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Date: April 16, 2024 Tue
Time: 1:35 pm
mexico
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mexico
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1653 total results foundAuthor: Pew Research Center Title: Troubled by Crime, the Economy, Drugs and Corruption, Most Mexicans See Better Life in the U.S. - One-in-Three Would Migrate Summary: This report presents the results of a survey conducted with 1,000 adults in Mexico between May 26 and June 2, 1009. Facing a variety of national problems -- crime, drugs, corruption, and a troubled economy -- most say that if they had the means and opportunity to go live in the U.S. they would do so, and more than half of those who would migrate if they had the chance say they would do so without authorization. Details: Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 2009. 43p. Source: Pew Global Project Attitudes Year: 2009 Country: Mexico Keywords: Hispanics Shelf Number: 117715 |
Author: Felbab-Brown, Vanda Title: The Violent Drug Market in Mexico and Lessons from Colombia Summary: This policy paper addresses the issue of how to reduce violence in Mexico. It first describes the illegal drug economy in Mexico, contrasts the situation in Mexico with Colombia and the Plan Colombia, and then argues that although public policy analyses center comparisons on and draw lessons from Plan Colombia, the better analogy for Mexico is Colombia before Plan Colombia, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The paper ends with a brief decription of the Mexican reponse and the Merida Initiative and offers recommendations for a new strategy in Mexico. Details: Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 2009. 29p. Source: Policy Paper, No. 12; Foreign Policy at Brookings Year: 2009 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Control (Mexico) Shelf Number: 113769 |
Author: Amnesty International Title: Invisible Victims: Migrants on the Move in Mexico Summary: Every year, tens of thousands of people travel through Mexico without legal permission as irregular migrants. Most are Central Americans on their way to the U.S. border, hoping for a new life far from the poverty they have left behind. Their journey is dangerous. Criminal gangs target the main routes used by irregular migrants. Kidnapping, extortion, ill-treatment and sexual violence by these gangs are widespread. This report presents findings from a survey of 110 migrants who were interviewed in June 2009. Their statements indicate that a large number of abuses are committed against irregular migrants, and that they are almost never reported. The report ends with a number of recommendations calling on the authorities at all levels to improve protection and access to justice for migrants and to end impunity for those who carry out abuses against them. Details: London: Amnesty International Publications, 2010. 44p. Source: Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Gangs (Mexico) Shelf Number: 118265 |
Author: Tinajero, Jorge Hernandez Title: Mexico: The Law Against Small-Scale Drug Dealing: A Doubtful Venture Summary: In August 2009, Mexico adopted a new law against small-scale drug dealing, which introduces some significant advances in key subjects, such as the recognizing of and distinguishing between user, drug addict and dealer. However it still has significant flaws in continuing to treat demand and supply of drugs as a criminal and market phenomenon that are likely to undermine its successful application. Details: Amsterdam: Transnational Institute, 2009. 8p. Source: Internet Resource; Series on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 3 Year: 2009 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Control Shelf Number: 119232 |
Author: Astorga, Luis Title: Arms Trafficking from the United States to Mexico: Divergent Responsibilities Summary: Arms trafficking from the United States to Mexico is a central issue in bilateral relations, closely linked to drug trafficking and, in particular, the lethal violence unleashed by Mexican drug trafficking organizations. Violence is always a possibility in any illegal activity, but the magnitude of the current violence is largely related to the availability of high-powered firearms being trafficked across the border from the United States to Mexico. Contributing to this are the divisions and disputes among the leaders of the drug trafficking organizations and their fight for hegemony over routes, markets and other areas created by the diversification of the profits and power derived from this business, as well as the increasing level of conflict with the police and armed forces. Other areas that cannot be overlooked include the weaknesses of Mexican institutions in charge of guaranteeing security and justice, and the decisions of those who run institutions to reduce or neutralize the capacity of criminal organizations, which could be contributing to the violence unleashed by drug traffickers. The availability of guns alone does not necessarily generate violence, but when such violence does exist access to weapons allows it to take on greater dimensions and makes it much harder to control. Drug traffickers are obtaining increasingly sophisticated weapons at reasonably low prices thanks to easy access to guns in the U.S. market. As with drug trafficking, gun smuggling implies a relationship of coresponsibility between supplier and consuming countries; the responsibilities and the capacities of states are different, as are the actions and policies that they should adopt. Details: London: International Drug Policy Consortium, 2010. 5p. Source: Internet Resource; IDPC Policy Briefing Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Arms Smuggling Shelf Number: 119375 |
Author: Zhang, Sheldon Title: Why Sex Trafficking Is Constrained and Limited: A Conceptual Explanation Summary: Using findings from a recently completed study in Tijuana, Mexico, this paper presents a descriptive analysis of the circumstances of 220 sex workers who were working in the city’s sex industry. Based on the patterns uncovered from these women’s narratives, the paper proposes a conceptual paradigm that challenges the sensational claims made by many international agencies and social advocacy groups about the widespread problem of sex trafficking activities in Latin America. The intent of this paper was not to question the existence of sex trafficking, but to understand the experiences of those who were closest to this illicit enterprise, so that effective counter-trafficking strategies can be planned and implemented. Details: Santiago, Chile: Global Consortium on Security Transformation, 2010. 22p. Source: Internet Resource; Working Paper Series, no. 5 Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Human Trafficking Shelf Number: 119446 |
Author: Walser, Ray Title: Mexico, Drug Cartels, and the Merida Initiative: A Fight We Cannot Afford to Lose Summary: Since Mexican President Felipe Calderón took office in 2006, a virulent war has raged with the Mexican drug cartels, and this drug-related violence has spilled across the U.S. border, threatening U.S. lives and public safety. Geostrategic pessimists fear that the U.S. has been taking Mexico's stability for granted and warn that Mexico is teetering on the brink of a drug-induced disaster. However, the seriousness of the drug threat to Mexico also presents a strategic opportunity. At the invitation of the Mexican government, the Bush Administration is working to establish a partnership to make Mexico safer and more secure without sacrificing the sovereignty of either nation. The Bush Administration's Merida Initiative—a three-year, $1.5 billion anti-drug assistance package for Mexico and Central America—is a quantitative and qualitative jump in support for the drug fight in the region. Unlike Plan Colombia, which helped to rescue Colombia from the throes of a narco-war, the Merida Initiative will provide assistance in equipment, technology, and training without a significant U.S. military footprint in Mexico. President George W. Bush signed the Merida Initiative into law as part of the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008 on June 30, 2008. In Mexico and in the press, the Merida Initiative is being viewed as a critical test of U.S.–Mexican relations. Its implementation will be closely scrutinized on both sides of the aisle in Congress. The Merida Initiative could become an important legacy of the Bush presidency in the Western Hemisphere and should create a solid platform for U.S.–Mexican cooperation for the next Administration. The initiative, however, is just a start. The U.S. needs to do more to secure the border, reduce the flows of illegal arms and illicit cash south into Mexico, and alter immigration laws to permit temporary workers to cross the border legally to help fill the U.S. demand for labor. Policymakers need to develop a comprehensive strategy that covers all transit and source countries. Mexico needs to continue exercising the political will to combat the deadly drug cartels and continue reforming its judicial system, overhauling police and law enforcement, and modernizing and developing its economy. Finally, the Mexican government needs to take an active role in preventing illegal third-country nationals from transiting Mexican territory, as well as in closing down smuggling organizations that operate on Mexican soil and discouraging Mexican citizens from entering the U.S. illegally. Both nations would benefit substantially from a return to law and order on both sides of the border. Details: Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation, 2008. 12p. Source: Internet Resource; Backgrounder, No. 2163 Year: 2008 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels (Mexico) Shelf Number: 119542 |
Author: Ingram, Matt Title: Judicial Reform in Mexico: Toward a New Criminal Justice System Summary: This report addresses the ongoing changes that are taking place within the judicial system of Mexico that were approved by the Mexican Congress in 2008. Sector reforms are taking place in the following areas: criminal procedure; due process rights of the accused; modifications to police agencies and their role in criminal investigations; and tougher measures for combating organized crime. These reforms are to be implemented by the year 2016. This report discusses the specific changes that were proposed in the reform package, and the challenges ahead in implementing these reforms. Details: San Diego, CA: Trans-Border Institute, Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego, 2010. 50p. Source: Internet Resource; Accessed August 10, 2010 at: http://www.justiceinmexico.org/resources/pdf/judicial_reform.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice System (Mexico) Shelf Number: 119586 |
Author: Astorga, Luis Title: Drug Trafficking Organizations and Counter-Drug Strategies in the U.S.-Mexican Context Summary: This paper looks at the increase in violence in Mexico among trafficking organizations and the efforts and prospective strategies available to counter the drug trafficking networks. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; San Diego: Trans-Border Institute, University of San Diego, 2010. 29p. Source: Internet Resource; Accessed August 13, 2010 at http://http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/Drug%20Trafficking%20Organizations.%20Astorga%20and%20Shirk.pdf; Working Paper Series on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking (Mexico) Shelf Number: 119596 |
Author: Taraciuk, Tamara Title: Uniform Impunity: Mexico's Misuse of Military Justice to Prosecute Abuses in Counternarcotics and Public Security Operations Summary: "This report details 17 cases involving military abuses against more than 70 victims, including several cases from 2007 and 2008. The abuses include killings, torture, rapes, and arbitrary detentions. Not one of the military investigations into these crimes has led to a conviction for even a single soldier on human rights violations. The only civilian investigation into any of these cases led to the conviction of four soldiers." Details: Internet Resource; Accessed August 14, 2010 at: Source: New York: Human Rights Watch, 2009. 76p. Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Human Rights (Mexico) Shelf Number: 114623 |
Author: Farah, Douglas Title: Money Laundering and Bulk Cash Smuggling: Challenges for the Merida Initiative Summary: This paper looks at three distinct parts of the money structure of the Mexican drug trafficking organizations. One is bulk cash shipment, moved largely by vehicle across the U.S.-Mexican border. Another is the broader issue of how other types of drug money circulate in Mexico's formal and informal economies and the how that is used. A third is how money obtained from the cocaine trade is moved back to purchase more cocaine in order to keep the cartels operational. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars - Mexico Institute; San Diego: University of San Diego, Trans-Border Institute, 2010. 30p. Source: Internet Resource; Working Paper Series on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation; Accessed August 17, 2010 at: http://wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/Money%20Laundering%20and%20Bulk%20Cash%20Smuggling.%20Farah.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Cash Smuggling Shelf Number: 119620 |
Author: Whitworth, Steven Scott Title: The Untold Story of Mexico's Rise and Eventual Monopoly of the Methamphetamine Trade Summary: This thesis examines the dominant role of Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) in the multi-billion dollar trade in illegal narcotics between Latin America and the United States since 1995. It assesses the implications of the existence and operation of the four major and thriving, Mexico cartels (or DTOs) for both the United States and Mexico. The story of Mexico’s rise to prominence by the mid- to late-1990s as the primary transshipment route for cocaine entering the United States is well known. However, much less attention has been devoted to how the Mexican cartels, which now control 80 % percent of all illegal drug trafficking into the United States, have become the primary producer and trafficker of methamphetamine for the American market in the past decade. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2008. 89p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 28, 2010 at: http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2008/Jun/08Jun_Whitworth.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Mexico Keywords: Cocaine Shelf Number: 119693 |
Author: Sabet, Daniel Title: Police Reform in Mexico: Advances and Persistent Obstacles Summary: At no time in Mexico’s history has there been a greater need for professional police forces. The current security crisis, which resulted in an estimated 6,587 organized crime related killings in 2009, has brought police reform to the top of the national agenda. While law enforcement should be the primary tool to address the country’s crime problems, the police are viewed as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. A brief review of the daily newspapers reveals problems such as (1) corruption and collusion with organized crime, (2) abuses of human rights in the form of torture, unwarranted search and seizure, violations to due process, and inversion of the presumption of innocence, and (3) ineffectiveness exemplified by the inability to stem the violence, poor investigation and intelligence gathering capabilities, and high rates of impunity. Evidence of these three problems has produced a deep seeded lack of confidence in the police, which ironically makes the police even less effective and further perpetuates corruption and abuse. Addressing Mexico’s security crisis will require creating an effective police force operating within the confines of the law. This chapter seeks to provide an overview of police reform in Mexico and elucidate the obstacles to institutional change. The chapter begins with an introduction to policing in Mexico and offers a brief exploration of the evidence of corruption, abuse, and ineffectiveness that plague Mexico’s various and numerous police departments. The analysis briefly considers the different approaches to reform, including a limited discretion approach, professionalization, and militarization. I then offer an overview of reform during the last three federal administrations: Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (1994-2000), Vicente Fox Quesada (2000-2006), and Felipe Calderón Hinojosa (2006-2012). The analysis concludes that considerable advances have been made but is forced to recognize that the fundamental problems of corruption, abuse, and ineffectiveness remain. To understand why, I explore the considerable obstacles that continue to serve as a challenge to reform efforts. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute; San Diego, CA: University of San Diego, Trans-Border Institute, 2010. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series on U.S.-Mexico Security Collaboration: Accessed August 30, 2010 at: http://wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/Police%20Reform%20in%20Mexico.%20Sabet.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Organized Crime Shelf Number: 119706 |
Author: Bailey, John Title: Combating Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking in Mexico: What are Mexican and U.S. Strategies? Are They Working? Summary: Mexico confronts the greatest threat to its democratic governance from internal violence since the Cristero Revolt of the latter stages of the Revolution of 1910-29. In this case, the threat is posed by criminal groups, especially by politically savvy, hyper-violent drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), currently inflicting spectacular damage in several regions and sowing insecurity throughout the country. But the DTOs are only the most pressing symptom of a growing mix of forms of organized crime (OC) rooted in a robust informal economy and a civic culture marked by comparatively little confidence in the police-justice system and low compliance with the state’s law. The threat is further exacerbated by a crisis of political legitimacy and state capacity. Neo-liberal policies since the mid 1980s have not generated a new social contract to replace the populist consensus of the “golden age” of growth with stability (1950s-1970s), and the Mexican state lacks an effective police-justice-regulatory system capable of enforcing its laws with respect to public security. This chapter first examines the evolution of the Mexican and US national government strategies for confronting OC/DTOs, with particular attention to the institutional frameworks that have been established to implement these strategies. It then evaluates the degree of “fit” between the two governments’ strategies and considers metrics by which progress can be measured. It concludes with an assessment of progress. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute; San Diego, CA: University of San Diego, Trans-Border Institute, 2010. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation: Accessed August 30, 2010 at: http://wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/Combating%20Organized%20Crime.%20Bailey.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 119588 |
Author: Camp, Roderic Ai Title: Armed Forces and Drugs: Public Perceptions and Institutional Challenges Summary: This essay proposes to briefly describe and analyze the evolution of the Army and Navy’s role in drug interdiction, focusing on the patterns that have emerged since 1995, when the Army accepted responsibility for that task without any internal opposition. This paper argues that Mexican national security priorities have shifted significantly, focusing on domestic security issues, specifically drug-related criminal activity and violence. In response to the government’s emphasis on drug-related crime, civil authorities have relied increasingly on the armed forces to carry out an aggressive anti-drug mission. The increased role of the military in carrying out these assignments has produced significant changes within the Mexican Navy and the Army, and in their relationship with the American armed forces. Citizen views of the Mexican armed forces as an institution, its performance of the anti-drug mission, and its reactions to increased levels of personal insecurity, have altered Mexican perceptions of national sovereignty and the United States’ role in their country. Finally, the role of the Catholic Church as an increasingly influential actor in government attempts to curb the drug cartels, as well as the source of potential conflict with the armed forces over growing numbers of human rights abuses, are essential to understanding the consequences of the military’s anti-drug mission. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute: San Diego: University of San Diego, Trans-Border Institute, 2010. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series on U.S.-Mexico Security Collaboration: Accessed September 1, 2010 at: http://wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/Armed%20Forces%20and%20Drugs.%20Camp.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Armed Forces Shelf Number: 119716 |
Author: Goodman, Colby Title: U.S. Firearms Trafficking to Mexico: New Data and Insights Illuminate Key Trends and Challenges Summary: Recent news reports that 72 people were summarily executed by an organized crime group in northern Mexico highlight again the horrific violence that has gripped much of the country. The victims (mostly migrants) are the latest tragic reminder that large amounts of sophisticated firearms and ammunition in the hands of violent criminals have made their enterprise more deadly and have complicated law enforcement efforts to bring them under control. It is not surprising, then, that the government of Mexico has made curbing firearms trafficking a top priority in its efforts to dismantle organized crime. Additionally, Mexico has made disrupting arms trafficking networks from the United States a priority issue in the U.S.-Mexico security cooperation agenda. This report provides answers to some of the critical questions about U.S. firearms trafficking to Mexico. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute; San Diego, CA: University of San Diego, Trans-Border Institute, 2010. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation: Accessed September 14, 2010 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/news/docs/U.S.%20Firearms%20Trafficking%20to%20Mexico-%20Goodman%20Final.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Firearms Trafficking Shelf Number: 119791 |
Author: Lauria, Carlos Title: Silence of Death in Mexico's Press: Crime, Violence, and Corruption Are Destroying the Country's Journalism Summary: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) research has identified Mexico as one of the deadliest countries in the world for the press and one of the worst nations in solving crimes against journalists. CPJ researchers have traveled the breadth of the country over the course of four years, interviewing dozens of journalists about the dangers of their work and the devastating self-censorship that has resulted from anti-press violence. CPJ delegations have met with high-ranking Mexican officials, including President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, to discuss the grave problem of impunity in attacks on the press. This report examines the murders of 22 journalists and three media support workers, along with the disappearances of seven journalists, during the Calderón presidency, which began in December 2006. The report identifies systemic law enforcement failures and offers potential solutions. Details: New York: Committee to Protect Journalists, 2010. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 6, 2010 at: http://cpj.org/reports/cpj_mexico_english.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Corruption Shelf Number: 119874 |
Author: Mayors Against Illegal Guns Title: Issue Brief: The Movement of Illegal Guns Across the U.S.-Mexico Border Summary: In recent years, the escalating drug cartel violence in Mexico has claimed tens of thousands of lives, fueled in part by thousands of guns illegally trafficked from the United States. In fact, 90% of guns recovered and traced from Mexican crime scenes originated from gun dealers in the United States. This report relies primarily on previously unreleased trace data provided by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) to Mayors Against Illegal Guns to describe which states are the predominant suppliers of those guns recovered and traced in Mexico. This new data shows that four in ten of the U.S. guns recovered in Mexico between 2006 and 2009 were originally sold by gun dealers in Texas. The three other states that share a border with Mexico – Arizona, California, and New Mexico – were the source for another one-third of the U.S. guns. To better understand the flow of guns into Mexico, this report also studies the rate at which states supply Mexican crime guns by controlling for population. When using this control, gun dealers in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas each supply crime guns to Mexico at rates at least 169% greater than any other state and at a rate more than three times as high as the fourth border state, California. In addition to proximity to the border, relatively lax gun laws in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas may contribute to that disparity. Additionally, the time between the original sale of guns at U.S. gun dealers and the recovery of those guns at Mexican crime scenes is decreasing – a sign of ever more sophisticated gun trafficking. Details: (S.l.): Mayors Against Illegal Guns, 2010. 5p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 8, 2010 at: http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/downloads/pdf/issue_brief_mexico_2010.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 119893 |
Author: Kilmer, Beau Title: Reducing Drug Trafficking Revenues and Violence in Mexico: Would Legalizing Marijuana in California Help? Summary: U.S. demand for illicit drugs creates markets for Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and helps foster violence in Mexico. This paper examines how marijuana legalization in California might influence DTO revenues and the violence in Mexico. Key findings include: 1) Mexican DTOs' gross revenues from illegally exporting marijuana to wholesalers in the United States is likely less than $2 billion; 2) The claim that 60 percent of Mexican DTO gross drug export revenues come from marijuana should not be taken seriously; 3) If legalization only affects revenues from supplying marijuana to California, DTO drug export revenue losses would be very small, perhaps 2–4 percent; 4) The only way legalizing marijuana in California would significantly influence DTO revenues and the related violence is if California-produced marijuana is smuggled to other states at prices that outcompete current Mexican supplies. The extent of such smuggling will depend on a number of factors, including the response of the U.S. federal government. 5) If marijuana is smuggled from California to other states, it could undercut sales of Mexican marijuana in much of the U.S., cutting DTOs' marijuana export revenues by more than 65 percent and probably by 85 percent or more. In this scenario, the DTOs would lose approximately 20% of their total drug export revenues. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2010. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 13, 2010 at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/2010/RAND_OP325.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Control Shelf Number: 119939 |
Author: Meyer, Maureen Title: Abused and Afraid in Ciudad Juarez: An Analysis of Human Rights Violations by the Military in Mexico Summary: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America: Mexico: Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center (Center Prodh), 2010. 15p. Details: This report focuses on human rights violations that occurred in Ciudad Juarez in the context of Joint Operation Chihuahua, which began in March 2008, and reviews the drug policies adopted by the Mexican government, with support from the U.S. government, to address the security crisis in Mexico. The report aims to give voice to some of the victims of the war against organized crime in Mexico: in particular, individuals who have been abused by the very security forces who are supposed to protect them. It does not seek to minimize the countless atrocities committed by drug trafficking organizations and other criminal groups in Mexico, which have been widely reported in the press. Rather, the report focuses on human rights violations — including forced disappearances, torture and arbitrary detentions — that have been committed by the Mexican government’s security forces, mainly the Mexican military, in the context of the counter-drug efforts in the country. The failure to hold soldiers responsible for the violations they commit leads to more abuses, weakens citizen trust, and undermines the population’s willingness to collaborate in the struggle against any type of crime. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 15, 2010 at: http://www.wola.org/images/stories/Mexico/wola%20prodh%20juarez%20report%20color.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Violence Shelf Number: 119981 |
