mexico than is possible from the simple murder tally often used as the baseline for public security, and describes the states' inability to fashion a credible response." read more

Mexico extradites alleged cocaine kingpin to New York

Reuters: "Jesus Zambada, 50, alias "The King," was taken from a top security prison in the border city of Matamoros and put on a plane to New York, where he has been indicted in a federal court in Brooklyn, Mexican officials said Wednesday.

The extradition is part of a five-year offensive against cartels by President Felipe Calderon, who discussed the drug war with President Barack Obama in Washington on Monday.

Zambada was arrested after a shoot-out in Mexico City in 2008. Among his 10 bodyguards were two active police officers." read more

A Wary Mexico Sizes Up Contenders for the Presidency

NY Times: Mexico’s presidential campaign has begun, and the disdain seeping from these common descriptions of the three main candidates reflects what experts say are low expectations.

Mexican voters, polls show, have been losing faith in democracy as their nation teeters between modern success and violent failure. Whoever wins on July 1 will inherit a Mexico disillusioned and stuck, caught between forces of the past that resist change and the frustration of those who have begun to expect more from their leaders.

Crime in particular requires immediate attention. More than 50,000 people have died in drug-related killings since late 2006, and the justice system is a farce: more than 98 percent of crimes go unpunished, according to studies of government data. read more

Mexico opposition eyes return as campaign opens

The race is on! Today is the official opening day of the Mexican presidential campaigns. The three major candidates, Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI), Josefina Vázquez Mota and Andrés Manuel López Obrador will hold major rallies to launch their campaigns and seek to reach supporters and the large block of voters who still poll "undecided".

AFP  Mexico officially launched its general election campaign Friday, with the main opposition party favored to regain the power it lost in 2000 after 71 years of rule.

President Felipe Calderon, of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), is not eligible for a second term but his war on drug traffickers launched after he took office in December 2006 will be at the center of the debate.

With over 50,000 people killed and mounting violence, PAN candidate Josefina Vazquez Mota, 51, will have to overcome deep public skepticism that the brutal offensive has dented the influence and wealth of drug cartels.  Read more

The "fifth power": Transnational mining

In this opinion piece in the Mexican daily La Jornada, Magdalena Gómez, a lawyer and expert on indigenous rights, takes a critical look at the power of transnational mining companies in Mexico, in the wake of the murders of two anti-mine community leaders in Oaxaca.

La Jornada  In our country we have a formal system based on the division of three powers that coexists with, supports and/or is complicit with powers outside the constitution like the power duopoly of the mass media--identified as the “fourth power”--and an extremely powerful “fifth power”: transnational capital, found mainly in mining companies that have in recent years been granted concessions covering nearly a quarter of national territory.

All this is cloaked in the logic of the free market, which apparently embodies the free exercise of liberties and in which potentially, and very abstractly, we all have rights. Luigi Ferrajoli has shown in his most recent book, Poderes salvajes (Savage Powers), how these real powers have dominated the model of democratic constitutionalism that formally governs in our countries.

Today it is clear that the neoliberal model has strengthened these powers and has seriously distorted so-called nation states that, rather than protecting and guaranteeing fundamental freedoms, have become subsidiaries of big capital. But we’re not talking about mere speculative tendencies; throughout the country we see the negative impact of extreme extractivism, to the detriment of the territory of indigenous peoples, who from long ago have historically resisted the plunder but who now face the greatest threat to their continued existence.

One of the most recent examples is the Zapotec community of San José del Progreso, Ocotlán. The community lives in an environment of tension and divisiveness caused by the activities of the  Minera Cuzcatlan beginning in 2008. Minera Cuzcatlan is a subsidiary of Fortuna Silver Mines (part of a group of Canadian mining companies known as The Gold Group). So far this year, the Ocotlán Valley United Peoples Coalition (CPUVO) has reported two crimes and accuses the mining company, in conjunction with the San José del Progreso local government, of using armed groups against opponents of the mine.

Bernardo Mendez Vasquez was killed and Abigail Sanchez Vasquez was seriously injured in an ambush on Jan. 18, 2012. Last March 15, Bernardo Vasquez Sanchez, leader of the CPUVO, an organization that has challenged the granting of mining concessions without consultation in indigenous territories in the Ocotlán Valley, was shot dead. Rosalinda Dionisio Sanchez and Andres Vasquez Sanchez were seriously injured in that attack. So far there has been no justice for these crimes: in the first case, the arrest of one of the perpetrators was announced just five days after the second crime took place. We have already heard the usual arguments that attribute the attacks to rifts in the community—and they do exist--but no one stops to analyze that these divisions are promoted by the alliances forged by the mining companies.

The truth is that, beyond the investigations required to arrest and prosecute the masterminds and perpetrators of these crimes, it’s urgent that we look into the devastating effects of the policy of granting mining concessions without regard to the territorial rights of the peoples.

The outlook is very grave and peaceful, rights-based principles are being attacked over and over again. Until the fallacy that transnational corporations are simply private actors is rejected and what has been called “the architecture of impunity” is deconstructed, peoples’ rights will be impossible to guarantee in the face of the reality of governments subjugated to transnational capital.

