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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Mexican Supreme Court May Have Ended the Drug War: Part II |
| 2011-07-20 |
| To see a map, click here. To read Rantburg reports on Wednesday's ruling on Mexican Army jurisdiction in human rights cases, click here, here, here and here. By Chris Covert You can read Part I by clicking here The implications of the latest ruling by the Mexican Supreme Court last week left open many more questions that the issues it supposedly revolved. When the Mexican military was deploy to the streets in an effort to fight the flow of drugs and guns into the US and into Mexico itself, its only guideline were the existing military regulations and some of the changes implemented in 2005. Those changes included installing human rights directorates within the existing structures of the main military agencies, the army, navy and air force. Those organizations are in addition to the deliberate subordination of the military to civilian legal authorities. Anytime a Mexican Army unit, for example, arrests a suspect and seizes contraband, commanders can interrogate suspects and use information gained from those interviews, but cannot act on their own or further develop information without legal officials becoming apprised. Since 2005, not much has changed. Mexican military commanders in the field still turn over suspects and contraband to legal officials, and respond to citizen's complaints, dealing with the situations as they rise, under existing Mexican law. The proposed changes to Article 57 in the proposed national security law in bifurcating the crimes of forced disappearances, rape and torture as offenses for which soldiers can be charged and tried under military justice now appear to be mere window dressing in light of the new ruling. Amongst the new concerns is legal defense for soldiers. Who pays for lawyers? As a legitimate concern, it is one the Supreme Court failed to address in its ruling. As professor Oliva Posada pointed out in the article in Monday's Milenio, "In the midst of operations where death and fear are permanent companions, adding legal uncertainty to the mood of those who are the ultimate resource of the country will not provide a good result." Inasmuch as Mexican Supreme Court president Juan Silva Meza said that the new decision is not mandatory, the reaction from Mexican officials do not act as though any part of the new ruling is discretionary. Adding to the conclusion is the applicability of the new ruling to cases of forced disappearances that took place almost 30 years ago, which was the more obvious intent of the ruling. The case of Radilla pacheco took place in 1974 in Guerrero in the midst of a civil war against several socialist, communist and populist movements which arose in Mexico just after the Cuban communist revolution. Many of those cases cry out for justice. If the statistics are accurate, as many as 1,200 individuals disappeared during that time; some of the victims were in the custody of Mexican military. As few as 10 percent of those 659 cases in Guerrero would overload the courts system in that state in addition to the normal caseload. Add to that as many concurrent cases, it is easy to see the problem the Mexican Supreme Court has unleashed on its own system. Additionally, Mexican state police mostly do not have the education or training to investigate human rights cases. Some police have no more than a 6th grade education. Since those agencies are the ones who are at the front lines of the war on the drug cartels, the ruling can easily be seen as a gift to the cartels. The case load for lawyers as well as police agencies, however, is nothing when compared to the potential cases in the drug war against the Mexican military that could be filed. According to statistics released by the Mexican Army office if human rights since 2006, 6,000 cases were filed in SEDENA's military justice system, which is equipped to investigate and adjudicate those cases. That's 1,000 cases every year for a legal system unprepared to deal with such a deluge. And as one senior Mexican general remarked last week, "98 percent of the cases filed are jokes," adding that many of those cases are filed by those in league with organized crime. A complaint sure to be raised in the coming days as senior Mexican military officials lobby for the new national security law is what Posada called the lack of precautions. The Supreme Court left open many questions of implementing the new law that the Chamber of Deputies and the senate will have to resolve in the absence of clear guidelines. By refusing or failing to deal with the newly created status of soldiers and sailors in the field, the new ruling places them outside, "the premises at the express request of the civil power, and the mandate of the supreme commander of the armed forces, namely the President of the Republic." In other words, instead of being a part of a national security force, military personnel are now just individuals who committed crimes outside the context of the orders they followed. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #2 Additionally, Mexican state police mostly do not have the education or training to investigate human rights cases. Some police have no more than a 6th grade education. Which means, they probably have a better education than many graduates of Atlanta's high school system. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-07-20 09:02 |
| #1 FYI Mexica Military, ION PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > IRAN TO EXTEND NAVAL PRESENCE TO ATLANTIC. Iff youse thought the RED SEA + SYRUH + ARABIAN SEA/INDIAN OCEAN OCEAN was "it", youse were wrong. Plus that whole "HEZBOLLAH SETTING UP IN MEXICO + AMERICAS ALLIED WID THE CARTELS", + "IRAN SETTING UP SCUDS MISSLES BASES IN VENEZUELA" thingy. Just sayin. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-07-20 02:01 |