Author: Trans-Border Institute, Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego Title: Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis from 2001-2009 Summary: Mexico closed the decade with an unprecedented level of violence, and a record number of drug-related killings in 2009. In light of the spectacular nature of this violence and the challenge it represents for the Mexican state, it raises serious concerns for the Mexican public, for policy makers, and for Mexico's neighboring countries. This report provides an overview of the trends found in available data on drug-related killings in Mexico, and offers some brief observations about the causes of violence and the effectiveness of recent efforts to combat organized crime. Details: San Diego, CA: Trans-Border Institute, 2010. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 3, 2010 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/2010-Shirk-JMP-Drug_Violence.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 120171 |
Author: Estevez, Dolia Title: Protecting Press Freedom in an Environment of Violence and Impunity Summary: This chapter reviews the situation of violence against the press in Mexico and what each of the different actors involved is doing, or not doing, to address a problem that in some Mexican states has reached alarming crisis levels. The essay examines the political willingness and steps taken by the federal and legislative branches of government to protect freedom of expression, through the exercise of journalism. It discusses measures taken by reporters, editors, media companies and civil society, to defend that right. Special attention is given to explain how the failure of federal and local authorities to effectively prosecute crimes against reporters has resulted in almost total impunity. Most crimes againts reporters remain unsolved, authorities rarely determine who perpetrated the crime and there are no prosecutions much less convictions. The report also examines the extent to which editors and journalists, working in states overwhelmed with violence, have engaged in widespread self-censorship out of fear for their lives. The report emphasizes freedom of expression and a free press as fundamental and universal rights protected by international law. These rights are also consider an effective way to measure the strength of a democracy. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute; San Diego: University of San Diego, Trans-Border Institute, 2010. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation: Accessed December 8, 2010 at: http://wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/Protecting%20Press%20Freedom.%20Estevez.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Freedom of the Press Shelf Number: 120411 |
Author: Grayson, George W. Title: La Familia Drug Cartel: Implications for U.S.-Mexican Security Summary: La Familia Michoacana burst onto the national stage on September 6, 2006, when ruffians crashed into the seedy Sol y Sombra nightclub in Uruapan, Michoacán, and fired shots into the air. They screamed at the revelers to lie down, ripped open a plastic bag, and lobbed five human heads onto the beer-stained black and white dance floor. The day before these macabre pyrotechnics, the killers seized their prey from a mechanic’s shop and hacked off their heads with bowie knives while the men writhed in pain. “You don’t do something like that unless you want to send a big message,” said a U.S. law-enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity about an act of human depravity that would “cast a pall over the darkest nooks of hell.” The desperados left behind a note hailing their act as “divine justice,” adding that: "The Family doesn't kill for money; it doesn't kill women; it doesn't kill innocent people; only those who deserve to die, die. Everyone should know . . . this is divine justice.” While claiming to do the “Lord’s work,” the ruthless leaders of this syndicate have emerged as the dominant exporter of methamphetamines to the United States, even as they control scores of municipalities in Michoacán and neighboring states. Details: Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2010. 111p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 16, 2010 at: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=1033 Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 120529 |
Author: Olson, Eric L. Title: Shared Responsibility: U.S.-Mexico Policy Options for Confronting Organized Crime Summary: The research for this volume is the product of a project on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation jointly coordinated by the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego. As part of the project, a number of research papers were commissioned that provide background information on organized crime in Mexico, the United States, and Central America, and analyze specific challenges for cooperation between the United States and Mexico, including efforts to address the consumption of narcotics, money laundering, arms trafficking, intelligence sharing, police strengthening, judicial reform, and the protection of journalists. Each chapter in this volume was first released in a preliminary form as part of a “Working Paper Series” throughout 2010. Contents include the following: Introduction, by Eric L. Olson, David A. Shirk, and Andrew Selee; Drug Trafficking Organizations and Counter-Drug Strategies in the U.S.-Mexican Context by Luis Astorga and David A. Shirk; Drug Trafficking Organizations in Central America: Transportistas, Mexican Cartels and Maras by Steven S. Dudley; Crossing the Mississippi: How Black Tar Heroin Moved Into the Eastern United States by José Díaz-Briseño; How Can Domestic U.S. Drug Policy Help Mexico? by Peter Reuter; Money Laundering and Bulk Cash Smuggling: Challenges for the Mérida Initiative by Douglas Farah; Justice Reform in Mexico: Change & Challenges in the Judicial Sector by David A. Shirk; Police Reform in Mexico: Advances and Persistent Obstacles by Daniel Sabet; Protecting Press Freedom in an Environment of Violence and Impunity by Dolia Estévez; Armed Forces and Drugs: Public Perceptions and Institutional Challenges by Roderic Ai Camp; Combating Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking in Mexico: What are Mexican and U.S. Strategies? Are They Working? by John Bailey; and U.S.-Mexico Security Collaboration: Intelligence Sharing and Law Enforcement Cooperation by Sigrid Arzt. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute: San Diego, CA: University of San Diego, Trans-Border Institute, 2010. 376p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 20, 2010 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/Shared%20Responsibility--Olson,%20Shirk,%20Selee.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Control Policy Shelf Number: 120552 |
Author: Beittel, June S. Title: Mexico's Drug Trafficking Organizations: Source and Scope of the Rising Violence Summary: In Mexico, the violence generated by drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) in recent years has been, according to some, unprecedented. In 2006, Mexico’s newly elected President Felipe Calderón launched an aggressive campaign — an initiative that has defined his administration — against the DTOs that has been met with a violent response from the DTOs. Government enforcement efforts have had successes in removing some of the key leaders in all of the seven major DTOs. However, these efforts have led to violent succession struggles within the DTOs themselves. In July 2010, the Mexican government announced that more than 28,000 people had been killed in drug trafficking-related violence since December 2006 when President Calderón came to office. Although violence has been an inherent feature of the trade in illicit drugs, the character of the drug trafficking-related violence in Mexico seems to have changed recently, now exhibiting increasing brutality. In the first ten months of 2010, an alarming number of Mexican public servants have been killed allegedly by the DTOs, including 12 Mexican mayors and in July, a gubernatorial candidate. The massacres of young people and migrants, the killing and disappearance of Mexican journalists, the use of torture, and the phenomena of car bombs have received wide media coverage and have led some analysts to question if the violence has been transformed into something new, beyond the typical violence that has characterized the trade. For instance, some observers have raised the concern that the Mexican DTOs may be acting more like domestic terrorists. Others maintain that the DTOs are transnational organized crime organizations at times using terrorist tactics. Still others believe the DTOs may be similar to insurgents attempting to infiltrate the Mexican state by penetrating the government and police. The growing security crisis in Mexico including the March 13, 2010, killing of three individuals connected to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, (two of the victims were U.S. citizens) has drawn the attention of the U.S. Congress and has raised concerns about the stability of a strategic partner and neighbor. Congress is also concerned about the possibility of “spillover” violence along the U.S. border and further inland. The 111th Congress held more than 20 hearings dealing with the violence in Mexico, U.S. foreign assistance, and border security issues. The 112th Congress is likely to be interested in progress made by the Calderón government in quelling the violence and asserting its authority in DTO strongholds, and in the implications for the United States. Members are also likely to continue to conduct close oversight of U.S.-Mexico security cooperation and other related bilateral issues. This report provides background on drug trafficking in Mexico, identifies the major drug trafficking organizations operating today, and analyzes the context, scope, and scale of the violence. It examines current trends of the violence, analyzes prospects for curbing violence in the future, and compares it with violence in Colombia. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2011. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: CRS Report No. 7-5700: Accessed February 8, 2011 at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41576.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 120722 |
Author: Rios, Viridiana Title: Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2010 Summary: Since the 1990s, Mexico has experienced a persistent public security crisis involving high rates of violent crime and increased violence among organized crime syndicates involved in drug trafficking and other illicit activities. In recent years, this violence has become so severe that officials in Mexico and the United States have expressed uncertainty about the Mexican state's ability to withstand the effects of this violence. Indeed, 2010 was the worst year on record for such violence, and was marked a sharp increase in politically targeted violence that included numerous assassinations and kidnappings of public officials. Until recently, there has been little detailed data or analysis available to gauge Mexico's drug related violence. Until January 2011, the Mexican government released only sporadic and unsystematic data on drug violence, and tracking by media sources produced widely varying estimates. In the absence of reliable information, sensationalistic reporting and government statements contributed to considerable confusion and hyperbole about the nature of Mexico's current security crisis. Fortunately, in recent months, greater public scrutiny and pressure on Mexican authorities resulted in a wealth of new data on Mexico's drug violence. This report builds on previous research by the Trans-Border Institute's Justice in Mexico Project (www.justiceinmexico.org), compiling much of this new data and analysis to provide a more complete picture of Mexico's drug war and the challenges it presents to both Mexico and the United States. Details: San Diego: Trans-Border Institute, Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego, 2011. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 11, 2011 at: http://justiceinmexico.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/2011-tbi-drugviolence2.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Assassinations Shelf Number: 120749 |
Author: Barria Issa, Cecar A. Title: The Use of Terrorism by Drug Trafficking Organizations' Paramilitary Groups in Mexico Summary: "In the early 1990s, Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) created their own military arms that later evolved into sophisticated paramilitary groups, now engaged in an all-out war against the state and/or anyone who represents an obstacle for their criminal activities. Furthermore, they are not hesitating to use tactics of extreme violence as terrorism to psychologically impact their enemies and those civilians not supporting them. Historically, terrorism related to drugs is new in Mexico but not in Latin America. The illegal drug trade has funded terrorist groups in Peru and Colombia, empowered criminal organizations and caused them to challenge the state's authority. An objective comparison of these cases can teach important lessons and show new paths to follow in the solution of Mexico's costly conflict. This thesis will define: How, where and why are DTO's paramilitary groups opting for terrorism in Mexico. It will outline the proper mechanisms to counter that terrorism. There is a long way to go to win the war on drugs in Mexico, but in order to apply new long term, less direct, and more social-based strategies, it is urgent for the state to set the proper security conditions in the short term." Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2010. 87p. Source: Internet Resource: Theses: Accessed February 17, 2011 at: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&doc=136969&coll=limited Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking (Mexico) Shelf Number: 120810 |
Author: Shirk, David A. Title: The Drug War in Mexico: Confronting a Shared Threat Summary: The drug war in Mexico has caused some U.S. analysts to view Mexico as a failed or failing state. While these fears are exaggerated, the problems of widespread crime and violence, government corruption, and inadequate access to justice pose grave challenges for the Mexican state. The Obama administration has therefore affirmed its commitment to assist Mexico through continued bilateral collaboration, funding for judicial and security sector reform, and building “resilient communities.” This paper analyzes the drug war in Mexico, explores Mexico’s capacities and limitations, examines the factors that have undermined effective state performance, assesses the prospects for U.S. support to strengthen critical state institutions, and offers recommendations for reducing the potential of state failure. He argues that the United States should help Mexico address its pressing crime and corruption problems by going beyond traditional programs to strengthen the country’s judicial and security sector capacity and help it build stronger political institutions, a more robust economy, and a thriving civil society. Details: Washington, DC: Council on Foreign Relations, 2011. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Council Special Report No. 60: Accessed March 17, 2011 at: http://www.cfr.org/mexico/drug-war-mexico/p24262?co=C009602 Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Enforcement Shelf Number: 121051 |
Author: Rosenthal, Eric Title: Abandoned and Disappeared: Mexico’s Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities Summary: Disappeared and Abandoned: Mexico’s Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities is the product of a year-long investigation and collaboration between Disability Rights International (DRI) and the Comisión Méxicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH). From August 2009 through September 2010, DRI and the CMDPDH investigated psychiatric institutions, orphanages, shelters, and other public facilities that house children and adults with disabilities. This report documents violations of the rights of people with disabilities under the new United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and other human rights treaties ratified by Mexico. The investigative team documented a broad array of human rights violations against people with disabilities and found that many people are forced to live their entire lives in institutions in atrocious and abusive conditions. This report concludes that Mexico segregates thousands of children and adults with disabilities from society in violation of CRPD article 19 which guarantees the “right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community with choices equal to others.” The primary reason for institutionalization is Mexico’s lack of community-based services to provide the support necessary for individuals with mental disabilities to live in the community. People without families who are willing or able to support them are officially referred to as abandonados, and they are relegated to languish in institutions without hope for return to the community. Children with disabilities may have loving families. But without support, many parents of children with disabilities have no choice but to place their children in institutions. Within institutions, children and adults with disabilities are subject to inhuman and degrading conditions of detention that violate the CRPD and other human rights conventions, such as the American Convention on Human Rights1 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Filthy, run-down living areas, lack of medical care and rehabilitation, and a failure to provide oversight renders placement in some institutions dangerous and even life-threatening. The use of long-term restraints in institutions may rise to the level of torture under the UN Convention against Torture. The failure to provide essential medical care to people detained in Mexican facilities violates their right to life under the CRPD and the American Convention on Human Rights. Due to a failure to provide oversight, children have literally disappeared from institutions. Some of these children may have been subject to sex trafficking and forced labor. Mexico’s laws fail to protect children or adults with disabilities against arbitrary detention in violation of the CRPD and American Convention. Once in institutions, the right to legal recognition as a person – as protected by article 12 of the CRPD – is denied by the arbitrary denial of the right to make the most basic decisions about life. Details: Washington, DC: Disability Rights International, 2010. 73p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 28, 2011 at: http://www.disabilityrightsintl.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Mex-Report-English-Nov30-finalpdf.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Adults with Disabilities Shelf Number: 121139 |
Author: Lecuona, Guillermo Zepeda: Open Society Institute Title: Costly Confinement: The Direct and Indirect Costs of Pretrial Detention in Mexico (English-language Summary) Summary: All governments have limited resources, and all policy decisions have costs. Every dollar or peso a government spends on incarceration is a dollar or peso that cannot be spent on healthcare or policing or education. As the Open Society Justice Initiative report Costly Confinement demonstrates, the costs of pretrial detention in Mexico are painfully high—for the state and its citizens in general, and for detainees and their families in particular. Moreover, the true cost of pretrial detention is often hidden, because the state counts only the direct costs of housing and feeding pretrial detainees and overlooks indirect costs such as the lost productivity and reduced tax payments of pretrial detainees who could have continued working if they were released before trial. Assessing the true costs of pretrial detention requires considering the social programs that could be funded with money that is currently being spent in locking up large numbers of people who pose little threat to society and who by law must be considered innocent. When the full costs of pretrial detention in Mexico are calculated, it becomes clear that alternatives are needed. Details: New York: Open Society Institute, 2009. 11p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 19, 2011 at: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/focus/criminal_justice/articles_publications/publications/costly-confinement-20100201 Year: 2009 Country: Mexico Keywords: Alternatives to Incarceration Shelf Number: 121404 |
Author: Manwaring, Max G. Title: A "New" Dynamic in the Western Hemisphere Security Environment: The Mexican Zetas and Other Private Armies Summary: This monograph is intended to help political, military, policy, opinion, and academic leaders think strategically about explanations, consequences, and responses that might apply to the volatile and dangerous new dynamic that has inserted itself into the already crowded Mexican and hemispheric security arena, that is, the privatized Zeta military organization. In Mexico, this new dynamic involves the migration of traditional hard-power national security and sovereignty threats from traditional state and nonstate adversaries to hard and soft power threats from professional private nonstate military organizations. This dynamic also involves a more powerful and ambiguous mix of terrorism, crime, and conventional war tactics, operations, and strategies than experienced in the past. Moreover, this violence and its perpetrators tend to create and consolidate semi-autonomous enclaves (criminal free-states) that develop in to quasi-states—and what the Mexican government calls “Zones of Impunity.” All together, these dynamics not only challenge Mexican security, stability, and sovereignty, but, if left improperly understood and improperly countered, also challenge the security and stability of the United States and Mexico’s other neighbors. Details: Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2009. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 10, 2011 at: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubid=940 Year: 2009 Country: Mexico Keywords: Cartels Shelf Number: 121700 |
Author: U.S. Senate. Caucus on International Narcotics Control Title: U.S. and Mexican Responses to Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations Summary: Violence in Mexico continues unhindered without any signs of slowing. This report outlines a series of concrete steps the United States can take to support the Mexican government in its fight against drug trafficking organizations and drug-related violence. While our security partnership with Mexico has deepened in recent years, more can be done to help. The attached report synthesizes information gathered by Caucus staff through a country visit, briefings, interviews, and a review of documents from both government and non-government subject matter experts. The report describes the current strategy and provides important recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders. Details: Washington, DC: The Caucus, 2011. 71p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 27, 2011 at: http://drugcaucus.senate.gov/Mexico-Report-Final-5-2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 121837 |
Author: Ingram, Matthew C. Title: Justiciabarómetro: Survey of Judges, Prosecutors, and Public Defenders in Nine Mexican States Summary: The Justiciabarómetro: Judicial Survey is a timely study of the judges, prosecutors, and public defenders that operate Mexico’s criminal justice system. The study’s results shed new light on both the current state of the administration of justice in Mexico and the sources of support for and resistance to the sweeping judicial reforms initiated by the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderón in 2008. Among the key findings are the following: • General satisfaction with compensation, but frustration with workload varies: Judges, prosecutors, and public defenders appear to be generally satisfied with the levels of compensation they receive, though frustration with salary and workload vary by state. • Experience and merit drives professional advancement, but some see politics: Most respondents agreed that experience and training are a primary basis for employment and promotion, a significant portion of respondents feel that political contacts also play a role. • Despite respect for legality, some tolerance of unlawful behavior for justice: Regarding lawful behavior, there was widespread agreement that “illegal conduct” is unacceptable, even if no one gets hurt. However, one in four respondents —28.2%— were willing to tolerate occasional illegalities in the pursuit of justice. • Judges and defenders tend to see prosecutors as lacking in competency and integrity: While all respondents tended to have a high opinion of the professional competency and integrity of judges and public defenders, prosecutors were viewed as less competent and trustworthy by their colleagues in other professions. • Public defenders are more critical of procedure efficiency and perceive more violations of due process than judges and prosecutors: There were significant differences judges and prosecutors, on the one hand, and public defenders, on the other regarding the efficiency of the criminal justice system. Also, judges and prosecutors tend to believe that violations of due process —such as forced confessions— are very rare or never used, while public defenders are much more likely to disagree. • New judicial reforms seen by some ineffective, a result of foreign influence, and unlikely to reduce crime. Respondents were split on the effectiveness and efficiency of Mexico’s traditional criminal justice system, on whether that system was deliberately discredited to make way for the 2008 judicial reform, on whether foreign interests were behind the new judicial system, and whether judicial reform will reduce criminality. • Even so, new criminal procedures are generally well regarded, especially in states still awaiting reform. Still, the provisions included in the 2008 reforms —introducing oral, adversarial criminal procedures— were well regarded, particularly in states where they had not yet taken effect; the most significant reservations tended to register among respondents from states that had already adopted the reforms for some time. Many respondents are optimistic that it will improve efficiency and reduce corruption in the judicial system. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico Project, University of San Diego Trans-Border Institute, 2011. 136p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 27, 2011 at: http://justiceinmexico.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/justiciabarometro-judicial-survey.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Administration of Justice Shelf Number: 121865 |
