Civil Society, Headlines, Human Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean

MEXICO: Outcry Against Soaring Crime

Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Aug 11 2008 (IPS) - Indignation over the lack of public security in Mexico, fuelled by the kidnapping and murder of the teenage son of a well-known businessman, apparently by police officers, prompted the announcement of an Aug. 30 march to protest the growing levels of crime and demand more effective law enforcement.

Civic groups, mainly linked to the business sector, are organising the event, which they hope will draw more than one million participants.

Meanwhile the authorities have offered, for the umpteenth time, legal reforms and new police units specialised in fighting kidnappings, dozens of which are committed every month.

According to studies and opinion polls, 98 percent of crimes in Mexico go unsolved and 86 percent of the population has little to no confidence in the police.

Public insecurity in Mexico, a longstanding problem that has given this country a dangerous reputation, has been getting worse in spite of the numerous legal reforms that have been implemented, such as the gradual adoption of oral trials open to the public, and the different government programmes presented in the last two decades.

“Neither laws nor promises are needed; what is required is effective action and the construction of a culture of legality,” Rodrigo Centeno, an analyst on security issues and professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), told IPS.

A wave of indignation was triggered when the body of 14-year-old Fernando Martí, whose family owns a chain of sporting goods stores, was found in the trunk of a car on Aug. 1. He had been kidnapped in June, and was not released even though his wealthy family paid a hefty ransom.

Several Mexico City police officers were arrested and others are under investigation in connection with the kidnapping.

Reports that the police were apparently involved in the crime did not come as a surprise in Mexico, where active or former police officers formed part of almost all of the kidnapping rings that have been dismantled in the past few years.

Representatives of 11 civic groups, mainly sponsored by the business community, announced Sunday that they would organise the march late this month in several cities.

Laura Herrejón, one of the organisers and the head of the community organisation Movimiento Pro-Vecino, told IPS that Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-most populous city, and the northern, industrial city of Monterrey had confirmed their participation in the event so far.

She said other cities would also hold protests, but that the main event would take place in the capital.

Herrejón called on the public to take to the streets that day to protest the violence and impunity “that are plaguing the entire country.”

“The country has faced these problems for years, and citizens should demand solutions, and participate in them,” she added.

Martí’s high-profile kidnapping accentuated the perception of public insecurity. A telephone survey carried out Aug. 7-8 by the private polling firm Ulises Beltrán y Asociados, whose results were published Monday by the local daily Excélsior, found that 77 percent of respondents described the state of public security in the country as “bad” or “very bad”.

That is the highest proportion found by the polling firm since June 1999, during the government of Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000).

In addition, 66 percent of the 400 people surveyed this month around the country by Ulises Beltrán y Asociados said they had heard of Martí’s case, which a majority blamed on the government of Mexico City, where the kidnapping took place and the body was found.

In addition, 86 percent said they had little or no confidence in the police.

After Martí’s murder, the government of conservative President Felipe Calderón urged lawmakers to increase the penalty for kidnapping to life in prison and announced the creation of a special federal police unit to fight that crime.

Meanwhile, spokespersons for the Mexico City government of leftist Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said a new undercover police unit would be established, as well as a programme offering rewards to anyone who provides information that helps lead to the capture of kidnappers.

Political analyst María Amparo Casar, a columnist with the daily Reforma, said the solution to Mexico’s high crime rates does not lie in the creation of new laws and programmes, but in enforcement of the existing ones.

The prevailing impunity, the small number of victims who report crimes, and the lack of confidence in the police, prosecutors and judges are undeniable problems that must be combated, wrote Casar.

Based on the results of several studies and official statistics, Mexican lawyer Juan Velásquez estimates that 98 percent of all crimes committed in this country of 104 million go unpunished, 75 percent of victims do not report crimes, and no arrest warrants are issued in 50 percent of the criminal cases that make it to court.

According to official figures, 438 people were kidnapped in 2007, compared to 384 in 2004 and 280 in both 2005 and 2006.

But for every reported kidnapping, two or three go unreported, according to experts. Although no one has a precise figure, an estimated 700 to 1,100 kidnappings are committed annually in Mexico.

This year’s apparent rise in the number of cases occurred after a drop in 2005 and 2006. Analysts and activists blame the increase on the growing involvement in kidnapping by drug traffickers and their paid killers, due to the stepped-up pressure on the drug trade by the police and the military.

Since Calderón took office in December 2006, thousands of members of the armed forces and the federal police have been deployed to different states to clamp down on drug trafficking.

Drug-related murders have totalled 4,780, including around 500 police officers and military personnel, since December 2006.

The Consejo Coordinador Empresarial, a major business association, published an ad in several Mexican papers Monday stating that “impunity is the main enemy of the rule of law.” According to the Consejo, 99.3 percent of all crimes go unsolved.

The business association says that stiffening sentences for kidnappers is not a solution, and proposed instead increasing training and wages for the police, converting prosecutors’ offices into victim aid centres, and granting autonomy to prosecutors, who are named by the government at the federal level and by governors at the state level.

“Enough already. We demand results. We demand justice. We demand security,” says the ad.

A similar outcry was sparked in June 2004, when an estimated one million people dressed in white marched in silence through the capital in a protest organised by business and civic groups.

This year, the organisers hope to draw an even larger number of demonstrators, and to hold simultaneous protests around the country.