The United Nations has spent more than two decades debating, holding meetings, and issuing governing principles to examine the relationship between indigenous peoples and extractive industries from a human rights perspective, focusing on three main issues: a) processes for consultation between all parties; b) the ways in which the benefits from economic activities are shared with indigenous peoples; and c) the means to resolve disputes. This approach fails to focus on binding rules that encourage the application of international human rights standards. Instead, they follow the logic of so-called “soft law” or non-rights. In the most recent report of the ad hoc rapporteur John Ruggie, this spirit is reflected in the quote by Amartya Sen that “we shouldn’t hold on to illusions and it is better to deal with the injustices that can be remedied.” The idea that global markets can be made compatible with human rights continues to prevail. That’s how the fifth power works. Yet its very existence is never discussed at election time.

Would that be too much to ask? Read more

(Translation by Michael Kane, Americas Program)

Guards Foil Attempted Prison Escape in Mexico

Hispanically Speaking News: "Police and guards foiled an attempt by inmates to escape from a prison in Culiacan, the capital of the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, over the weekend, state officials said, adding that a police officer was wounded in the incident.

The inmates were spotted by guards early Sunday as they tried to make their way to the perimeter wall, the Sinaloa Public Safety Secretariat said.

Guards fired warning shots in the air and forced the inmates to return to the cell block that they had escaped from by cutting through a metal screen." read more

Former Guerrero prosecutor charged in Ayotzinapa case

Original translation

CNN Mexico: "The former prosecutor in Guerrero, Alberto López Rosas, has been charged for allegedly obstructing the investigation of a confrontation between student teachers and authorities that resulted in the death of two young men.

The Attorney General (PGR) presented evidence against the official “for diverting from, obstructing, and concealing the investigation,” charges which could come with a sentence of up to 13 years in prison, the office said in a press release.

According to PGR investigations released in February, it was concluded that the crime scene was tampered with, some evidence disappeared, and local police fired on the students. López Rosas was the head of the state attorney’s office at the time.

This past December 12, Jorge Alexis Herrera Pino, 22 years old, and Gabriel Echeverría de Jesús, 21, died from gunshot wounds during a clash between students and security forces. The students of the Ayotzinapa Normal School blocked a tollbooth on the Sol Highway in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, demanding reforms in the institution. In the disorder, the two youths were shot and a gas station was burned down.

A week following the protest, López Rosas presented a video and accused the Federal Police of having shot into the crowd, maintaining that by the time the local police had arrived, the two students were already dead.

At this point, six arrest warrants have been issued for officials accused of obstruction of justice. They have all been released on bail.

In February, a Mexican judge issued arrest warrants for nine current and former civil servants in the Guerrero Attorney General’s Office." Spanish original 

Translation: Michael Kane, Center for International Policy intern

Mexico Prisons: Drugs, Alcohol, and Knives found in Tabasco Prison

El Excelsior: "The Federal Police performed an unannounced search through the facilities of a Tabasco (Creset) Prison which uncovered cell phones, alcohol, drugs, and even sharp weapons.

The surprise search at the State Center for Social Rehabilitation took place yesterday afternoon, where federal agents also subdued an attempted mutiny.

The operation passed largely without incident, although a mutiny attempted by a group of prisoners was reported. Police sources claimed, however, that the uprising was controlled without problems or injuries.

Since sunrise, the perimeter of the penitentiary’s grounds have been cordoned off by more than 150 officers of various police agencies. Access to the prison by visitors and attorneys has also been restricted.

After finishing the search, the authorities reported that they had seized 400 grams of marijuana, 200 grams of cocaine, three cell phones, eight sharpened weapons, several liters of tepache (ed. note: a traditional Mexican alcoholic drink), as well as clothes and shoes from the inmates." Spanish original 

Translation: Mikael Rojas, Americas Program 

Rule of Law: Mexico judges rule that Frenchwoman not be freed

Boston.com: "A Supreme Court panel voted Wednesday not to free a Frenchwoman who says she was unjustly sentenced to 60 years in prison for kidnapping in a case that has put Mexico's troubled justice system on trial and become a cause celebre in France.

The case of Florence Cassez has strained relations between the countries and it is also the center of a vigorous debate between Mexicans who say she was abused by the criminal justice system and those who say setting her free would only reinforce a sense that crimes such as kidnapping go unpunished.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has repeatedly called for Cassez to be freed, while Mexican President Felipe Calderon has urged the court panel to uphold justice for victims." read more

Rule of Law: Mexico Court Says Convicted French Kidnapper's Rights Violated

Wall Street Journal: "A French woman convicted of kidnapping in Mexico could get a new trial after Mexico's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that her constitutional rights were violated by police who staged her arrest for television cameras.

But justices also ruled that Florence Cassez, 37 years old, would have to stay in prison until the court comes up with a legal formula to review her case.

The Cassez case is one of Mexico's most explosive criminal cases in decades and is seen as an overall trial of Mexico's legal system, widely regarded as opaque, and riddled with corruption and practices like torture which defy the rule of law." read more