Author: Ingram, Matthew C. Title: Assessing Mexico's Judicial Reform: Views of Judges, Prosecutors, and Public Defenders Summary: Assessing Judicial Reform in Mexico highlights the findings of a recent Justiciabarómetro survey of 276 judges, prosecutors, and public defenders working in Mexico’s criminal justice system from October to December 2010. The full report is available at www. justiceinmexico.org. This special report summarizes respondants’ attitudes regarding the workings of the Mexican criminal justice system, as well as the sweeping judicial reforms approved by Mexico’s Congress in 2008. Among the key findings highlighted in this report are the following: • Frustration with workload varies by state and profession: Judges, prosecutors, and public defenders appear to be generally satisfied with the levels of compensation they receive, though frustration with salary and workload vary by state. • General support for the traditional Mexican legal system remains strong: More than half of the respondents —especially judges— indicated that Mexico’s traditional inquisitorial system was both efficient and effective, and at least a third feel that the traditional system was disparaged by a deliberate, negative campaign designed to promote a shift to the new adversarial system. • Public defenders are more critical of the traditional system than others: There were significant differences between judges and prosecutors, on the one hand, and public defenders, on the other, regarding the efficiency of the criminal justice system. Also, judges and prosecutors tend to believe that violations of due process —such as forced confessions— are very rare or never used, while public defenders are more likely to strongly disagree. • There is significant skepticism about recent judicial reforms. Our findings suggest that there lingering concerns about reform efforts, above all among those who are currently attempting to work within the new oral, adversarial system. Respondents were split on whether judicial reform will reduce criminality, and a significant proportion feel that the reforms were the result of pressure by foreign governments and organizations. • Even so, there is hope that recent reforms will improve the justice system. Despite the concerns we find, the provisions included in the 2008 reforms —introducing oral, adversarial criminal procedures— were generally well regarded, particularly in states where they had not yet taken effect. While there are significant reservations in states that have already adopted the reforms for some time, many respondents are optimistic that they will ultimately help to improve efficiency and reduce corruption in the judicial system. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico Project, University of San Diego Trans-Border Institute, 2011. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 27, 2011 at: http://justiceinmexico.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/tbi-assessing-judicial-reform1.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Administration of Justice Shelf Number: 121866 |
Author: Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas Title: Journalism in Times of Threats, Censorship and Violence Summary: Journalism in Times of Threats, Censorship and Violence, a report from the workshop “Cross-border Coverage of U.S.–Mexico Drug Trafficking” held March 2000 in Austin, Texas. This report presents a summary of the experiences shared by the participating journalists and the presentations made by experts. The working conditions for journalists covering the drug trade on the border have become increasingly difficult, and Mexico has become one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, according to studies by journalism organizations and human rights groups since the mid-2000s. More than 20 journalists have been killed in Mexico since President Felipe Calderón launched his anti-drug campaign in December 2006. The text deals with violence and other challenges faced by journalists covering the drug trade. It explains how journalists face different levels of risk, depending on whether they are members of the foreign press corps, Mexican reporters who work and live in Mexico City, local journalists who live and work in the cities directly affected by drug trafficking violence, or reporters who run specific risks by crossing the border every day to cover the drug trafficking beat. The report also addresses the evolution of the history of the drug trade in Mexico. It explains that journalists on both sides of the border have reported for decades on links between state and local authorities and drug groups. But the outbreak of drug-related violence that began in the last decade is a new phenomenon that has rapidly intensified, turned more brutal, and spread to parts of Mexico that were once peaceful. The report concludes that questions about how to perform quality journalism while keeping reporters safe in the violent, rapidly changing environment of drug trafficking on the U.S.–Mexico border can not be answered in a single workshop. Networking and collaboration among Mexican and U.S. colleagues is fundamental to informing the public on both sides of the border. Details: Austin, TX: Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, 2010. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 1, 2011 at: http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/ebook/journalism-times-threats-censorship-and-violence Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking (Mexico) Shelf Number: 121942 |
Author: Bjerke, Maxwell E. Title: Explaining Variation in the Apprehension of Mexican Drug Trafficking Cartel Leaders Summary: Successive Mexican administrations have turned to the deployment of military and federal law enforcement agencies to respond to crises, recently focusing in particular on targeting the leaders of major drug cartels in their counternarcotics efforts. However, since 2000 Mexico’s government’s efforts to control criminal activities in these cities have met with varying success. During that period, the Mexican federal government has apprehended ten leading members of the Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO), one of the most prolific drug trafficking organizations. In contrast, only three major cartel leaders have been apprehended from the Carrillo Fuentes Organization, (CFO), another enduring drug trafficking organization. This thesis draws upon theories of organization and path dependence to explain variation in the Mexican government’s success in arresting major cartel leaders. It argues that variation between the AFO and CFO in their internal structures — in particular, the AFO’s low level of professionalism relative to that of the CFO — has facilitated the apprehension of the AFO leadership. In terms of path dependence, the thesis finds that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s focus on the AFO is due to the legacy of a random event, the AFO predecessor’s role in the 1985 kidnapping and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena. The DEA has clung to this case across twenty-five years and therefore has remained focused on the AFO, in order to justify U.S. counterdrug efforts in Mexico. Changing U.S.-Mexico relations have facilitated the DEA’s focus on the AFO, particularly since 2000. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2010. 105p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed July 21, 2011 at: http://dodreports.com/pdf/ada524554.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 122141 |
Author: Michel, Kenneth Title: Mexico and the Cocaine Epidemic: The New Colombia or a New Problem Summary: Recently, there has been an increasing amount of attention paid to Mexico and its struggle with drug cartels. The drug war in Mexico has cost the lives of 28,000 people since 2006, leading to a growing concern that Mexico may become a narco-state. Although the situation in Mexico seems uncontrollable, this is not the first time drug trafficking organizations (DTO) have threatened the livelihood of a state. Colombia from the 1980s through the mid- 1990s was dominated by cartels that ruled with violence and almost brought Colombia to its knees. Colombia today continues with its fight against DTOs; however, the security of the state is no longer directly threatened by cartels. This thesis will discuss the history of the cocaine trade and explain why Mexico was able to supplant Colombia as the cocaine epicenter. Likewise, we will discuss the U.S. strategy to combat DTOs and identify shortcomings in order to implement a better strategy to defeat the cartels. We have seen an increase in violence in Mexico and it is critical for the U.S. to act in order to prevent the U.S. homeland from coming under siege by the bloody Mexican drug war fueled by the cartels. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2010. 109p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed July 22, 2011 at: http://dodreports.com/pdf/ada536473.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Cocaine Shelf Number: 122142 |
Author: Campbell, David R. Title: Evaluating the Impact of Drug Trafficking Organizations on the Stability of the Mexican State Summary: Since 2007, when President Felipe Calderon declared his government’s war on the drug trafficking organizations operating in his country, the level of narcotics related violence has increased dramatically. The violence, which had been largely confined to factions of the cartels, now threatens every citizen and is devastating the economy of the border region. This thesis evaluates the impact of Mexican drug cartels on the stability of the Mexican State and on the security of the U.S. The primary conclusion drawn is that the Mexican state is unlikely to fail as state failure is defined, but the Mexican government is likely to return to a one party system under which drug trafficking and corruption are tolerated but the violence does not directly affect the average Mexican. While current U.S. efforts toward increased border security and assistance to Mexico in the form of the Merida Initiative have made positive impacts, it is only by decreasing U.S. demand for illegal narcotics and encouraging Mexican economic growth that both nations can make real progress in the drug war. Details: Fort Leavenworth, KS: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 2010. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed July 22, 2011 at: http://dodreports.com/pdf/ada524420.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 122143 |
Author: Schaefer, Agnes Gereben Title: Security in Mexico: Implications for U.S. Policy Options Summary: The security structure in Mexico is characterized by shifting responsibilities, duplication of services, and general instability, along with a lack of coordination among federal, state, and local security forces. The backdrop of a deteriorating security situation in Mexico and change in administration in the United States demands a closer examination of potential priorities and policy options to guide future U.S.-Mexico relations. U.S. aid to Mexico has typically focused on a narrow set of outputs — improved technology, training, and equipment to prevent drug trafficking. Despite these efforts, Mexico's security situation continues to deteriorate. To help inform debate, this study examined a set of policy options for the United States (strategic partnership, status quo, and retrenchment), along with promising potential policy priorities (help Mexico streamline delivery of security services, bridge the gap between federal and local security, support Mexico's efforts to address domestic security concerns, and build trust in security institutions). Problems related to drug and human trafficking, corruption, weapon smuggling, and gang violence have spilled into the United States, reaching far beyond the border. For this and other reasons, the United States has a significant stake in the success or failure of Mexico's security reform measures. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2009. 108p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 22, 2011 at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG876.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 122145 |
Author: Seelke, Clare Ribando Title: U.S.-Mexican Security Cooperation: The Merida Initiative and Beyond Summary: Increasing violence perpetrated by drug trafficking organizations and other criminal groups is threatening citizen security and governance in Mexico. According to Mexican government data, organized crime-related violence claimed more than 34,500 lives in Mexico between January 2007 and December 2010. That toll may now exceed 40,000. Escalating violence has increased U.S. concerns about stability in Mexico, a key political and economic ally, and about the possibility of violence spilling over into the United States. Mexican drug trafficking organizations dominate the U.S. illicit drug market and are now considered the greatest organized crime threat facing the United States. In recent years, U.S.-Mexican security cooperation has increased significantly, largely as a result of the development and implementation of the Mérida Initiative, a counterdrug and anticrime assistance package for Mexico and Central America that was first proposed in October 2007. Between FY2008 and FY2010, Congress provided $1.5 billion for Mérida Initiative programs in Mexico, with an early emphasis on training and equipping Mexican security forces engaged in counterdrug efforts. As part of the Mérida Initiative, the Mexican government pledged to intensify its efforts against transnational criminal organizations and the U.S. government pledged to address drug demand and the illicit trafficking of firearms and bulk currency to Mexico. With funding for the original Mérida Initiative technically ending in FY2010 and new initiatives underway for Central America and the Caribbean, the Obama Administration worked with the Mexican government to develop a new four-pillar strategy for U.S.-Mexican security cooperation. That strategy, adopted in March 2010, focuses on (1) disrupting organized criminal groups; (2) institutionalizing the rule of law; (3) building a 21st century border; and (4) building strong and resilient communities. The first two pillars largely build upon existing efforts, whereas pillars three and four broaden the scope of Mérida programs to include efforts to facilitate “secure flows” through the U.S.-Mexico border and to improve conditions in violence-prone border cities. Congress appropriated $143.0 million in Mérida assistance for Mexico for FY2011 in P.L. 112-10. The Administration requested $282 million in Mérida assistance for FY2012. As of August 1, 2011, a total of $473.8 million worth of assistance had been provided to Mexico. The 112th Congress is likely to continue funding and overseeing the Mérida Initiative, as well as examining the degree to which the U.S. and Mexican governments are fulfilling their pledges to tackle domestic problems contributing to drug trafficking and crime in the region. Congress may also examine the degree to which the Administration’s new strategy for the Mérida Initiative complements other counterdrug and border security efforts as outlined in the 2011 National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy. Given current budget constraints, Congress may also debate how best to measure the impact of current and future Mérida Initiative programs. Another congressional interest is likely to focus on whether human rights conditions placed on Mérida Initiative funding are appropriate or sufficient. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Services, 2011. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: R41349: Accessed September 7, 2011 at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41349.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 122670 |
Author: Asch, Beth J. Title: Mitigating Corruption in Government Security Forces: The Role of Institutions, Incentives, and Personnel Management in Mexico Summary: Mexico has undertaken reforms in recent years to professionalize its police. This report draws on the literature on corruption and personnel incentives and analyzes information related to police reform in Mexico. It addresses questions about the roots of corruption and the tools that could be used to mitigate corruption, with a focus on compensation and personnel management policies. It also provides an initial assessment about the effects of Mexico’s attempts at reform. The results suggest progress on some fronts. Although police corruption has remained generally stable at a high level, compared with corruption levels in other organizations, it appears to have fallen. The types of reforms being introduced are consistent with the literature on incentive mechanisms for effective workforce management, though evidence is absent on their effectiveness. The authors argue that continuity in elected officials and their policies, coordination within and between levels of government, and transparency and accountability can contribute to reducing police corruption. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2011. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 7, 2011 at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR906.html Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Police Corruption (Mexico) Shelf Number: 122671 |
Author: Cavendish, Betsy Title: Chidlren at the Border: The Screening, Protection and Repatriation of Unaccompanied Mexican Minors Summary: The report documents substantial noncompliance with federal law regarding the treatment of Mexican children who are detained after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border when unaccompanied by a parent or guardian. "Children at the Border" also documents the failure of the Mexican government to ensure children's safety as they prioritize family reunification. Details: Washington, DC: Appleseed, 2011. 136p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 15, 2011 at: http://www.appleseednetwork.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=8PM-o8WHN1Q%3D&tabid=157 Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 122746 |
Author: Grayson, George W. Title: Threat Posed by Mounting Vigilantism in Mexico Summary: Until the 1980s, Mexico enjoyed relative freedom from violence. Ruthless drug cartels existed, but they usually abided by informal rules of conduct hammered out between several capos and representatives of the dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled the country until the 1990s. Relying on bribes, the desperados pursued their illicit activities with the connivance of authorities. In return for the legal authorities turning a blind eye, drug dealers behaved discretely, shunned high-tech weapons, deferred to public figures, spurned kidnapping, and even appeared with governors at their children’s weddings. Unlike their Colombian counterparts, Mexico’s barons did not seek elective office. In addition, they did not sell drugs within the country, corrupt children, target innocent people, engage in kidnapping, or invade the turf or product-line (marijuana, heroin, cocaine, etc.) of competitors. The situation was sufficiently fluid so that should a local police or military unit refuse to cooperate with a cartel, the latter would simply transfer its operations to a nearby municipality where they could clinch the desired arrangement. Three key events in the 1980s and 1990s changed the “live and let live” ethos that enveloped illegal activities. Mexico became the new avenue for Andean cocaine shipped to the United States after the U.S. military and law-enforcement authorities sharply reduced its flow into Florida and other South Atlantic states. The North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect on January 1, 1994, greatly increased economic activities throughout the continent. Dealers often hid cocaine and other drugs among the merchandise that moved northward through Nuevo Laredo, El Paso, Tijuana, and other portals. The change in routes gave rise to Croesus-like profits for cocaine traffickers--a phenomenon that coincided with an upsurge of electoral victories. Largely unexamined amid this narco-mayhem are vigilante activities. With federal resources aimed at drug traffickers and local police more often a part of the problem than a part of the solution, vigilantes are stepping into the void. Suspected criminals who run afoul of these vigilantes endure the brunt of a skewed version of justice that enjoys a groundswell of support. Details: Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2011. 75p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 20, 2011 at: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=1082 Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Cartels Shelf Number: 122800 |
Author: Meyer, Maureen Title: A Dangerous Journey through Mexico: Human Rights Violations against Migrants in Transit Summary: The August 2010 massacre of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas, Mexico was not an isolated event but rather an alarming example of the daily abuses suffered by migrants in transit in the country, concludes a report published today by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center (Center Prodh). The report, A Dangerous Journey Through Mexico: Human Rights Violations Against Migrants in Transit, documents how migrants, primarily Central Americans, are often beaten, extorted, sexually abused, and/or kidnapped by criminal groups while they travel through Mexico on their way to the United States. It discusses the failure of the Mexican government to protect migrants in transit and the direct participation or acquiescence of Mexican authorities in several cases of abuse. Drawing from work of migrants' rights organizations, the report includes testimonies of three migrants who were kidnapped by criminal groups in Mexico. Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America, 2010. 12p Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 28, 2011 at: http://www.wola.org/publications/a_dangerous_journey_through_mexico_human_rights_violations_against_migrants_in_transit Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 122936 |
Author: Moyano, Inigo Guevara Title: Adapting, Transforming, and Modernizing Under Fire: The Mexican Military 2006-11 Summary: Mexico’s armed forces are in the midst of a transformation to better perform in an ongoing war against organized crime. Their role and visibility have escalated considerably since President Felipe Calderon assumed office in December of 2006. Although the fight against organized crime is clearly a law enforcement matter, the absence of effective and accountable police forces has meant that the Army, Navy, and Air Force have been used as supplementary forces to defend the civilian population and enforce the rule of law. While the federal government has striven to stand up a capable police force in order to relieve and eventually replace the military, that possibility is still distant. Five years into the Calderon administration, the armed forces continue to be the main implementers of the National Security policy, aimed at employing the use of force to disrupt the operational capacity of organized crime. Their strong institutional tradition, professionalism, submission to political control, and history of interaction with the population mainly through disaster relief efforts have made them the most trusted institution in Mexican society. Mexico’s armed forces have long been used as an instrument of the state to implement all kinds of public policies at the national level, from emergency vaccinations, to post-earthquake rescue, to reforestation campaigns. They have been at the forefront of disaster relief operations in reaction to the calamities of nature, within and beyond their borders, with humanitarian assistance deployments to Indonesia, the United States, Haiti, and Central America among the most recent. The Mexican armed forces are quite unique, as they are divided into two separate cabinet-level ministries: the Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (the Secretary of National Defense or SEDENA), which encompasses the Army and Air Force, and the Secretaría de Marina (the Secretary of the Navy or SEMAR), which comprises the Navy. The level of engagement with society and the results obtained from this division in military power confirms the utility of their independence. Their use as the state’s last line of defense has led to severe criticism from opinion leaders, opposition forces, international analysts, and human rights organizations. Their level of commitment remains unaltered and they have undertaken a number of significant transformations to better address their continued roles as the guardians of the State and protectors of the population. Details: Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2011. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: Letort Paper: Accessed September 29, 2011 at: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB1081.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Armed Forces Shelf Number: 122957 |
Author: Felbab-Brown, Vanda Title: Calderon's Caldron: Lessons from Mexico's Battle Against Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking in Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, and Michoacan Summary: Over the past several years Mexico has suffered from drug-trade-related violence, extraordinarily intense and grisly even by criminal market standards. Its drug trafficking organizations have been engaged in ever-spiraling turf wars over smuggling routes and corruption networks, turning the streets of some Mexican cities into macabre displays of gun fights and murders. The criminal groups have shown a determined willingness to fight Mexican law enforcement and security forces and an increasing ambition to control other illicit and informal economies in Mexico and to extort legal businesses. Finding Mexican police forces pervaded by corruption and lacking the capacity to effectively deal with organized crime, President Felipe Calderón dispatched the military into Mexico’s streets. Yet while scoring some successes in capturing prominent drug traffickers, the military too has found it enormously difficult to suppress the violence and reduce the insecurity of Mexican citizens. Institutional reforms to improve the police forces and justice system, although crucial for expanding the rule of law in Mexico, have been slow and will inevitably require years of committed effort. Meanwhile, patience among many Mexicans with the battle against the criminal groups is starting to run out. To a degree unprecedented in the history of U.S.-Mexican relations, Mexico has welcomed U.S. cooperation in combating organized crime. An assistance package approved in 2008 by the U.S. Congress and called The Merida Initiative first focused on beefing up Mexican law enforcement agencies through technological transfers and intelligence sharing. A subsequent iteration of the U.S. approach adopted in 2009 and referred to as Beyond Merida emphasized deeper institutional reforms. It also expanded the scope of policies to combat illicit economies in Mexico by emphasizing socio-economic approaches to strengthen the resilience of communities against organized crime. But the government of Mexico has found the U.S. partnership lacking and has complained about the persistence of demand for drugs in the United States and the flows of guns and criminal money from the United States to Mexico. This monograph explores the effectiveness of the security and law enforcement and socio-economic approaches adopted in Mexico over the past several years to combat the drug trafficking organizations. It also analyzes the evolution of organized crime in Mexico, including in reaction to anti-crime actions taken by the Mexican government. It is based on fieldwork I undertook in Mexico in October 2009 and particularly in March 2011. Details: Washington, DC: Brookings Institute, Latin America Initiative, 2011. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 3, 2011 at: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2011/09_calderon_felbab_brown/09_calderon_felbab_brown.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 122966 |
Author: Kan, Paul Rexton Title: Mexico's "Narco-Refugees": The Looming Challenge for U.S. National Security Summary: Since 2006, when Mexican president Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels, there has been a rise in the number of Mexican nationals seeking political asylum in the United States to escape the ongoing drug cartel violence in their home country. Political asylum cases in general are claimed by those who are targeted for their political beliefs or ethnicity in countries that are repressive or failing. Mexico is neither. Nonetheless, if the health of the Mexican state declines because criminal violence continues, increases, or spreads, U.S. communities will feel an even greater burden on their systems of public safety and public health from “narco-refugees.” Given the ever-increasing brutality of the cartels, the question is whether and how the United States Government should begin to prepare for what could be a new wave of migrants coming from Mexico. Allowing Mexicans to claim asylum could potentially open a floodgate of migrants to the United States during a time when there is a very contentious national debate over U.S. immigration laws pertaining to illegal immigrants. On the other hand, to deny the claims of asylum seekers and return them to Mexico, where they might very well be killed, strikes at the heart of American values of justice and humanitarianism. This monograph focuses on the asylum claims of Mexicans who unwillingly leave Mexico, rather than those who willingly enter the United States legally or illegally. To navigate wisely in this sea of complexity will require greater understanding and vigilance at all levels of the U.S. Government. Details: Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2011. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 4, 2011 at: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB1083.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 0 |
Author: Steinberg, Nik Title: Neither Rights Nor Security: Killings, Torture, and Disappearances in Mexico’s “War on Drugs” Summary: Five years since President Felipe Calderón declared “war” on organized crime in Mexico and dispatched the military to confront the country’s drug cartels, the government’s policy is failing on two fronts. It has not succeeded in reducing violence, and has resulted in a dramatic increase in grave human rights violations, which have only exacerbated the climate of violence, lawlessness, and fear that exists in many parts of the country. Based on extensive research in five states — Baja California, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Nuevo León, and Tabasco — Neither Rights Nor Security presents compelling evidence of the systematic use of torture by Mexican security forces, as well as the involvement of police and soldiers in scores of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. These are not isolated acts. Rather as the testimonies of victims, eyewitnesses, and evidence from public information requests and official government statistics show, these abusive tactics are endemic to Mexico’s counternarcotics efforts. The violations persist in large part because the members of security forces who commit them are virtually never held accountable. Many cases languish in the military justice system. And even when investigations are opened in the civilian justice system, prosecutors repeatedly fail to take basic steps such as identifying and interviewing witnesses. Nevertheless, government officials are often quick to dismiss victims’ allegations as false and to cast victims as criminals. Such accusations compound the suffering already inflicted by these serious violations and place the burden on victims and their families to conduct investigations themselves. Neither Rights Nor Security demonstrates how this pattern of abuse and impunity is undercutting Mexico’s efforts to reduce violence, dismantle criminal networks, and restore the rule of law in parts of the country where it has been badly damaged. Details: New York: Human Rights Watch, 2011. 218p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 10, 2011 at: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/mexico1111webwcover_0.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Disappearances Shelf Number: 123278 |
Author: Paul, Christopher Title: The Challenge of Violent Drug-Trafficking Organizations: An Assessment of Mexican Security Based on Existing RAND Research on Urban Unrest, Insurgency, and Defense-Sector Reform Summary: Violent drug-trafficking organizations (VDTOs) in Mexico produce, transship, and deliver into the United States tens of billions of dollars worth of narcotics annually, but their activities are not limited to drug trafficking. VDTOs have also engaged in human trafficking, weapon trafficking, kidnapping, money laundering, extortion, bribery, racketeering, and assassinations. In an effort to clarify the scope and details of the challenges posed by VDTOs, a RAND team conducted a Delphi expert elicitation exercise, the results of which offer an assessment of the contemporary security situation in Mexico through the lens of existing RAND research on related issues. The exercise centered around three strands of prior RAND research on urban instability and unrest, historical insurgencies, and defense-sector reform. Although this prior research was not designed specifically for the study of Mexico, all three areas offer applicable insights. Assessment scorecards from these projects were used to obtain input from the expert panel and to guide the resulting discussion. The goal was not to break significant new ground in understanding the dynamics of drug violence in Mexico or to offer a qualitative assessment of these dynamics, but rather to provide an empirically based platform for identifying key areas that merit further investigation. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2011. 108p Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 21, 2011 at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1125.html Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 123414 |
Author: Moloeznik, Marcos Pablo Title: Final Report: A Comprehensive Assessment of the Municipal Police of Ciudad Juárez Summary: On September 26, 2011, the Justice in Mexico Project presented the results of its latest Justiciabarómetro survey, titled: Diagnóstico integral de la policía municipal de Ciudad Juárez (in Spanish), which was developed in collaboration with the Colegio de Chihuahua, the Colegio de la Frontera Norte, and the Comisión Nacional Para Prevenir y Erradicar la Violencia Contra Las Mujeres de la Secretaría de Gobernación. The survey builds on the findings of a similar study conducted one year earlier in Guadalajara, and was implemented for the Justice in Mexico Project by the polling firm Data Opinión Pública y Mercados (DATA-OPM). Along with the Guadalajara survey, this study of the Ciudad Juárez police department, conducted in represents one of the largest independent studies of a police force ever published in Mexico. Focusing on the border city of Ciudad Juárez, adjacent to El Paso, Texas, this study focuses on one of the country’s most important industrial cities and, at the time the survey was implemented, the most violent municipality in Mexico. This study surveyed 75% of the 3,146 municipal police officers serving the roughly 1.3 million inhabitants of Ciudad Juárez. This survey was conducted in June 2010, during the worst year of violence since rival organized crime groups began fighting for control of drug trafficking routes through this major trade corridor. In October 2010, a new mayoral administration took office, introducing new measures to improve the local police department. This study therefore provides a snapshot of the department as the new administration took over, and a useful baseline for evaluating what progress has been made over the last year. Among the key findings of the survey were severe deficiencies in training and equipment, a lack of merit-based hiring criteria and civil service protections, high levels of distrust among law enforcement personnel, and severe problems of coordination with state and federal law enforcement agencies. Over half the force indicated that they do not have the equipment that they need to do their job, including adequate police uniforms, and half said that the condition of available equipment was bad (33%) or very bad (17%). Respondents demonstrated a basic knowledge of proper law enforcement protocols, but also expressed a strong demand (47%) for more training. 85% said that they have no opportunity to practice the proper use of a firearm on a regular basis, 55% indicated that they do not receive any breaks during their shift, and a significant portion (47%) indicated that they do not have adequate time to exercise during their shift. Among various questions on law enforcement integrity, 60% of respondents indicated that honesty is the most important virtue of a police officer, but only 40% believed that it was the virtue most present on the force. Notably, on a scale of 0 to 4, roughly 65% indicated that the the level of corruption was at 2 or higher and 36% of respondents felt that the level was above 3. In terms of where corruption is located, 44% of respondents indicated that it was found at the highest levels, 29% indicated that corruption was found at all levels, and the remainder indicated corruption was found only in at lower or middle management levels. Such problems reflect systemic problems common in police departments in Mexico (as evidenced by the aforementioned survey in Guadalajara), and will no doubt take considerable time to redress. In the meantime, monitoring by the Justice in Mexico Project suggests that the security situation has improved moderately in Ciudad Juárez, with at least a 30% decline in homicides in 2011 compared to 2010. Many credit Ciudad Juárez’s newly appointed police chief, Julian Leyzaola, for achieving a dramatic drop in drug violence. As chief of Tijuana’s police department during 2007-2010, Leyzaola presided over a dramatic decline in drug related violence during his tenure in office, an achievement that many hope will now be replicated in Ciudad Juárez. This survey helps to measure many of the challenges the department faces, and sets a baseline for evaluating reform efforts over the coming years. Details: San Diego: Trans-Border Institute , University of San Diego, Justice in Mexico Project, 2011. 52p. Source: Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 123643 |
Author: Bricker, Kristin Title: Military Justice and Impunity in Mexico’s Drug War Summary: Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s military deployment to combat the country’s war on drugs has been strongly criticized by international human rights groups. During Calderón’s administration, over 47,337 people have been killed and thousands of human rights complaints have been filed against the military. The Inter- American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) has issued several binding rulings that obligate Mexico to strip the military of its jurisdiction to investigate and try soldiers accused of violating civilians’ human rights. On July 12, 2011, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that Congress must reform the Code of Military Justice so that human rights abuse cases always fall under civilian jurisdiction. The Arce Initiative, brought forward by Senator René Arce from Mexico’s opposition party, is the only proposed reform that complies with the IACtHR rulings and international human rights law. The Merida Initiative, a US aid package designed to assist in the fight against the war on drugs, places too much emphasis on the military and law enforcement, and needs to be revised. Civilian rule of law in Mexico can be strengthened by donor governments who are willing to help implement measures to increase transparency, combat corruption and rampant human rights abuses, and ease the transition to an accusatorial oral justice system. Details: Waterloo, ONT: Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2011. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: SSR Issue Papers: No. 3: Accessed January 19, 2012 at: http://mafiaandco.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/military-justice-and-impunity-in-mexico_s-drug-war.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Corruption Shelf Number: 123665 |
Author: Zhang, Sheldon X. Title: Sex Trafficking in a Border Community: A Field Study of Sex Trafficking in Tijuana, Mexico Summary: Sex trafficking has caught worldwide attention in recent years, often being portrayed as modern-day slavery. The United States, along with many countries, has taken an aggressive position on pursuing sex traffickers, pimps, and sex tourists, making the nation among the most inhospitable to human trafficking and prostitution. Despite widespread attention on sex trafficking, there has been little empirical research on the nature and process of sex trafficking activities. Most existing studies have relied on so-called expert sources (i.e., advocacy groups, shelters, and law enforcement agencies). This study gathered information from the two sources closest to this illicit enterprise - (1) prostitutes; and (2) pimps (or sex trade facilitators). Data for this study were primarily gathered in Tijuana, Mexico. It was hypothesized that human traffickers and sex industry operators might find Tijuana’s socio-political environment conducive to trafficking activities. Tijuana, the largest city on Mexico’s northern border, has long been a major tourism and weekend destination for Southern Californians. Its red light district draws a large number of visitors from both sides of the border. With more than 60 million people crossing the busiest international border annually, there is no shortage of demand for fringe services. Despite its geopolitical significance and the potential of spillover effects, to date there has been no empirical study on sex trafficking activities in Tijuana. This study is the first known empirical effort to fill this knowledge gap. The main questions in this study included: 1. To what extent, at what stage, and on what premises are deception, fraud, force, or coercion being used in the transportation of prostitutes into Tijuana? 2. To what extent and with what methods are human traffickers and sex industry operators managing trafficking activities and controlling prostitutes? 3. How do human traffickers and sex industry operators organize themselves and engage in business transactions? 4. What policy implications can be drawn to improve efforts by U.S. law enforcement and social service agencies to deter human trafficking and assist victims? Details: San Diego, CA: San Diego State University, Department of Sociology, 2010. 164p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 20, 2012 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/234472.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Human Trafficking Shelf Number: 123693 |
Author: Dell, Melissa Title: Trafficking Networks and the Mexican Drug War Summary: Drug trade-related violence has escalated dramatically in Mexico during the past fi ve years, claiming 40,000 lives and raising concerns about the capacity of the Mexican state to monopolize violence. This study examines how drug traffickers' economic objectives influence the direct and spillover effects of Mexican policy towards the drug trade. By exploiting variation from close mayoral elections and a network model of drug trafficking, the study develops three sets of results. First, regression discontinuity estimates show that drug trade-related violence in a municipality increases substantially after the close election of a mayor from the conservative National Action Party (PAN), which has spearheaded the war on drug trafficking. This violence consists primarily of individuals involved in the drug trade killing each other. The empirical evidence suggests that the violence reflects rival traffickers' attempts to wrest control of territories after crackdowns initiated by PAN mayors have challenged the incumbent criminals. Second, the study accurately predicts diversion of drug traffic following close PAN victories. It does this by estimating a model of equilibrium routes for trafficking drugs across the Mexican road network to the U.S. When drug traffic is diverted to other municipalities, drug trade-related violence in these municipalities increases. Moreover, female labor force participation and informal sector wages fall, corroborating qualitative evidence that traffickers extort informal sector producers. Finally, the study uses the trafficking model and estimated spillover effects to examine the allocation of law enforcement resources. Overall, the results demonstrate how traffickers' economic objectives and constraints imposed by the routes network affect the policy outcomes of the Mexican Drug War. Details: Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011. 59p. Source: Internet Resource: Seminar in series: Job Market Talks : Accessed January 26, 2012 at: http://econ-www.mit.edu/files/7398 Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking (Mexico) Shelf Number: 123761 |
Author: Hale, Gary J. Title: A "Failed State" in Mexico: Tamaulipas Declares Itself Ungovernable Summary: Mexico finds itself in a precarious position, given the level of victimization that the drug cartel wars are imposing on its citizens and the resultant loss of civil authority that is increasingly being eroded by pressures placed on local and state governments by drug trafficking organizations. The larger part of the violence is occurring in two regions in Mexico - namely, the Pacific states, where drugs and chemicals are introduced into the country; and the northern border, where those same illegal commodities are ultimately exported into the United States. Criminality is visibly gaining ground over local governments, gradually subverting the abilities of mayors and governors to function effectively. Drug cartels are controlling police assets from behind the barrel of a gun or with more money than public coffers can afford, thereby negating the ability of elected officials to direct security resources from the chambers of city halls and state government houses. The cartels make and enforce their own rules, often with little to no interference from legitimate municipal authorities. Mexican officials continue being threatened, kidnapped, tortured, and killed, most often with impunity, and common folk are in fear, unable to freely carry on the tasks of daily living because of the war that endlessly rages around them. The implications of an admitted loss of governmental control in the Mexico border area stretching from Nueva Ciudad Guerrero in the northwest to Matamoros in the southeast, and beyond to Monterrey and Ciudad Juarez is troubling not only because the cartels are victimizing anyone who crosses their path, or that drug smuggling is occurring despite warring among the cartels and between the cartels and the government, but because the adjacent states of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, and Chihuahua could readily suffer the same loss of control if the strength and influence of the cartels are not reversed and subsequently eliminated. Details: Houston, TX: James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, 2011. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 31, 2012 at http://www.bakerinstitute.org/publications/DRUG-pub-HaleTamaulipasFailedState-072611.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels (Mexico) Shelf Number: 123911 |
Author: Kar, Dev Title: Mexico: Illicit Financial Flows, Macroeconomic Imbalances, and the Underground Economy Summary: This study provides estimates of illicit financial flows (IFFs) from Mexico over the period 1970 – 2010 and examines the underlying drivers and dynamics in the context of a simulation model. Since the data needed to run the simulation model are only available for the period 1971-2008, the analysis of the factors driving illicit flows is confined to this shorter period. In our definition, money is deemed to be illicit if the source, use or movement of the funds is illegal. All flow estimates are based on cross-border transfers of illicit money and do not take into account illicit money being laundered inside the country. Moreover, illicit flows resulting from drug trafficking and other illicit activities that are settled in cash are not captured by economic models such as the ones used in this study. Given the inherent understatement of illicit flows estimated through economic models and methods, we use the non-normalized (or robust) estimate of illicit flows throughout the study, although normalized or conservative estimates are also presented in the Appendix for purposes of comparison. That said the magnitude and growth rate of illicit flows out of Mexico are indicative of the severity of the problem faced by policymakers. Details: Washington, DC: Global Financial Integrity, 2012. 96p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 11, 2012 at http://www.gfintegrity.org/storage/gfip/documents/reports/mexico/gfi_mexico_report_english-web.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Traffikcing Shelf Number: 124088 |
Author: Eberle, Miriam Title: The Logic of Drug-Related Violence: A Case Study of Mexico from 2006 to 2011 Summary: Mexico has experienced a dramatic escalation of drug-related violence under Mexican President Calderón which has reached a level of intensity and atrocity transcending previous periods of drug-related violence. How to explain the dramatic rise of drug-related violence since 2006? Why are some states plagued with extremely high levels of drug-related violence, whereas others remain largely unaffected? The thesis seeks to explain the variation of drug related violence across time and space by using Stathis Kalyvas’ theory of selective violence. The central propositions and hypotheses of Kalyvas’ theory will be tested by using data on the Mexican case in general and Michoacán in 2009 in particular. The aim is to show whether or not the theory correctly predicts drug-related violence in Mexico. However, there have been some major impediments that complicated the use of Kalyvas theoretical model on the Mexican case: (1) data is often lacking and incomplete; (2) the Mexican “conflict” is a mixture of irregular and conventional warfare; (3) there is more than one conflict, namely one between the Mexican government and the DTOs, and various other conflicts among the different DTOs themselves; and (4) the relationship between DTOs and state officials cannot be compared with the one that exists between incumbents and insurgents in a classical sense. Although only a plausibility probe, the case of Mexico between 2006 and 2011 and of Michoacán in 2009 in particular, provides strong evidence that Kalyvas’ theoretical model can even be applied on this case: (1) civilian support matters for the outcome of the conflict and the actors involved are eager to obtain it; (2) violence plays a key role in obtaining control and collaboration; (3) Mexican DTOs use both types of violence, though selective violence seems to be the predominant type of violence. A shift from indiscriminate violence to more selective violence within the process of the conflict does not seem to conform to the empirical reality. The measurement of territorial control on the case of Michoacán turned out to be difficult; in some cases impossible. Furthermore, there was only little empirical evidence. It was therefore not possible to make rigorous hypotheses testing. Despite these limitations there was evidence that: (1) zone 1 and zone 5 are affected by low levels of violence; (2) zone 2 and 4 are affected by high levels of violence; and (3) Kalyvas’ last hypothesis for zones of parity could neither be confirmed nor denied because of the lack of empirical evidence. However, I assume that the internal logic of DTOs must contradict this hypothesis. Instead I argue that they are equally affected by violence like zone 2 and 4. The following recommendations can be made: (1) the Mexican government has to put more efforts to obtain civilian support which implies combating corruption, regaining trust of the civilian population and winning the “war of perceptions” by preventing DTOs from spreading their propaganda; (2) active or passive collaboration with a DTO does not necessarily mean sympathy, it might also be the result of lacking alternatives and a will to survive; (3) the mere reliance on the Mexican armed forces is counterproductive and has contributed to the escalating levels in violence; as a result (4) Kalyvas’ theory of selective violence should be integrated into the policy process. This bears practical contributions, namely to better interpret the varying patterns of drug-related violence which could help to produce more subtle approaches how to cope with DTOs. Details: The Netherlands: Radboud University Nijmegan, 2011. 129p. Source: Thesis: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2012 at http://geography2.ruhosting.nl/masterthesis/scripties/EberleMiriam.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Corruption (Mexico) Shelf Number: 124669 |
Author: Rios, Viridiana Title: Evaluating the economic impact of drug traffic in Mexico Summary: : By analyzing and gathering quantitative data, this paper presents the first formal economic analysis of the impacts of the drug trafficking industry in Mexico. The analysis measures the number of drug-traffic employees, the amount of cash and investments generated by the drug-trafficking industry, the monetary costs of violence and corruption, the estimated losses in foreign investment, and the costs generated by local drug abuse. While the authors acknowledge that in some small and less diversified rural communities, drug-traffic cash flows may be helping to alleviate a grinding stage of poverty and underdevelopment, they conclude that the illegal-drug industry generates economic losses of about 4.3 billion dollars annually. Such a high figure is certainly impeding Mexican economic growth and development. Several policy options are considered. Details: Boston, MA: Department of Government, Harvard University, 2008. 21p. Source: Working Paper: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2012 at http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww-old.gov.harvard.edu%2Fstudent%2Frios%2FMexicanDrugMarket_Riosv2.doc&ei=J_RsT-72NYXJ0QGY3P3kBg&usg=AFQjCNFbq-goC75ieInetM5AAsDsyQtOzQ&sig2=cnk6mi7f5s0-X7iUz3jD9A Year: 2008 Country: Mexico Keywords: Corruption (Mexico) Shelf Number: 124670 |
Author: Diaz-Cayeros, Alberto Title: Living in Fear: Social Penetration of Criminal Organizations in Mexico Summary: Citizens in Mexico are trapped in between two illegitimate forces { the criminal organizations and the police who are supposed to protect them. Through the use of list experiments within the Survey on Public Safety and Governance in Mexico (SPSGM), we measure the pervasiveness of drug gang activity as it pertains to strategies of coercion (extortion) and co- optation (offering help) to ordinary citizens. The paper seeks to provide a better understanding of which groups are most vulnerable and where is it that drug gangs have become most embedded in society. Our findings suggest that although narcotra cantes extort citizens the most in high violence regions and the police does so in low violence ones, both forms of extortion are present everywhere in Mexico. This has triggered a spiral of fear: drug gangs signal unambiguously that they are in control, they overtly operate in many of Mexico's localities, while the police can't credibly signal that they can regain control of the streets. Police corruption is hence an essen- tial part of the story of Mexico's violence. Ever more fearful citizens have turned to the narcos for help, we demonstrate, and hence many tacitly {or even openly{ support them. Public strategies emphasizing military action and harsh treatment might not affect the social embeddedness that protects drug gangs and criminal organizations, even though it is a necessary action in the short-run. Instead, enhancing citizen trust within communities by effectively cleaning the police forces while improving the adjudication of justice are more likely to strengthen the social fabric. Details: San Diego: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego, 2011. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 3, 2012 at: http://irps.ucsd.edu/assets/001/502967.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Cartels Shelf Number: 124810 |
Author: Reyna, Enrique J. Title: Exploiting Weaknesses: An Approach to Counter Cartel Strategy Summary: The thesis, “Exploiting Weaknesses: An Approach to Counter Cartel Strategy,” provided an in-depth case study analysis of Los Zetas transnational criminal network to gain an understanding on its weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The thesis utilized social movement theory to illuminate its mobilizing structure and key essential factors that make Los Zetas vulnerable to disruption. In addition, the study identified Los Zetas’ financial support structure to expose its insidious methods. Finally, the thesis utilized social network analysis and geographical information systems to gain an understanding of its organizational networks, deduce possible safe havens, and key terrain of Los Zetas. Ultimately, the employment of the aforementioned theories revealed essential vulnerabilities, which form the essence of a practical disruption policy recommendation against Los Zetas. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2011. 139p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed April 3, 2012 at: http://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=699795 Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Gangs (Mexico) Shelf Number: 124811 |
Author: Dickenson, Matthew Title: Leadership Transitions and Violence in Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations, 2006-2010 Summary: Since President Felipe Calderon took office, over 34,000 murders have been tied to drug tracking organizations (DTO's) in Mexico. In response, the Mexican government -- with assistance from the US -- has targeted DTO leaders for removal. This study identifies 25 leadership removals between 2006 and 2010, and analyzes subsequent changes in drug-related murders using auto-regressive distributed lag (ADL) regression (OLS) models in a monthly time series of 11 states. Persistence dynamics for longer-term effects are also analyzed. Leadership removals generally precede increases in violence. However, the predicted effects of removal differ by the leadership role that the individual performed. Killing leaders is followed by more violence than capturing them. There is no significant change in levels of drug trafficking, as proxied by seizures and retail prices. Public opinion is increasingly dissatisfied with the Calderon administration's approach. Together, these results suggest the ineffectiveness of DTO leadership targeting. Details: Unpublished paper, 2012. 51p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2012 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2001405 Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Cartels Shelf Number: 124854 |
Author: Farah, Douglas Title: Dangerous Work: Violence Against Mexico’s Journalists and Lessons from Colombia Summary: The job of Mexican journalists covering drug trafficking and organized crime along the Mexico-U.S. border has been called the most dangerous job in the world. And the danger has spread from journalists for traditional media to bloggers and citizens who post reports on drug cartel violence through social media such as Twitter and Facebook. In many ways the experience of Mexico today mirrors the experience of journalists in Colombia in the 1980s and 1990s, when much of that country was a war zone and reporters and editors were being killed or driven into exile by drug traffickers, paramilitary squads, and Marxist guerrillas. Yet the response of the governments and media organizations in the two countries could hardly be more different, nor could the results. Many of the successful steps taken in Colombia could be implemented in Mexico in a relatively short time. This report looks at some of the lessons Mexico could learn from Colombia’s experience, as well as some reasons these lessons have not yet been taken to heart. In addition to conducting a literature review, the author interviewed more than a dozen Colombian and Mexican journalists, in person and by e-mail, to learn more directly about the experiences of those who have lived or are now living on the front lines, in situations of significant risk. Details: Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance, National Endowment for Democracy, 2010. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 12, 2012 at: http://cima.ned.org/sites/default/files/CIMA-Mexico-Colombia%20-%2004-09-12.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 124945 |
Author: Murray, Chad Title: Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations and Marijuana: The Potential Effects of U.S. Legalization Summary: Mexico's drug war has claimed more than 30,000 lives since 2006. The intensity and duration of this violence has produced an environment in which “few Mexican citizens feel safer today than they did ten years ago, and most believe that their government is losing the fight.” However, the problem of drug violence in Mexico is not domestic, but transnational in nature. President Barack Obama recently noted that “we are very mindful that the battle President Calderón is fighting inside of Mexico is not just his battle; it's also ours. We have to take responsibility just as he is taking responsibility.” It is U.S. demand for illicit drugs that provides the primary incentive for Mexican narcotics trafficking. Therefore, there is a possibility that a change in U.S. drug policy could negatively affect the revenues of Mexican DTOs, and even their ability to wage violence. This paper will examine the validity of that argument, as well as several of the issues that would accompany such a fundamental policy shift. The purpose of this report is to evaluate current U.S. policy on marijuana, extract lessons learned from policy changes in other countries, analyze the effects that legalization of marijuana in the United States might have on Mexican DTOs, and provide recommendations for future U.S. policies. Current U.S. laws will serve as a starting point to determine if existing decriminalization or medicinal marijuana reforms have had any impact on Mexican DTOs. After examining what effects, if any, these policies have had, reforms in other countries will be examined. From the case studies of Portugal, the Netherlands, and Mexico, lessons will be drawn to give context to any possible ramifications or benefits of U.S. marijuana legalization. Finally, concrete recommendations will be made on whether recent marijuana policy reforms should be maintained, improved, or repealed. Details: Washington, DC: George Washington University, The Elliott School of International Affairs, 2011. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: Elliott School of International Affairs/Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission: Capstone Report: Accessed April 30, 2012 at: http://elliott.gwu.edu/assets/docs/acad/lahs/mexico-marijuana-071111.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Decriminalization Shelf Number: 125103 |
Author: Gibbons, Cara Title: Corruption, Impunity, Silence: The WAR on Mexico’s Journalists Summary: Sixty-six Mexican journalists have been killed since 20001, at least 34 since President Calderón launched a “war on drugs” after taking office at the end of 2006. During that time, the government’s highly militarized campaigns, particularly in the northern border states, have created staggering levels of violence and an atmosphere in which working journalists face constant threats and vicious, often lethal, attacks. Few of these crimes are investigated properly, much less prosecuted, despite successive administrations’ promises to end the country’s shameful record of impunity. Instead, the government has beguiled international observers and its own citizens with meretricious reforms that do little to halt a grave and worsening human rights crisis. In these extraordinary circumstances, Mexico’s journalists have also contended with laws that limit freedom of expression and muzzle their attempts to expose corruption at both local and state levels. Consequently, accurate reporting on the drug war has become all but impossible. Yet, faced with this crisis, the Mexican government has dithered over reforms that could protect reporters, while prosecuting citizen journalists who run afoul of the country’s labyrinthine communications legislation. This report examines why Mexico has failed to confront the sources of its internal corruption. It also looks at the state’s failure to defend Mexico’s journalists from the extreme violence they face at the hands of drug trafficking organizations and corrupt state agents who carry out the most brazen assaults on free and open communication with almost complete impunity. It finds that Mexico is breaching its binding international human rights obligations, including the right to life and the right to freedom of expression. Details: Toronto: PEN Canada; Toronto: International Himan Rights Program, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, 2011. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 17, 2012 at: http://www.utorontoihrp.com/index.php/resources/working-group-reports/cat_view/10-working-group-and-clinic-reports/28-corruption-impunity-silence-the-war-on-mexicos-journalists Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Corruption Shelf Number: 125341 |
Author: Huerta, Pamela Title: Mexico's "War on Drugs": A Successful Strategy? Summary: Researcher Pamela Huerta offers a nuanced review of Mexico’s anti-drug policy and untangles some of the many socio-economic, political, and institutional factors that have led to heightened levels of violence in the country. As the author demonstrates, the Mexican case sheds light on the larger questions of violence in the region and around the world, especially as they relate to highly profitable and illegal economic activities. Details: Ciudad Colon, Costa Rica: Peace and Conflict Monitor, University of Peace, 2012. 13p. Source: Peace and Conflict Monitor Policy: Internet Resource: Accessed June 19, 2012 at http://www.monitor.upeace.org/printer.cfm?id_article=894 Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Related Violence (Mexico) Shelf Number: 125381 |
Author: Rodriguez Cuevas, Jose A. Title: The Balloon Effect and Mexican Homeland Security: What it Means to be the Weakest Link in the Americas’ Security Chain Summary: The sudden increase in crime and violence in some Mexican cities and regions has raised security concerns not only in Mexico, where President Felipe Calderon categorized these crimes as a threat to Mexican society, but also in the United States, where Department of Homeland Secretary head Janet Napolitano referred to stemming the violence as “vital to core U.S. national interests.” Mexico is concerned with the latent threat of violence spreading all over the nation, while the U.S. is trying to guard against spillover. Both governments are concerned by the increased violence and its impact on communities along the U.S.–Mexican border. Because of its geopolitical location along the southern U.S. border, Mexico is susceptible to possible undesired effects of U.S. strategies. These unintended, second-degree consequences are known as “balloon effects,” after the airflow inside a balloon when constriction applied to one area sends pressure to another area in the balloon, thinning and weakening its wall. Since 2006, Mexico’s strategy for countering transnational organized crime and related activities has sent the balloon effect in two directions: first, inside Mexico, where government actions have unbalanced the criminal structure, creating balloon effects inside Mexican territory; and second, within the U.S. while asking to escalate the Mexican effort to improve its anti-crime strategy with U.S. assistance has escalated conflict and led to a holistic strategy against transnational organized crime and related activities in the Americas. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2011. 85p. Source: Internet Resoruce: Thesis: Accessed July 3, 2012 at: http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2011/December/11Dec_Rodriguez_Cuevas.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 125464 |
Author: Pew Research Center. Global Attitudes Project Title: Mexicans Back Military Campaign Against Cartels: Despite Doubts About Success, Human Rights Costs Summary: As Felipe Calderón’s term as Mexico’s president draws to a close, Mexicans continue to strongly back his policy of deploying the military to combat the country’s powerful drug cartels. Eight-in-ten say this is the right course, a level of support that has remained remarkably constant since the Pew Global Attitudes Project first asked the question in 2009. Support for Calderón’s strategy continues despite limited confidence that the government is winning the drug war, and widespread concerns about its costs. Just 47% believe progress is being made against drug traffickers, virtually identical to the 45% who held this opinion in 2011. Three-in-ten today say the government is actually losing ground against the cartels, while 19% see no change in the stand-off between the authorities and crime syndicates. At the same time, the public is uneasy about the moral cost of the drug war: 74% say human rights violations by the military and police are a very big problem. But concern about rights abuses coexist with continued worries about drug-related violence and crime – both of which strong majorities describe as pressing issues in Mexico. President Calderón himself remains popular. A 58%-majority has a favorable opinion of Mexico’s current leader. Although down from a high of 68% in 2009, this rating nonetheless puts him on par with the 56% who have a positive view of the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s (PRI’s) Enrique Peña Nieto, whose ratings clearly topped those of his opponents when the poll was conducted between March 20 and April 2 of this year. Whether Peña Nieto or any of the other presidential candidates have a solution to Mexico’s drug problems is an open question for the Mexican public. When asked which political party could do a better job of dealing with organized crime and drug traffickers, about equal numbers name Calderón’s National Action Party (PAN) (28%) and Peña Nieto’s PRI (25%), while only 13% point to the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Fully 23% volunteer that none of the parties is particularly capable of dealing with this critical issue. These are the principal findings from the latest survey in Mexico by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. Conducted face-to-face with 1,200 adults from across the country, the poll also finds that most Mexicans (61%) blame both the United States and their own country for the continued drug violence within their borders. While solid majorities would welcome U.S. assistance in combating the cartels if the aid came in the form of training, equipment or intelligence support, only a third would approve deploying U.S. troops on Mexican soil. Overall, a majority (56%) of Mexicans have a favorable opinion of the United States, with about the same number (53%) convinced that Mexicans who migrate to the U.S. have a better life. Despite this perception, most Mexicans have no interest in migrating north across the border, although the percentage who say they would move to the U.S. if they had the means and opportunity has remained fairly steady since 2009. Details: Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 2012. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 16, 2012 at: http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2012/06/Pew-Global-Attitudes-Project-Mexico-Report-FINAL-Wednesday-June-20-2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 125627 |
Author: Zedillo, Ernesto Title: Rethinking the “War on Drugs” Through the US-Mexico Prism Summary: The papers contained in this book are based on presentations from the conference Rethinking the “War on Drugs” Through the US-Mexico Prism, organized by the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut on May 12 and 13, 2011. The motivation for the conference reflected in this volume stems from our belief that the existing framework for dealing with drug policies does not work. As part of our ongoing effort to support the creation and dissemination of ideas toward preserving international peace and security, we organized a forum at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization in which we could take stock and distill the relevant research and empirical evidence generated over the years with regard to the present drug policies and make an effort to determine whether there is some potential for alternative policies. We elected to confront the research and existing policies with the state of affairs on this issue as seen through the prism of Mexico and the US. Details: New Haven, CT: Yale Center for the Study of Globalization at Yale University, 2012. 175p. Source: Internet Resource: A Yale Center for the Study of Globalization eBook: Accessed July 20, 2012 at: http://www.ycsg.yale.edu/center/forms/rethinking-war-on-drugs.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Abuse and Crime Shelf Number: 125710 |
Author: Moreno Gómez, Edgar Title: Staging the War on Drugs: Media and Organised Crime in Mexico Summary: The steep upsurge in the number of drug‐related homicides in Mexico has been matched by an even greater increase in the news coverage of violence and organised crime. However, both journalists and scholars have overlooked how organised crime makes use of the media and vice versa. By drawing on previous research on the relationship between the media, terrorism and public opinion this Working Paper looks into the rise of mass‐mediated organised crime in Mexico. Based on a quantitative analysis of the news coverage of violence and organised crime in three major newspapers as well as a qualitative study of selected events, the paper offers an insight to understand the political ramifications of the news coverage of violence. Even when drug trafficking organisations are not terrorists who seek the publicity of the press to advance a political cause, this paper shows that they have important goals related to the media, the impact of news on public opinion and the consequent influence over policy making. Details: Madrid: Elcano Royal Institute of International and Strategic Studies, 2012. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Elcano Royal Institute Working Papers No. 8: Accessed August 2, 2012 at: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?id=147776 Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 125843 |
Author: Daly, Catherine Title: Armed with Impunity: Curbing Military Human Rights Abuses in Mexico Summary: This report examines the current context and possible remedies to protect against human rights abuses in Mexico. The report then provides documentation and analysis of the pattern of human rights complaints that have been formally registered against the military since Mexican President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006 and through mid-2012. • The military has played a constantly expanding role in efforts to combat drug trafficking organizations, and to provide domestic security more generally. As Calderón deployed tens of thousands of troops to regions and cities known to be drug-trafficking routes and hubs at the outset of his term. Calderón also significantly increased the size of the Mexican army, as well as military spending overall. • The Mexican public holds mixed feelings about the Calderón administration’s strategy. On the one hand, in a March 2012 poll by Consulta Mitofsky, 43% of respondents indicated that they viewed the Mexican government’s strategy as a “failure,” and 53% thought that organized crime was winning the fight against government forces. Only 28% felt Calderón’s strategy had been successful. Nevertheless, more than two-thirds of those surveyed support using the military to combat organized crime. • The massive deployment of the Mexican military has increased civilian exposure and vulnerability to military personnel. In this context, there has been a surge of formal complaints (quejas) of military abuses submitted to National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the ombudsman that generates formal reports or “recommendations” (recomendaciones) for the government agency against which a complaint has been levied. • All told, since the organization was created in 1990 through July 22, 2012, CNDH received 140,699 written complaints, out of which the agency was able to establish that there were reasonable claims of abuse in 34,651 cases, or about one in four cases. A growing number of complaints against the Mexican army (SEDENA) were recorded since the deployment of troops after Calderón took office: 367 in 2007; 1,230 in 2008; 1,800 in 2009; 1,415 in 2010; 1,626 in 2011. As for the current year, SEDENA reported that there were 479 reports as of May 3, 2012. • Alleged military human rights violations represent a fraction of the total number of complaints in any given year. For example, in 2011, even as SEDENA reportedly held the largest number of complaints for a given agency, it accounted for only 6% of all complaints to CNDH. Still, CNDH reports that during the 12 years that it has been documenting human rights abuses, SEDENA is one of the top three institutions with the most filed complaints against it. In 2011, SEDENA reportedly led the list with 1,626 complaints. • The Mexican government points out that, as of May 3, 2012, only about 100 (less than 2%) of the 6,544 complaints against SEDENA that CNDH received since December 1, 2006 have resulted in CNDH reports of credible abuses. Moreover, SEDENA reports that 5,661 complaints have been resolved, meaning that they have This report examines the current context and possible remedies to protect against human rights abuses in Mexico. The report then provides documentation and analysis of the pattern of human rights complaints that have been formally registered against the military since Mexican President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006 and through mid-2012. • The military has played a constantly expanding role in efforts to combat drug trafficking organizations, and to provide domestic security more generally. As Calderón deployed tens of thousands of troops to regions and cities known to be drug-trafficking routes and hubs at the outset of his term. Calderón also significantly increased the size of the Mexican army, as well as military spending overall. • The Mexican public holds mixed feelings about the Calderón administration’s strategy. On the one hand, in a March 2012 poll by Consulta Mitofsky, 43% of respondents indicated that they viewed the Mexican government’s strategy as a “failure,” and 53% thought that organized crime was winning the fight against government forces. Only 28% felt Calderón’s strategy had been successful. Nevertheless, more than two-thirds of those surveyed support using the military to combat organized crime. • The massive deployment of the Mexican military has increased civilian exposure and vulnerability to military personnel. In this context, there has been a surge of formal complaints (quejas) of military abuses submitted to National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the ombudsman that generates formal reports or “recommendations” (recomendaciones) for the government agency against which a complaint has been levied. • All told, since the organization was created in 1990 through July 22, 2012, CNDH received 140,699 written complaints, out of which the agency was able to establish that there were reasonable claims of abuse in 34,651 cases, or about one in four cases. A growing number of complaints against the Mexican army (SEDENA) were recorded since the deployment of troops after Calderón took office: 367 in 2007; 1,230 in 2008; 1,800 in 2009; 1,415 in 2010; 1,626 in 2011. As for the current year, SEDENA reported that there were 479 reports as of May 3, 2012. • Alleged military human rights violations represent a fraction of the total number of complaints in any given year. For example, in 2011, even as SEDENA reportedly held the largest number of complaints for a given agency, it accounted for only 6% of all complaints to CNDH. Still, CNDH reports that during the 12 years that it has been documenting human rights abuses, SEDENA is one of the top three institutions with the most filed complaints against it. In 2011, SEDENA reportedly led the list with 1,626 complaints. • The Mexican government points out that, as of May 3, 2012, only about 100 (less than 2%) of the 6,544 complaints against SEDENA that CNDH received since December 1, 2006 have resulted in CNDH reports of credible abuses. Moreover, SEDENA reports that 5,661 complaints have been resolved, meaning that they have This report examines the current context and possible remedies to protect against human rights abuses in Mexico. The report then provides documentation and analysis of the pattern of human rights complaints that have been formally registered against the military since Mexican President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006 and through mid-2012. • The military has played a constantly expanding role in efforts to combat drug trafficking organizations, and to provide domestic security more generally. As Calderón deployed tens of thousands of troops to regions and cities known to be drug-trafficking routes and hubs at the outset of his term. Calderón also significantly increased the size of the Mexican army, as well as military spending overall. • The Mexican public holds mixed feelings about the Calderón administration’s strategy. On the one hand, in a March 2012 poll by Consulta Mitofsky, 43% of respondents indicated that they viewed the Mexican government’s strategy as a “failure,” and 53% thought that organized crime was winning the fight against government forces. Only 28% felt Calderón’s strategy had been successful. Nevertheless, more than two-thirds of those surveyed support using the military to combat organized crime. • The massive deployment of the Mexican military has increased civilian exposure and vulnerability to military personnel. In this context, there has been a surge of formal complaints (quejas) of military abuses submitted to National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the ombudsman that generates formal reports or “recommendations” (recomendaciones) for the government agency against which a complaint has been levied. • All told, since the organization was created in 1990 through July 22, 2012, CNDH received 140,699 written complaints, out of which the agency was able to establish that there were reasonable claims of abuse in 34,651 cases, or about one in four cases. A growing number of complaints against the Mexican army (SEDENA) were recorded since the deployment of troops after Calderón took office: 367 in 2007; 1,230 in 2008; 1,800 in 2009; 1,415 in 2010; 1,626 in 2011. As for the current year, SEDENA reported that there were 479 reports as of May 3, 2012. • Alleged military human rights violations represent a fraction of the total number of complaints in any given year. For example, in 2011, even as SEDENA reportedly held the largest number of complaints for a given agency, it accounted for only 6% of all complaints to CNDH. Still, CNDH reports that during the 12 years that it has been documenting human rights abuses, SEDENA is one of the top three institutions with the most filed complaints against it. In 2011, SEDENA reportedly led the list with 1,626 complaints. • The Mexican government points out that, as of May 3, 2012, only about 100 (less than 2%) of the 6,544 complaints against SEDENA that CNDH received since December 1, 2006 have resulted in CNDH reports of credible abuses. Moreover, SEDENA reports that 5,661 complaints have been resolved, meaning that they havebeen settled through reconciliation or closed for other seemingly justifiable reasons. Since Calderón took office in December 2006, CNDH has issued 101 formal reports or “recommendations” to the Mexican army (SEDENA) and 17 to the Mexican marines (SEMAR). The first recommendation filed by CNDH under Calderón was issued on May 23, 2007, and the most recent recommendation came on July 11, 2012, just weeks before this report was filed. • While there were 6 recommendations to the military from 2004-2006, all prior Calderón’s inauguration. There were 7 registered in 2007, 15 in 2008, 31 in 2009, 27 in 2010, and 31 in 2011. In 2009, 40% of the recommendations issued by CNDH were directed to the military, SEDENA accounting for 38% and SEMAR for 2%. By mid-2012, the proportion of CNDH recommendations made to the military was less than half that registered in each of the previous two years, representing only 21%. This trend may indicate that the scaling back of military involvement in key cities, such as Chihuahua, has helped to reduce the number of violations by military personnel. • Of the 118 CNDH recommendation reports directed to SEDENA since Calderón took office, physical abuse is the most common documented human rights violation, followed by obstruction to access to justice, verbal/mental abuse, excessive or arbitrary use of force or public office, and illegal detention. When broken down by year, the number and type of abuses increased most substantially in 2008 and 2009, at the height of military deployments. • While the frequency with which torture occurs has decreased since its initial spike in 2008 cases, it is still involved in just over half of all recommendations CNDH issues to the military. Thus, as the proximity with which troops interact with the public has increased over the past sexenio, so too has problem of physical abuse, whether loss of life, torture, or physical injury, the last of which was present to some extent in 95 of 118 CNDH recommendations, representing 81% of cases. • Abuses documented by CNDH occurred in 21 of Mexico’s 31 states, as well as in the Federal District. 13 states and districts comprised 92% of all violations, and just under two thirds occurred in only six states (61%), and almost half occurred in northern states along the U.S.-Mexico border. Considering Chihuahua and Michoacán, the two states that account for 36% of all human rights abuse cases reported by CNDH (29 and 13 cases, respectively), it is clear that the surge in troop deployment to these areas clearly brought an increase in documented abuses. Since Calderón took office in December 2006, CNDH has issued 101 formal reports or “recommendations” to the Mexican army (SEDENA) and 17 to the Mexican marines (SEMAR). The first recommendation filed by CNDH under Calderón was issued on May 23, 2007, and the most recent recommendation came on July 11, 2012, just weeks before this report was filed. • While there were 6 recommendations to the military from 2004-2006, all prior Calderón’s inauguration. There were 7 registered in 2007, 15 in 2008, 31 in 2009, 27 in 2010, and 31 in 2011. In 2009, 40% of the recommendations issued by CNDH were directed to the military, SEDENA accounting for 38% and SEMAR for 2%. By mid-2012, the proportion of CNDH recommendations made to the military was less than half that registered in each of the previous two years, representing only 21%. This trend may indicate that the scaling back of military involvement in key cities, such as Chihuahua, has helped to reduce the number of violations by military personnel. • Of the 118 CNDH recommendation reports directed to SEDENA since Calderón took office, physical abuse is the most common documented human rights violation, followed by obstruction to access to justice, verbal/mental abuse, excessive or arbitrary use of force or public office, and illegal detention. When broken down by year, the number and type of abuses increased most substantially in 2008 and 2009, at the height of military deployments. • While the frequency with which torture occurs has decreased since its initial spike in 2008 cases, it is still involved in just over half of all recommendations CNDH issues to the military. Thus, as the proximity with which troops interact with the public has increased over the past sexenio, so too has problem of physical abuse, whether loss of life, torture, or physical injury, the last of which was present to some extent in 95 of 118 CNDH recommendations, representing 81% of cases. • Abuses documented by CNDH occurred in 21 of Mexico’s 31 states, as well as in the Federal District. 13 states and districts comprised 92% of all violations, and just under two thirds occurred in only six states (61%), and almost half occurred in northern states along the U.S.-Mexico border. Considering Chihuahua and Michoacán, the two states that account for 36% of all human rights abuse cases reported by CNDH (29 and 13 cases, respectively), it is clear that the surge in troop deployment to these areas clearly brought an increase in documented abuses.Since Calderón took office in December 2006, CNDH has issued 101 formal reports or “recommendations” to the Mexican army (SEDENA) and 17 to the Mexican marines (SEMAR). The first recommendation filed by CNDH under Calderón was issued on May 23, 2007, and the most recent recommendation came on July 11, 2012, just weeks before this report was filed. • While there were 6 recommendations to the military from 2004-2006, all prior Calderón’s inauguration. There were 7 registered in 2007, 15 in 2008, 31 in 2009, 27 in 2010, and 31 in 2011. In 2009, 40% of the recommendations issued by CNDH were directed to the military, SEDENA accounting for 38% and SEMAR for 2%. By mid-2012, the proportion of CNDH recommendations made to the military was less than half that registered in each of the previous two years, representing only 21%. This trend may indicate that the scaling back of military involvement in key cities, such as Chihuahua, has helped to reduce the number of violations by military personnel. • Of the 118 CNDH recommendation reports directed to SEDENA since Calderón took office, physical abuse is the most common documented human rights violation, followed by obstruction to access to justice, verbal/mental abuse, excessive or arbitrary use of force or public office, and illegal detention. When broken down by year, the number and type of abuses increased most substantially in 2008 and 2009, at the height of military deployments. • While the frequency with which torture occurs has decreased since its initial spike in 2008 cases, it is still involved in just over half of all recommendations CNDH issues to the military. Thus, as the proximity with which troops interact with the public has increased over the past sexenio, so too has problem of physical abuse, whether loss of life, torture, or physical injury, the last of which was present to some extent in 95 of 118 CNDH recommendations, representing 81% of cases. • Abuses documented by CNDH occurred in 21 of Mexico’s 31 states, as well as in the Federal District. 13 states and districts comprised 92% of all violations, and just under two thirds occurred in only six states (61%), and almost half occurred in northern states along the U.S.-Mexico border. Considering Chihuahua and Michoacán, the two states that account for 36% of all human rights abuse cases reported by CNDH (29 and 13 cases, respectively), it is clear that the surge in troop deployment to these areas clearly brought an increase in documented abuses. Since Calderón took office in December 2006, CNDH has issued 101 formal reports or “recommendations” to the Mexican army (SEDENA) and 17 to the Mexican marines (SEMAR). The first recommendation filed by CNDH under Calderón was issued on May 23, 2007, and the most recent recommendation came on July 11, 2012, just weeks before this report was filed. • While there were 6 recommendations to the military from 2004-2006, all prior Calderón’s inauguration. There were 7 registered in 2007, 15 in 2008, 31 in 2009, 27 in 2010, and 31 in 2011. In 2009, 40% of the recommendations issued by CNDH were directed to the military, SEDENA accounting for 38% and SEMAR for 2%. By mid-2012, the proportion of CNDH recommendations made to the military was less than half that registered in each of the previous two years, representing only 21%. This trend may indicate that the scaling back of military involvement in key cities, such as Chihuahua, has helped to reduce the number of violations by military personnel. • Of the 118 CNDH recommendation reports directed to SEDENA since Calderón took office, physical abuse is the most common documented human rights violation, followed by obstruction to access to justice, verbal/mental abuse, excessive or arbitrary use of force or public office, and illegal detention. When broken down by year, the number and type of abuses increased most substantially in 2008 and 2009, at the height of military deployments. • While the frequency with which torture occurs has decreased since its initial spike in 2008 cases, it is still involved in just over half of all recommendations CNDH issues to the military. Thus, as the proximity with which troops interact with the public has increased over the past sexenio, so too has problem of physical abuse, whether loss of life, torture, or physical injury, the last of which was present to some extent in 95 of 118 CNDH recommendations, representing 81% of cases. • Abuses documented by CNDH occurred in 21 of Mexico’s 31 states, as well as in the Federal District. 13 states and districts comprised 92% of all violations, and just under two thirds occurred in only six states (61%), and almost half occurred in northern states along the U.S.-Mexico border. Considering Chihuahua and Michoacán, the two states that account for 36% of all human rights abuse cases reported by CNDH (29 and 13 cases, respectively), it is clear that the surge in troop deployment to these areas clearly brought an increase in documented abuses.Since Calderón took office in December 2006, CNDH has issued 101 formal reports or “recommendations” to the Mexican army (SEDENA) and 17 to the Mexican marines (SEMAR). The first recommendation filed by CNDH under Calderón was issued on May 23, 2007, and the most recent recommendation came on July 11, 2012, just weeks before this report was filed. • While there were 6 recommendations to the military from 2004-2006, all prior Calderón’s inauguration. There were 7 registered in 2007, 15 in 2008, 31 in 2009, 27 in 2010, and 31 in 2011. In 2009, 40% of the recommendations issued by CNDH were directed to the military, SEDENA accounting for 38% and SEMAR for 2%. By mid-2012, the proportion of CNDH recommendations made to the military was less than half that registered in each of the previous two years, representing only 21%. This trend may indicate that the scaling back of military involvement in key cities, such as Chihuahua, has helped to reduce the number of violations by military personnel. • Of the 118 CNDH recommendation reports directed to SEDENA since Calderón took office, physical abuse is the most common documented human rights violation, followed by obstruction to access to justice, verbal/mental abuse, excessive or arbitrary use of force or public office, and illegal detention. When broken down by year, the number and type of abuses increased most substantially in 2008 and 2009, at the height of military deployments. • While the frequency with which torture occurs has decreased since its initial spike in 2008 cases, it is still involved in just over half of all recommendations CNDH issues to the military. Thus, as the proximity with which troops interact with the public has increased over the past sexenio, so too has problem of physical abuse, whether loss of life, torture, or physical injury, the last of which was present to some extent in 95 of 118 CNDH recommendations, representing 81% of cases. • Abuses documented by CNDH occurred in 21 of Mexico’s 31 states, as well as in the Federal District. 13 states and districts comprised 92% of all violations, and just under two thirds occurred in only six states (61%), and almost half occurred in northern states along the U.S.-Mexico border. Considering Chihuahua and Michoacán, the two states that account for 36% of all human rights abuse cases reported by CNDH (29 and 13 cases, respectively), it is clear that the surge in troop deployment to these areas clearly brought an increase in documented abuses. Males above the age of 18 constitute the population mostly likely to be abused by the military in its public security efforts. Out of the 516 victims involved in cases recommended to the military, roughly 10% (51) were women and 7% (35) were minors. • Up until June 2011, the military maintained jurisdiction over all criminal cases and alleged human rights violations involving military personnel, and critics also charged that CNDH was ineffective in following up on and ensuring compliance with its recommendations. In 2011, legislative initiatives in the Mexican Senate, as well as a landmark ruling by the Mexican Supreme Court, emphasized the need for binding civilian court judgments regarding confirmed abuses by military personnel and domestic compliance with international human rights treaty obligations. It is believed that these developments will greatly bolster the ability of CNDH to protect against human rights abuses. • It still remains unclear whether recent legislation and court decisions will significantly curb military violations. The crux of the human rights issue hinges on whether the civilian court system will achieve unequivocal jurisdiction over cases of human rights abuse that involve the military and civilians, and supporting legislation to this effect has not yet been passed. Specifically, further legislative efforts are needed to revise Mexico’s code of military justice. As the Calderón administration comes to a close, the prospects of these reforms and what lies ahead under the next administration. • After PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto was declared the victor in Mexico’s July 1 elections, he affirmed the continued role of the military in domestic security operations. Yet, Peña Nieto has professed a commitment to uphold and preserve the human rights of Mexican citizens “first of all, through the real, objective application of [human rights] protocols to agencies that are dedicated to public security.” • When Peña Nieto takes office in December 2012, it will be important to evaluate how the incoming president will handle pending cases before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. One of the most notable cases involves the 2006 rape of 11 women by police forces in Atenco in the State of Mexico that was brought before the commission in November. Since he was the sitting governor of the State of Mexico when this incident occurred, Peña Nieto's handling of this case as president will be an important indicator of the new administration’s approach to human rights. • Ongoing concerns about human rights abuses in Mexico raise questions about what can be done to address these issues under the framework of the Mérida Initiative, a multi-year U.S.- Mexico collaboration initiative launched in 2007. The United States is therefore in a powerful position to support Mexico’s efforts to combat drug trafficking organizations, but it also has an obligation to make sure that human rights are respected in the process. If the war on drugs is a joint task, then protecting against human rights violations and other unintended consequences also should be a shared responsibility. • The authors offer several recommendations to strengthen human rights protections in Mexico, including reducing overall reliance on military deployments in Mexican counter-drug efforts, investing in greater human rights training for military and judicial sector personnel, implementing reforms to transfer all military abuse cases to civilian courts, bolstering the CNDH to fulfill its new responsibilities, strengthening civil society to combat abuses and improve security, and reframing U.S.-Mexico security collaboration to better protect human rights. Details: San Diego: Trans-Border Institute, University of San Diego, 2012. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Justice in Mexico Project: Accessed August 6, 2012 at: http://justiceinmexico.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/12_07_31_armed-with-impunity.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 125864 |
Author: Rios, Viridiana Title: To Be or Not To Be a Drug Trafficker: Modeling Criminal Occupational Choices Summary: Violent deaths, kidnapping and extortion have spiked in Mexico’s border towns since 2004. Using a formal model and case studies from Mexico, I argue that such phenomena are partially explained by (a) a change in the politics of organized crime, (b) changes in the composition of illegal labor markets, and (c) the incentives generated at legal labor markets. With democratization, Mexico’s government became unable to keep performing its role as central enforcer of territorial boundaries between drug cartels. As cartels became guardians of their own territories, a need to recruitment new cartel members to form private armies emerged. As a result, an illegal labor market –so far closed to non-blood-related individuals– opened and modified the incentives to join/remain in the legal labor markets. The outcome was the emergence of a new generation of drug employees that (a) disdain old mafia laws, (b) are more violent and (c) are also more prone to take part of other forms of “entrepreneurial” illegal occupations such as kidnapping and extortion. Details: Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 2010. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 6, 2012 at: http://www.gov.harvard.edu/files/Rios_MPSA2010_TobeOrNotToBe.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 125872 |
Author: Olson, Eric L. Title: Considering New Strategies for Confronting Organized Crime in Mexico Summary: Mexico has experienced an unprecedented rise in crime and violence over the past five years with over 47,000 people killed in crime related violence during this period. For some, the increase in violence is a tragic by-product of President Calderón’s full frontal assault on criminal organizations. For others, the government’s actions, while well intended, have only marginally impacted trafficking while exacerbating the violence. Whatever the reasons, both Mexico and the United States are entering a critical period where decisions about the future of security cooperation and crime fighting strategies come more sharply into focus. Both countries will hold presidential and congressional elections in 2012 giving policy-makers and the public an opportunity to take stock of the bi-national security strategies pursued thus far, and debate the best strategies going forward. While it is unlikely that the framework of “shared responsibility” and close bilateral collaboration will be upended, regardless of the election results, 2012 represents an important opportunity to assess the strategies to date and refine our understanding of the security threats posed by organized crime, violence, illegal drug use and trafficking in both Mexico and the United States. To this end, the Mexico Institute brought together a number of leading scholars and experts to discuss and analyze the nature of security threats the U.S. and Mexico face from organized crime. The result has been the compilation herein of cutting edge analysis and innovative approaches reflecting some of the latest research and information available about drug trafficking, organized crime and violence in Mexico. Together these ideas challenge much of the conventional wisdom and commonly held assumptions about Mexico. They suggest important new strategic directions for both countries that build on what has already been tried, while redirecting current strategies to prioritize reducing the violence associated with trafficking and organized crime. Details: Washington, DC: Mexico Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2012. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 13, 2012 at http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/New%20Strategies_1.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Reduction (Mexico) Shelf Number: 126022 |
Author: Michaelsen, Maren M. Title: Mental Health and Labour Supply: Evidence from Mexico's Ongoing Violent Conflicts Summary: In Mexico, conflicts between drug-trafficking organisations result in a high number of deaths and immense suffering among both victims and non-victims every year. Little scientific research exists which identifies and quantifies the monetary and nonmonetary consequences of ongoing violent conflicts on individuals. Using the Mexican Family Life Survey for 2002 and 2005, the causal effect of mental health (symptoms of depression / anxiety) on the extensive and intensive margin of labour supply for work-ingaged men and women is estimated. Measures of the ongoing drug-related violent conflicts both at the macro level using intentional homicide rates by region, and at the micro level indicated by the presence of armed groups in the neighbourhood, serve as instruments for mental health. The results show a significant adverse impact of the conflicts on anxiety for men and women. Based on IV-Tobit model results, a worse mental health state decreases individual labour supply strongly and significantly for men. The findings demonstrate that Mexico's population not only suffers from the violent conflicts between drug-trafficking organisations by anxiety or even depression but also indirectly from less household income through less work which in turn has consequences for Mexico's social development and economic growth. Details: Brighton, UK: Households in Conflict Network, The Institute of Development Studies - at the University of Sussex, 2012. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 16, 2012 at: http://www.hicn.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/HiCN-WP-117.zip Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking (Mexico) Shelf Number: 126046 |
Author: Molzahn, Cory Title: Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2011 Summary: This is the third annual report by the Trans-Border Institute (TBI) on drug violence in Mexico. As with previous reports, the purpose of this study is to examine the available data, specific patterns, contributing factors, and policy recommendations related to growing toll of the drug war in Mexico. The report draws from the extensive research and analysis of the TBI Justice in Mexico Project (www. justiceinmexico.org), which in the past year has benefited from the generous financial support of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Tinker Foundation, and the Open Society Initiative. This report was also informed by conferences and workshops hosted by Brown University in April 2011, the United Nations Social Science Research Council in June 2011, Stanford University in October 2011, and the Guggenheim Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson Center in December 2011. Details: San Diego: Trans-Border Institute, Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego, 2012. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 21, 2012 at http://justiceinmexico.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/2012-tbi-drugviolence.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Assassinations Shelf Number: 126086 |
Author: Castaneda, Jorge Title: Time for an Alternative to Mexico's Drug War Summary: If we do not ask why Mexico got into an aggressive fight against the drug cartels, it will be very difficult to understand how to get out of it. A lot of my colleagues in Mexico and the United States say, "Well okay, whatever reasons President Felipe Calderón had for getting into this war, the fact is now we are in it and we have to do something about it." Yes, but it is not an idle exercise to go back and see to what extent this war was declared, more than five years ago, on false premises. If we worked along these three lines—combating violence, not drug trafficking; building a national police and pulling the army back; and fighting for legalization, even if we cannot do it overnight with all drugs—we will have the beginning of an alternative policy that can work. Details: Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 2012. 4p. Source: Cato Institute Economic Development Bulletin, No. 16: Internet Resource: Accessed September 30, 2012 at http://www.cato.org/pubs/edb/edb16.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Control (Mexico) Shelf Number: 126504 |
Author: McGee, Sibel Title: Mexico's Cartel Problem: A Systems Thinking Perspective Summary: The unprecedented increase in recent years of cartel-related violence has presented growing challenges both to Mexico’s socio-political stability and to the United States’ (US) National interests. Current efforts to address Mexican cartels treat these organizations as only drug-trafficking networks and focus on law enforcement measures to interdict their operations. In this paper, we approach the cartel problem from a systems thinking perspective and present a holistic assessment of these complex criminal networks operating in multiple domains. By highlighting the dynamic relationships and complex feedbacks between critical variables involved in different domains of cartel operations, we identify the inherently systemic causal factors contributing to the problem situation. We argue that the efforts that rely purely on law enforcement measures will fail to produce lasting change unless they are coupled with high leverage strategies that address the root causes of illicit activities in Mexico. Details: Arlington, VA: Applied Systems Thinking Institute, Analytic Services, Inc., 2011.10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 7, 2012 at http://www.anser.org/docs/asyst-doc/Mexican_Cartels.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels (Mexico) Shelf Number: 126577 |
Author: Coscia, Michele Title: How and Where Do Criminals Operate? Using Google to track Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations Summary: We develop a tool that uses Web content to obtain quantitative information about the mobility and modus operandi of criminal groups, information that would otherwise require the operation of large scale, expensive intelligence exercises to be obtained. Exploiting indexed reliable sources such as online newspapers and blogs, we use unambiguous query terms and Google's search engine to identify the areas of operation of criminal organizations, and to extract information about the particularities of their mobility patters. We apply our tool to Mexican criminal organizations to identify their market strategies, their preferred areas of operation, and the way in which these have evolved over the last two decades. By extracting this knowledge, we provide crucial information for academics and policy makers increasingly interested in organized crime. Our findings provide evidence that criminal organizations are more strategic and operate in more differentiated ways than current academic literature had suggested. Details: Cambridge, MA: Department of Government, Harvard University, 2012. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 7, 2012 at http://www.gov.harvard.edu/files/CosciaRios_GoogleForCriminals.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Computers Shelf Number: 126637 |
Author: Southern Pulse Title: Acapulco Criminal Environment - June 2012 Summary: In recent years, the Acapulco Metropolitan Zone (AMZ) has experienced some of the highest levels of criminal violence in Mexico. The AMZ presents an interesting case where two small criminal organizations have battled for territorial control of the city with the external support of much larger cartels operating at the national level. The AMZ also provides a snapshot of how the criminal environment evolves as organizations adapt, and ultimately present a public security challenge that neither the Mexican government nor many international businesses are prepared to confront. As a contribution to the ongoing conversation about the direction of public security in Mexico, Southern Pulse published in January 2012 its first ebook, Beyond 2012, which presented a chapter on public security in Mexico. This chapter concluded with a consideration of a future when “super-empowered” street gangs will eclipse groups such as Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Federation: As we theorized in 2005, the devolution of Los Zetas, of the Gulf Cartel, and the predictable dissolution of the Sinaloa Federation points to the formation of several criminal organizations, not a Mega Cartel. Whereas Mexico under the guise of six large, national-level criminal enterprises in 2006 could have been considered a sea of tranquility punctuated by islands of violence (less than 100 municipalities out of 2,000-plus with violence) the opposite may be proven true by early 2014, as the number of well-armed criminal groups jumps from the six significant groups we counted in 2006 - Sinaloa Federation, La Familia, Gulf Cartel, Beltra-Leyva Organization, Arellano-Felix Organization, Carrillo-Fuentes Organization - to over 10 in 2012 with a steady growth of new groups to bring the total number to possibly over 20 by the end of 2014. By the end of 2014, the men organized by El Chapo and his principal rival Heriberto Lazcano will no longer be the principal drivers of violence across Mexico. At the hyper-local level, super-powered street gangs, armed with Twitter, You Tube, the weapon of fear, and an enviable armory will man-handle local politicians and municipal police. We believe that while the above process continues forward beyond June 2012, there are certain cities in Mexico today that present an advanced case of how the criminal system in Mexico will evolve as street gangs become more powerful. Acapulco lists among the top four, which include Monterrey (See Monterrey Street Gangs Report), Guadalajara, and Juarez. A fifth city, Tijuana, will serve as a “control case,” where we see the historical dominance of one group to be a harbinger of less violence and little to no development of street gangs. Within this brief report, we would like to present our assessment of the criminal environment in Acapulco from both a strategic and tactical viewpoint to support an understanding of how the evolving criminal system in Acapulco could impact the daily lives of those who live there, as well as the business, particularly in the tourism industry, operating in the area. Just as we stated in our March 2012 city report on the Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA), we would like to add that in the best interest of time and space, this report on criminal activity in the AMZ makes some general assumptions: The top-tier transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) are the primary drivers behind violence in Mexico in 2012; The Mexican government will not significantly alter its current strategy in 2012 or beyond, into the next administration; TCOs in Mexico are in constant communication with leadership elements of street gangs; TCOs do not solely rely on drug trafficking as a source of illicit revenue; and, The line between TCOs and street gangs is so blurred that many in Mexico still consider the two to be one single unit of criminality. Details: Annapolis, MD: Southern Pulse, 2012. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 14, 2012 at http://www.southernpulse.com/e-books/acapulco-criminal-environment Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Evaluative Studies Shelf Number: 126694 |
Author: Southern Pulse Title: Monterrey Street Gangs - March 2012 Summary: The greater Monterrey metropolitan area (MMA) presents a compelling story of how transnational organized crime can from one moment to the next bring a city to a halt, snap from the picture of serenity to a “narco terror” attack, or evolve from an island of security to a significant cause for concern. As Mexico’s industrial powerhouse in the north, Monterrey is a case of resiliency within a strong business community to protect its city. It is also a case of how street gangs evolve, adapt, and ultimately present a public security challenge that neither the Mexican government nor many international businesses are prepared to confront. To contribute to the conversation about the direction of public security in Mexico, Southern Pulse published in January 2012 its first ebook, Beyond 2012, which presented a chapter on public security in Mexico. This chapter concluded with a consideration of a future when “super-empowered” street gangs will eclipse groups such as Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Federation: As we theorized in 2005, the devolution of Los Zetas, of the Gulf Cartel, and the predictable dissolution of the Sinaloa Federation points to the formation of several criminal organizations, not a Mega Cartel. Whereas Mexico under the guise of six large, national-level criminal enterprises in 2006 could have been considered a sea of tranquility punctuated by islands of violence (less than 100 municipalities out of 2,000-plus with violence) the opposite may be proven true by early 2014, as the number of well-armed criminal groups jumps from the six significant groups we counted in 2006 - Sinaloa Federation, La Familia, Gulf Cartel, Beltra-Leyva Organization, Arellano-Felix Organization, Carrillo-Fuentes Organization - to over 10 in 2012 with a steady growth of new groups to bring the total number to possibly over 20 by the end of 2014. By the end of 2014, the men organized by El Chapo and his principal rival Heriberto Lazcano will no longer be the principal drivers of violence across Mexico. At the hyper-local level, super-powered street gangs, armed with Twitter, You Tube, the weapon of fear, and an enviable armory will man-handle local politicians and municipal police. We believe that while the above process continues forward beyond March 2012, there are certain cities in Mexico today that present an advanced case of how the criminal system in Mexico will evolve as street gangs become more powerful. Monterrey lists among the top five. Within this brief report, Monterrey Street Gangs, we would like to present our assessment of street gang activity in Monterrey from both a strategic and tactical viewpoint to support an understanding of how the evolving criminal system in Monterrey could impact the daily lives of those who live there, as well as the business operations of the dozens of companies that rely on the MMA as a crucial element of a global enterprise. We would like to add that in the best interest of time and space, this primer on street gangs in the MMA makes some general assumptions: The top-tier transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) are the primary drivers behind violence in Mexico in 2012; The Mexican government will not significantly alter its current strategy in 2012 or beyond, into the next administration; TCOs in Mexico are in constant communication with leadership elements of street gangs; TCOs do not solely rely on drug trafficking as a source of illicit revenue; and, The line between TCOs and street gangs is so blurred that many in Mexico still consider the two to be one single unit of criminality. Though outside the scope of this report, the above issues hold value and are certainly open to conversation and argument. We would welcome any opportunity to discuss with you the above topics, and how they play into the overall criminal system in Mexico. Details: Annapolis, MD: Southern Pulse, 2012. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 14, 2012 at http://www.southernpulse.com/reports/monterrey-street-gangs-march-2012?A=SearchResult&SearchID=5324185&ObjectID=4182275&ObjectType=35 Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking (Mexico) Shelf Number: 126695 |
Author: Amnesty International Title: Known Abusers, But Victims Ignored: Torture and Ill-Treatment in Mexico Summary: Reports of torture and ill-treatment have risen sharply in Mexico during the militarized campaign of President Calderon’s administration to combat organized crime. The victims are often criminal suspects or simply people caught up in military and police public security operations. They face beatings, asphyxiation, drowning, electric shocks and death threats at the hands of officials usually with the aim of obtaining information or supposed confessions. Few dare to report their treatment, fearing reprisals and continued illtreatment. Those that do, face almost insurmountable obstacles to prevent information obtained by torture serving as evidence in criminal trials let alone securing justice for the abuses suffered. Impunity for torturers remains the norm encouraging its continued use as a means of investigation and punishment against perceived criminal suspects. The failure to enforce laws and uphold international human rights norms to prevent and punish torture and ill-treatment is routine. Despite the systematic use of torture and ill-treatment by members of the military and police, the government of President Calderon has ignored and dismissed this reality, leaving victims without access to justice. The hope that judicial reforms would end incentives to use torture has not materialized. Training programmes and other measures introduced over the last decade to combat torture and end impunity have failed. Nevertheless, the government refuses to acknowledge this situation, allowing the use of torture and illtreatment to become further ingrained at the same time as making general commitments to protect human rights. Details: London: Amnesty International, 2012. 46p. Source: Internet Resoruce: Accessed October 24, 2012 at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR41/063/2012/en/74354a01-4946-4301-b922-8d048782bfef/amr410632012en.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Human Rights Shelf Number: 126788 |
Author: Leiken, Robert S. Title: Mexico's Drug War Summary: Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón staked his presidency on a military campaign against the country’s crime syndicates, deploying half of Mexico’s combat ready troops and tens of thousands of federal police in 18 states. The conflict has caused 50,000 deaths, more than five times what America has lost in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. In Washington, several high officials and political leaders assert that Mexico faces an insurgency that may require American military assistance. But is Mexico’s “war” a low intensity conflict or a high intensity crime scene? Does Mexico face a “criminal insurgency” or a turf war? Does the situation present a national security threat or a law enforcement crisis? Should it be addressed primarily by the military or the police? Should the U.S. be sending military or police advisors? Is the current death toll an inevitable by-product of strategic progress or a signal of failure? Details: Washington, DC: Center for the National Interest, 2012. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 25, 2012 at: http://www.cftni.org/42460_CNI_web.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Abuse and Crime Shelf Number: 126798 |
Author: Rogan, Michael G. Title: Is the Narco-violence in Mexico an Insurgency? Summary: Since Mexican President Felipe Calderón declared war on the drug cartels in December 2006, more than 35,000 Mexicans have died due to narco-violence. This monograph examines whether the various Mexican drug trafficking organizations are insurgents or organized criminal elements. Mexican narco-violence and its affiliated gang violence have spread across Mexico’s southern border into Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Additionally, the narco-violence is already responsible for the deaths of American citizens on both sides of the United States – Mexico border, and the potential for increased spillover violence is a major concern. This monograph argues that the Mexican drug cartels are transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) that pose a national security threat to the regional state actors; however, they are not an insurgency for four reasons. First, none of the cartels have the political aim or capability to overthrow the Mexican government. Second, the various TCOs are competing criminal organizations with approximately 90 percent of the violence being cartel on cartel. For example, the violence in the city of Juárez is largely the result of the fighting between the local Juárez cartel and the Sinaloa cartel for control of one of the primary smuggling routes into the United States. Third, the cartels’ use of violence and coercion has turned popular support against them thus denying them legitimacy. Fourth, although the cartels do control zones of impunity within their areas of influence, the Mexican government has captured, killed, and extradited kingpins from every major TCO. The monograph also examines the violence that has taken place in Colombia as a case study comparison for the current narco-violence in Mexico. The Colombian government battled and defeated both the Medellín and Cali drug cartels in the 1990s. It also has made significant progress against two leftist insurgent groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). The Colombian government also reached agreement with the right-wing United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia (AUC) who officially disbanded in April 2006. The primary implication of this monograph is that it is the responsibility of the leadership of the Mexican government, its law enforcement institutions, its judicial system, and the military to defeat the TCOs. The case study of Colombia provides strong evidence of the importance of competent political, judicial, law enforcement, and military leadership. It is also clear that the United States provided valuable assistance, but it was the Colombians’ efforts that reduced violence, secured the population, and marginalized the insurgents. The conclusion of this monograph is that the TCOs have a weak case for being an insurgency due to their lack of legitimacy because violence has been excessively cruel and lacking in purpose in the eyes of the Mexican people. Details: Fort Leavenworth, KS: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, School of Advanced Military Studies, 2011. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 29, 2012 at: http://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=721559 Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 127032 |
Author: ASI Global, LLC Title: Kidnapping for Ransom in Mexico Summary: idnapping for ransom continues to be one of the most serious security risks throughout Mexico, making it one of the countries with the highest number of kidnappings in the world. The majority of kidnappings that take place in Mexico are attributed to small criminal groups that typically operate within a city or municipality rather than large organized groups whose areas of operation span across several cities or states. Some of these gangs are very sophisticated and choose their targets carefully, while others pick up victims of opportunity on the basis of a less selective process. Kidnapping for ransom was once mainly a concern for high-profile Mexican businessmen and their families. While they remain at high risk, organized crime groups now focus on a broader array of targets, including middle-class individuals and even simple merchants or traders. While these gangs operate independently for the most part, many have been linked to Mexican drug cartels. Details: Houston, TX: ASI Global, 2012. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 2, 2012 at http://www.asiglobalresponse.com/downloads/Mexico_Analyst_Report_February_2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 127106 |
Author: Broid, Daniel Title: Urban Resilience in Situations of Chronic Violence Case Study of Mexico City, Mexico Summary: This report documents five cases of urban resilience in the face of chronic violence in Mexico City. Rather than examining the history and origins of violence, it focuses on the ways that citizens, the private sector, and governing officials have responded to violence through a series of coping and violence reduction strategies. It does so by examining the agents and strategies of resilience in five different locations spread across the historic central city and a more peripheral neighborhood. The report shows that projects or interventions where public authorities, citizens, and the private sector came together produced more effective and sustainable resilience than did interventions produced by only one or the other of these actors. Multi-stakeholder collaboration created clear channels of communication, increased the accountability of public agencies, and enabled ongoing discussion and implementation of new strategies that could proactively be deployed to meet future security needs. The report also highlights the difficulties in finding ways to sustain relationships between the public authorities and community residents in the absence of strong private sector pressures and/or organized civil society presence, finding these problems more common in low-income residential neighborhoods where urban violence also tended to be concentrated. Nevertheless, the report suggests that recent urban redevelopment priorities for downtown Mexico City have been relatively successful in pushing back against violence and its perpetrators. By examining them more carefully, it is possible to see how and resilience is fostered through connections among city planning authorities, commercial interests and civil society organizations. Details: Cambridge, MA: Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 7, 2012 at: http://www.urcvproject.org/uploads/Mexico_URCV.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Urban Areas Shelf Number: 127140 |
Author: Rios, Viridiana Title: Why Are Mexican Traffickers Killing Each Other? Government Coordination and Violence Deterrence in Mexico's Drug War Summary: Mexico’s Drug War was a drug war between criminal organizations ignited by a state that enforced the law without coordinating with its different levels of government. In this paper, I show why. In doing so, I provide a theory of how political institutions induce competing groups to either peacefully cooperate or go to war. I argue that when formal and informal institutions lead to coordination among different levels of government, such that they act as a single coordinated entity, criminal organizations behave and organize in ways that are less prone to violence, and thus, less damaging to citizens. A time-variant data-set of Mexico’s cocaine markets at the sub-national level and Cox proportional-hazards regressions are used to test my argument. I provide empirical evidence that the propensity of criminal organizations to engage in damaging criminal activities increases when municipal and state governments are not coordinated (i.e. are ruled by different political parties). A detailed description of corruption dynamics within Mexico’s drug trafficking industry is also presented to show how lack of government coordination caused a war of 51,000 casualties on the US-Mexico border. Details: Cambridge, MA: Department of Government, Harvard University, 2012. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 13, 2013 at http://www.gov.harvard.edu/files/Rios2012_CoordinationCriminality.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Deterrence Shelf Number: 127267 |
Author: Grayson, George W. Title: The Impact of President Felipe Calderón’s War on Drugs on the Armed Forces: The Prospects for Mexico’s “Militarization” and Bilateral Relations Summary: In the absence of honest, professional civilian law-enforcement agencies, President Felipe Calderón assigned the military the lead role in his nation’s version of the “War on Drugs” that he launched in 2006. While the armed forces have spearheaded the capture and/or death of several dozen cartel capos, the conflict has taken its toll on the organizations in terms of deaths, corruption, desertions, and charges by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) of hundreds of human rights violations. The nation’s Supreme Court has taken the first step in requiring that officers and enlistees accused of crimes against civilians stand trial in civil courts rather than hermetic military tribunals. As if combating vicious narco-syndicates were not a sufficiently formidable challenge, the government has assigned such additional roles to the Army and Navy as overseeing customs agents, serving as state and municipal security chiefs, taking charge of prisons, protecting airports, safeguarding migrants, functioning as firefighters, preventing drug trafficking around schools, establishing recreational programs for children, and standing guard 24-hours a day over boxes of ballots cast in recent elections. Meanwhile, because of their discipline, training, and skill with firearms, security firms are snapping up men and women who have retired from active duty. The sharp expansion of the armed forces’ duties has sparked the accusation that Mexico is being “militarized.” Contributing to this assertion is the Defense Ministry’s robust, expensive public relations campaign both to offset criticism of civilians killed in what the Pentagon would label “collateral damage” and to increase contacts between average citizens and military personnel, who often constituted a separate caste. Dr. George W. Grayson examines the ever wider involvement of the armed forces in Mexican life by addressing the question: “Is Mexican society being ‘militarized’?” If the answer is “yes,” what will be the probable impact on relations between the United States and its southern neighbor? Details: Carlisle Barracks, PA: U.S. Army War College Press, 2013. 107p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 30, 2013 at: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubid=1137 Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Law Enforcement Shelf Number: 127453 |
Author: Hansen, David R. Title: The Effects of Crime on Educational Investment: A Policy Simulation Approach Summary: Crime is an important feature of economic life in many countries, especially in the developing world. Crime distorts many economic decisions because it acts like an unpredictable tax on earnings. In particular, the threat of crime may influence people’s willingness to invest in schooling or physical capital. This paper explores the questions ”What influence do crime rates and levels of investment have on one another?” and ”How do government policies affect the relationship between investment and crime?” by creating a simple structural model of crime and educational investment and attempting to fit this model to Mexican data. A method of simulated moments procedure is used to estimate parameters of the model and the estimated parameters are then used to carry out policy simulations. The simulations show that increasing spending on police or increasing the severity of punishment reduces crime but has little effect on educational investment. Increased educational subsidies increase educational investment but reduce crime only slightly. Thus, one type of policy is insufficient to accomplish the goals of both reducing crime and increasing education. Details: Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, Department of Economics, 2012. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2013 at; https://economics.byu.edu/SiteAssets/Pages/Faculty/David-Hansen/The%20Effects%20of%20Crime%20on%20Educational%20Investment%20A%20Policy%20Simulation%20Approach.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime and Development Shelf Number: 127533 |
Author: Martin, William Title: Cartels, Corruption, and Carnage in the Calderon Era Summary: While Mexico and the United States have ramped up their efforts to control and perhaps defeat Mexico’s increasingly violent drug cartels, the outcome of these efforts remains in doubt and no panaceas are in sight, but prohibition has once again proved to be a failure, according to a paper from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. WILLIAM MARTIN The paper by Rice sociologist William Martin, “Cartels, Corruption and Carnage in the Calderón Era,” traces the origins and growth of Mexican drug cartels and the corruption, failed government policies and gruesome violence that accompanied their rise. Martin is the Baker Institute’s Harry and Hazel Chavanne Senior Fellow in Religion and Public Policy. Details: Houston, TX: James A. Baker II Institute for Public Policy of Rice University, 2013. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Baker Institute Policy Report: Accessed February 11, 2013 at: http://www.bakerinstitute.org/publications/DRUG-pub-PolicyReport55.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 127563 |
Author: Guerrero-Gutiérrez, Eduardo Title: Security, Drugs, and Violence In Mexico: A Survey. 7th North American Forum, Washington, DC, 2011 Summary: The survey is composed by five sections. The first one is a diagnosis with two components. The first one is a brief description of Mexico’s security institutions. The survey includes a brief update of the most significant changes on these institutions during the last year, especially a report on the current situation of the police forces. The second component has to do with the present dynamics of Mexican organized crime. Here, the survey provides an account of Mexico’s drug trafficking organizations, including the different criminal activities these organizations perform, their geographic distribution, and the relationships among them. Also, the fragmentation of some of these organizations is described, and a new typology of cartels is included. The second section is about organized crime violence. Considering that violence trends are changing quickly this survey includes a general update of the phenomenon. In addition to the factors that explain increases of violence, the survey also points out the main factors that explain the geographic dispersion of violence as well as its regional specifics. The third section reviews the government’s strategy and actions against organized crime. This section includes an analysis of the outcomes of the Federal Government’s deployment of the force against organized crime through “joint operations” (operativos conjuntos), and an assessment of the government’s security policy impact on violence levels. The fourth section describes the general traits of the Mexican and North American drug markets. Finally, the fifth section addresses Mexican public opinion; it brings together the results of recent polls regarding security and government actions against organized crime, and provides an account of the government’s communication strategy on security issues. This Survey’s Data Sources The survey exhibits extensive public data from Mexican government agencies, and from American and international agencies such as the U.S. Department of Justice and United Nations. Some tables and figures derive from two databases constructed by the author, through the systematic recollection of information in newspapers, weekly magazines, and press releases from official agencies. The first database shows the number of organized crime executions. For its construction more than 30,000 news articles related to organized crime homicides were collected. These articles were taken from the following 19 national and regional newspapers: Crónica, El Economista, El Financiero, El Gráfico, El Norte, El Sol de México, El Universal, Excélsior, Imagen, Impacto, La Jornada, La Prensa, La Razón, La Segunda de Ovaciones, Metro, Milenio, Ovaciones, Reforma, and UnoMásUno. This database is complementary to the official one, which has not been updated since December 2010. The second database contains information on 1,029 messages placed by criminal organizations next to corpses of executed individuals. Details: Mexico: Lantia Consultores, S.C., 2011. 146p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 14, 2013 at: http://iis-db.stanford.edu/evnts/6716/NAF_2011_EG_(Final).pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Cartels Shelf Number: 127617 |
Author: Molzahn, Cory Title: Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2012 Summary: The year 2012 marked the end of the six-year term of President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012), who was both lauded for his administration's unprecedented assault on organized crime groups and criticized for the loss of human life that accompanied this fight. From the beginning of his presidency, President Calderon made security a primary focus of his administration by doubling national security budgets and deploying tens of thousands of federal forces to the states most impacted by violence among drug trafficking organizations. However, under President Calderon, the number of overall homicides annually increased more than two and a half times from 10,452 in 2006 to 27,213 in 2011, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia, INEGI). During the first five full years of Calderon's term - from 2007 through 2011 - INEGI reported 95,646 people killed, an average of 19,129 per year, or more than 50 people per day. By these measures, there was a 24% average annual increase in overall homicides during the Calderon administration. Calculating that overall homicides appear to have dropped by roughly 5-10% in 2012, our estimate is that the total number of homicides during the Calderon administration was likely around 120,000 to 125,000 people killed, depending on whether INEGI or the National System of Public Security (Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Publica, SNSP) data are used. In July 2012, Mexico elected a new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office on December 1, restoring to power the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI), which governed Mexico without interruption for over seven decades until it lost the presidency in 2000. For better security coordination among government agencies, President Pena Nieto has instructed the Interior Ministry (Secretaria de Gobernacion, SEGOB) to oversee the creation of a new network, the System of Coordination and Cooperation (Sistema de Coordinacion y Cooperacion). In January 2012, Pena Nieto gave a clear message regarding the direction that his presidency will follow on security policy when he unveiled the "Pact for Mexico" (Pacto por Mexico), an agreement signed along with representatives from Mexico's major political parties. The Pacts 34-page itemized list of policies and reform's set forth proposals in several areas related to security and justice issues, particularly focusing on reducing homicides, kidnapping, and extortion. The Pact outlined steps to establish a 10,000-person National Gendarmerie and a unified police command system at the state-level. Above all, from the outset of his term, Pena Nieto declared that his security strategy would abandon the Calderon administration's heavy dependence on military deployments and its focus on dismantling organized crime groups. This information is part of Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis through 2012, the fourth of a series of reports that the Trans-Border Institute's Justice in Mexico Project has put together each year since 2010 to compile the latest available data and analysis to evaluate these challenges. Details: San Diego, CA: Trans-Border Institute, Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego, 2013. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 22, 2013 at: http://justiceinmexico.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/130206-dvm-2013-final.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug-Related Violence (Mexico) Shelf Number: 127699 |
Author: Ingram, Matthew C. Title: Criminal Procedure Reform in Mexico: Where Things Stand Now Summary: On June 18, 2008, a federal reform in Mexico mandated a package of changes to the criminal justice system throughout the country, covering 33 jurisdictions: the federal justice system and all 32 states (including the Federal District of Mexico City). Although portions of the reform dealt with changes to the criminal justice system in general, the emphasis on investigatory and adjudicatory practices - and on improving due process in general - justifies referring to the reform as principally one of criminal procedure. This paper assesses progress in the implementation of the 2008 reform across the 33 jurisdictions mentioned above. The content and significance of the changes have been covered widely by both policy analysts and legal scholars (e.g., Shirk 2010; Ingram, Rodriguez-Ferreira, and Shirk 2011; Zwier and Barney 2012; Ingram and Shirk 2012), especially since it is part of a broader global and regional transformation in criminal procedure that dates back at least to Italy's prominent 1988 reform (Grande 2000; Amodio 2004) and started spreading through Latin America in the early 1990s (Langer 2007). Given existing attention to these aspects of the reform, I only briefly summarize the reform's content within this paper. The main focus in policy and academic circles is quickly shifting to the implementation of the reform and to questions about whether the reform, even when completely implemented, is achieving its anticipated results, why it is doing so, or why not. The attention here to the progress of implementation is part of this new focus. Details: Washington, DC: Wilcon Center, Mexico Institute, 2013. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 26, 2013 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Ingram_CrimProReformMexico_Jan_2013.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice Reform (Mexico) Shelf Number: 127719 |
Author: Seelke, Clare Ribando Title: Supporting Criminal Justice System Reform in Mexico: The U.S. Role Summary: Fostering security, stability, and democracy in neighboring Mexico is seen by analysts to be in the U.S. national security and economic interest. Reforming Mexico’s often corrupt and inefficient criminal justice system is widely regarded as crucial for combating criminality, strengthening the rule of law, and better protecting citizen security and human rights in the country. Congress has provided significant support to help Mexico reform its justice system in order to make current anticrime efforts more effective and to strengthen the system over the long term. U.S. and Mexican officials assert that fully implementing judicial reforms enacted through constitutional changes in June 2008 is a key goal. Under the reforms, Mexico has until 2016 to replace its trial procedures at the federal and state level, moving from a closed-door process based on written arguments presented to a judge to an adversarial public trial system with oral arguments and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. These changes are expected to help make the system less prone to corruption and more transparent and impartial. In addition to oral trials, judicial systems are expected to adopt means of alternative dispute resolution, which should help them be more flexible and efficient, thereby ensuring that cases that go to trial involve serious crimes. More than halfway into the reform process, judicial reform efforts in Mexico are at a critical juncture. As of December 2012, 22 of Mexico’s 32 states had enacted new criminal procedure codes (67%), but only 12 states (36%) had begun operating at least partially under the new system. Reform states have seen positive initial results as compared to non-reform states: faster case resolution times, less pre-trial detention, and tougher sentences for cases that go to trial. Daunting challenges remain, however, including counter-reform efforts and opposition from some key justice sector operators (including judges). Although reform efforts have lagged at the federal level, President Enrique Peña Nieto, inaugurated in December 2012 to a six-year term, has said that advancing judicial reform will be a top priority. U.S. policymakers are likely to follow how the Peña Nieto government moves to enact a unified penal code and code of criminal procedure to hasten reform at the federal level and to increase support to states transitioning to the new system. The United States has been supporting judicial reform efforts in Mexico since the late 1990s, with assistance accelerating since the implementation of the Mérida Initiative in FY2008, an anticrime assistance program for which Congress has provided $1.9 billion. While the Mérida Initiative initially focused on training and equipping Mexican security forces, it now emphasizes providing training and technical assistance to help reform Mexico’s justice sector institutions. Funding for “Institutionalizing the Rule of Law” now dwarfs other types of U.S. assistance to Mexico. This report provides an overview of Mexico’s historic 2008 judicial reforms and an assessment of how those reforms have been implemented thus far. It then analyzes U.S. support for judicial reform efforts in Mexico and raises issues for Congress to consider as it oversees current U.S. justice sector programs and considers future support to Mexico. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Services, 2013. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: R43001: Accessed March 21, 2013 at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R43001.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice Reform Shelf Number: 128064 |
Author: Title: Peña Nieto’s Challenge: Criminal Cartels and Rule of Law in Mexico Summary: After years of intense, cartel-related bloodshed that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and shaken Mexico, new President Enrique Peña Nieto is promising to reduce the murder rate. The security plan he introduced with the backing of the three biggest parties gives Mexico a window of opportunity to build institutions that can produce long-term peace and cut impunity rates. But he faces many challenges. The cartels have thousands of gunmen and have morphed into diversified crime groups that not only traffic drugs, but also conduct mass kidnappings, oversee extortion rackets and steal from the state oil industry. The military still fights them in much of the country on controversial missions too often ending in shooting rather than prosecutions. If Peña Nieto does not build an effective police and justice system, the violence may continue or worsen. But major institutional improvements and more efficient, comprehensive social programs could mean real hope for sustainable peace and justice. The development of cartels into murder squads fighting to control territory with military-grade weapons challenges the Mexican state’s monopoly on the use of force in some regions. The brutality of their crimes undermines civilian trust in the government’s capacity to protect them, and the corruption of drug money damages belief in key institutions. Cartels challenge the fundamental nature of the state, therefore, not by threatening to capture it, but by damaging and weakening it. The military fight-back has at times only further eroded the trust in government by inflicting serious human rights abuses. Some frustrated communities have formed armed “selfdefence” groups against the cartels. Whatever the intent, these also degrade the rule of law. There has been fierce discussion about how to legally define the fighting. The violence has been described as a low-intensity armed conflict, a kind of war, because of the number of deaths and type of weapons used. The criminal groups have been described as everything from gangs, drug cartels and transnational criminal organisations, to paramilitaries and terrorists. The Mexican government, much of the international community and many analysts reject the idea there is anything other than a serious criminal threat, even though those criminal groups use military and, at times, vicious terror tactics. The army and marines, too, thrown into the breach with limited police training and without efficient policing methods, have often used intense and lethal force to fight the groups, killing more than 2,300 alleged criminals in a five-year period. Within the grey world of fighting between rival cartels and security forces, there is much confusion as to who the victims of the violence are, and who killed them or made them disappear. Estimates of the total who have died in connection with the fighting over the last six years range from 47,000 to more than 70,000, in addition to thousands of disappearances. Cartel gunmen often dress in military uniforms and include corrupt police in their ranks, so people are unsure if they are facing criminals or troops. A victims movement is demanding justice and security. Mexico has also lost hundreds of police and army officers, mayors, political candidates, judges, journalists and human rights defenders to the bloodshed that is taking a toll on its democratic institutions. Details: Brussels, Belgium: International Crisis Group, 2013. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin America Report No. 48: Accessed May 13, 2013 at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/latin-america/mexico/048-pena-nietos-challenge-criminal-cartels-and-rule-of-law-in-mexico.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug - Related Violence (Mexico) Shelf Number: 128724 |
Author: Title: Justice at the Barrel of a Gun: Vigilante Militias in Mexico Summary: A rapid expansion in 2013 of vigilante militias – civilian armed groups that claim to fight crime – has created a third force in Mexico’s ongoing cartel-related violence. Some of these militias contain well-meaning citizens and have detained hundreds of suspected criminals. However, they challenge the government’s necessary monopoly on the use of force to impart justice. As the militias spread, there is also concern some are being used by criminal groups to fight their rivals and control territory. The Peña Nieto administration needs to develop a coherent policy for dealing with the vigilantes, so that it can work with authentic community policing projects while stopping the continued expansion of unregulated armed groups; this also requires demonstrating that the state has sufficient capacity to restore law and order on its own. If the government fails to deal with this issue, militias could spread across the country, triggering more violence and further damaging the rule of law. President Peña Nieto had expected to have to cope with the well-armed, ruthless cartels that dominate portions of the country, as well as the problems presented by uncoordinated national, state and municipal law enforcement bodies and a legacy of impunity. The appearance of a growing number of armed groups in at least nine of the 31 states, from close to the U.S. border to the south east, however, has added another dangerous level of complexity to the security challenge. Their epicentre, on which this briefing concentrates, is in the Pacific states of Guerrero and Michoacán, where thousands of armed men participate in a range of vigilante organisations. There have been more than 30 killings there since January 2013, either by or against the vigilantes, and they have become increasingly worrying hotspots of insecurity. While the vigilante killings are still only a fraction of the more than 5,000 cartel-related murders that took place across Mexico in the first five months of Peña Nieto’s administration, the concern is that this new type of violence could expand across the land. The violence has coincided with protests against government reforms in these states, including road blockades and looting of food trucks that are part of a broader challenge to authority. The government launched a major security offensive in Michoacán in May that has weakened the militia presence there, at least in the short term. In Guerrero, the state government has made agreements with some militia leaders in an attempt to lessen their impact. However, various vigilante groups are still active, and some of the core problems of insecurity that led to their presence are unresolved. The vigilantism issue is complicated by the fact that many communities, particularly indigenous, have a centuries-old tradition of community policing. Many groups have shown themselves to be successful and have demonstrated legitimate ways of providing security. However, it is legally ambiguous how far such community groups can go in bearing arms and imparting justice. Furthermore, many of the new militias copy the language and claim the same rights as these community police, even though they do not come from a local tradition or are not even rooted in indigenous communities. The government needs to work with the authentic and unarmed community police and clearly define the parameters of what they can and cannot do. Some rules can be established on the basis of guidelines that are being developed under state and federal laws or by expanding agreements being worked out between state governments and community leaders. In some cases, the government needs to require the disarmament of vigilante groups; in yet others, it needs to more aggressively detain and prosecute militias with criminal links. But the government also needs to significantly improve security in all the communities where militias have been formed. Many residents have taken up arms because the state has systematically failed to protect them. The clamour for security is legitimate; but justice is better served through functional state institutions than the barrels of private guns. Details: Mexico City/Bogota/Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2013. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin America Briefing N°29: Accessed May 30, 2013 at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/latin-america-caribbean/mexico/b029-justice-at-the-barrel-of-a-gun-vigilante-militias-in-mexico.aspx Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Cartels Shelf Number: 128879 |
Author: Wittens, Stefan Title: Drug Related Violence in Mexico: A literature study from 1985-2011 Summary: The explanations for the escalation of drug-related violence that are found in the literature are diverse as well as numerous. Among these explanations two direct causations dominate: first, Mexican government policy and strategy, primarily since Calderon took office in 2006 and to lesser extent during the Fox administration and second, the competition between and within the Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) since 2000. However, when these explanations are compared to the empirical data, the escalation of violence primarily coincides with the policy of Calderon and there are no elevated levels of violence since 2000, which reduces the validity of inter and intra-cartel violence within the timeframe of the literature. The empirical data suggests that since 2004 drug-related violence started rising slightly, with a clear break and an escalation of homicides since 2007. This also adds more weight to two more explanations: first the diversification of DTO modus operandi, a process that has essentially started with the arrival of the Zetas and second, with a decline in demand for Mexican drugs in America since 2006. Furthermore, the findings from the literature study seem best explained by the principle of producer-product, as the direct causality between policy, competition and drug-related violence could hardly exist without the existing environment. Pre-conditions like weak institutional capacity, corruption, availability of weapons, poverty, geography, culture and others are seen as exacerbates and contributors to the escalating levels of drug-related violence. Details: Utrecht: Utrecht University, 2012. 105p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed June 1, 2013 at: http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/student-theses/2012-1126-200608/UUindex.html Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 128891 |
Author: Edmonds-Poli, Emily Title: The Effects of Drug-War Related Violence on Mexico’s Press and Democracy Summary: This working paper is the product of a joint project on civic engagement and public security in Mexico coordinated by the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego. The paper offers an assessment of the impact of criminal violence on journalists and media workers in Mexico, which is now the most dangerous country in the Western Hemisphere for journalists. Dr. Edmonds-Poli concludes with a set of policy recommendations for the Mexican government, Mexican society, and the international community to address the problem of violence against the Mexican media. The wide-ranging recommendations offer concrete steps that individuals and institutions involved may undertake to alleviate the violence, thereby ensuring freedom of expression and public access to information in Mexico, and, ultimately, strengthening Mexico’s democracy. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; San Diego, CA: Trans-Border Institute, University of San Diego, 2013. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 7, 2013 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/edmonds_violence_press_0.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Abuse and Crime Shelf Number: 129002 |
Author: BenYishay, Ariel Title: 1 Homicide and Work: The Impact of Mexico’s Drug War on Labor Market Participation Summary: We estimate the impact of the escalation of the drug war in Mexico on the mean hours worked among the general population. We focus on homicides, which have increased dramatically since 2006. To identify the relationship between changes in homicides and hours worked, we exploit the large variation in the trajectory of violence across states and over time. Using panel and instrumental variables regressions, we find that the increase in homicides has negatively impacted labor force activity. An increase in homicides of 10 per 100,000 in a given state is associated with a decline of 0.3 weekly hours worked among the state’s population. For states most impacted by the drug war, in which homicides per 100,000 inhabitants have increased by 30-50 a year, this implies an average decline in hours worked of one to one and a half hours per week. These impacts are larger for the self-employed and are concentrated among the highest income quartiles. This highlights how the costs of crime tend to be unequally born by certain segments of the population. Details: Unpublished paper, 2013. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 28, 2013 at: http://www.colgate.edu/docs/d_academics_departments-and-programs_economics_colgate-hamilton-seminar-series/homicide-and-work-the-impact-of-mexico's-drug-war-on-labor-market-participation-2-27-13.pdf?sfvrsn=2 Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 129205 |
Author: BenYishay, Ariel Title: Crime and Microenterprise Growth: Evidence from Mexico Summary: In this paper we investigate one potential explanation for low rates of microenterprise growth: robbery. Robbery limits the incentives of entrepreneurs to invest in productive moveable assets, and is one of the main shocks reported by urban microentrepreneurs in a recent survey in Mexico. We explore the relationship between property crime and growth among microenterprises in Mexico using repeated cross-sectional data on these enterprises and the incidence of crime. We find that higher rates of property crime are associated with a significantly lower probability that an enterprise plans to expand in the next 12 months or experience income growth. These effects are unique to property crimes and are independent of other types of crime, including violent offenses. Finally, our results are not driven by border or drug crime states, and are robust to a number of controls for heterogeneity in the growth potential of firms and for local institutional quality. Details: Unpublished Paper, 2012. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 1, 2013 at: econ.hunter.cuny.edu Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Microenterprises Shelf Number: 129217 |
Author: Harvard University. Institute of Politics Title: The War on Mexican Cartels: Options for U.S. and Mexican Policy-Makers Summary: The situation in Mexico has become increasingly volatile since 2006. After a semester of research, the National Security Policy Group has come up with a list of recommendations that can help reduce the violence in Mexico and further weaken the cartels. Recommendations to Move Forward: · The Mexican government can better use its military and law enforcement personnel by: o Specializing portions of its military forces to deal with specific facets of the war on drugs by significantly reforming military training procedures, departmentalizing the military and integrating these departments into a larger bureaucratic system, and o Launching a more aggressive public relations campaign specifically targeting the major leaders of the cartels in order to reduce the culture of fear and helplessness created by the cartels. · The Mexican government must fight corruption at all governmental levels. It should: o Revise its federal reelection process to create greater accountability mechanisms for politicians in office, o Implement a more transparent fund flow between federal and state governments, o Allow for greater public participation in the selection of judges, and o Reform the wage system, and improve training, resource allocation and accountability mechanisms for law enforcement officers. · The Mexican government should take action to strengthen its community-level efforts by: o Building strong communities in which people have a wide set of options for legitimate careers by greater subsidizing education and focusing on community initiatives o Maintaining the status quo with regards to community-level self-governance and vigilante efforts. · The United States government should reinforce its counter-financing of narcotics efforts by: o Strengthening its intelligence collection and analysis capabilities, and o Drafting the necessary legislation to compel banks to freeze the assets of individuals associated with narcotics activities. · The United States government should strengthen its efforts to prevent U.S.-made weapons from falling into cartel hands by: o Making identification requirements for firearms and ammunition more stringent, and o Creating a task force to help Central American countries locate, document and secure old stockpiles of U.S. weapons that were abandoned in these countries. · The United States should increase the size and scope of the Mérida Initiative by: o Labeling the Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations, o Focusing on training and equipping Mexican military personnel, and o Tying Mérida Initiative funds to initiatives by local and state Mexican governments. · Lastly, the United States government should continue to place significant emphasis on treatment, prevention and enforcement measures for domestic drug consumers. Details: Cambridge, MA: Institute of Politics, Harvard University, 2012. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 5, 2013 at: http://www.iop.harvard.edu/sites/default/files_new/research-policy-papers/TheWarOnMexicanCartels.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Cartels (Mexico) Shelf Number: 129510 |
Author: Vilalta, Carlos Title: Determinant Factors in the Perception of Crime-Related Insecurity in Mexico Summary: What determines the feeling of insecurity with respect to crime and what can be done about it? This study proposes and tests a correlational model that combines different theoretical determinants of insecurity and the fear of crime. The test was carried out both in the country as a whole and in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area. The sources of information are the National Victimization Survey and Perception on Public Security (ENVIPE) of 2011 and the Victimization Survey and Institutional Effectiveness (ENVEI) of August 2010 and January 2011. The findings suggest that actions to promote civility in neighborhoods and towns and efforts to develop a relationship of trust with the local police should be implemented in order to significantly reduce the feeling of insecurity. Details: New York: Inter-American development Bank, Institutional Capacity of State Division, 2013. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-381: Accessed November 1, 2013 at: http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=37663745 Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Fear of Crime (Mexico) Shelf Number: 131580 |
Author: Latin America Working Group Education Fund Title: Perilous Journey: Kidnapping and Violence against Migrants in Transit through Mexico Summary: Every year, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Central American migrants, primarily from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, travel through Mexico on their way to the U.S. border. These migrants are vulnerable during their journey through Mexico, due both to the clandestine nature in which they are obligated to travel and to the generalized context of violence and impunity that dominates Mexico. Many suffer grave human rights abuses and violence along their journey at the hands of organized crime and corrupt officials. Kidnapping and extortion of migrants are among the most lucrative - and brutal - practices by organized crime in Mexico and are pervasive along the migratory route. Roughly five years ago, advocates at migrant shelters along the south-north train route began to systematically document and gather first-hand accounts of migrants who had survived kidnapping. What may have initially appeared to be sporadic and anecdotal accounts were soon recognized as reflecting a true humanitarian crisis rooted in flawed migration policy and a culture of impunity. A series of 33 of these testimonies were published by the Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez (Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center, or Center Prodh) and the Casa del Migrante de Saltillo (Migrant Shelter of Saltillo, Coahuila) in the Cuaderno sobre Secuestro de Migrantes (Report on Migrant Kidnappings) in December 2011. In the pages that follow, English translations of a sampling of those testimonies can be found. The migrants' testimonies vividly describe their experiences during kidnapping - rape and sexual assault; physical abuse and mutilation; torture; food and sleep deprivation. In some cases, victims were forced to serve as witnesses to sexual and physical assaults, and even murder. In others, migrants were forced to carry out physical abuse of fellow kidnapping victims. Although it is difficult to read the accounts of the barbaric treatment that many migrants endured, these testimonies help us to grasp the profound human impact of this crisis and confirm the experiences recounted by kidnapped migrants elsewhere. From these stories, we get a more complete picture of the depth of this humanitarian crisis that has destroyed the dignity and safety of thousands of victims and traumatized families and communities across the region. Details: Washington, DC: Latin America Working Group Education Fund, 2013. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 15, 2014 at: http://www.lawg.org/storage/LAWG2-13_Migrant_Report-v5.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Illegal Immigration Shelf Number: 131930 |
Author: Coy, Maddy Title: Violent Disorder in Ciudad Juarez: A Spatial Analysis of Homicide Summary: This HASOW Discussion Paper considers how demographic and socioeconomic factors correlate with homicidal violence in the context of Mexico's "war on drugs". We draw on Ciudad Juarez as a case study and social disorganization theory as an organizing framework. Social disorganization is expected to produce higher levels of homicidal violence. And while evidence detects several social disorganization factors associated with homicidal violence in Ciudad Juarez not all relationships appear as predicted by the theory. Drawing on public census and crime data, our statistical assessment detects 6 significant variables (or risks) positively associated with homicidal violence in Ciudad Juarez between 2009 and 2010. Likewise, the assessment finds 6 specific variables (or protective factors) that are negatively associated with above average homicide in the city between 2009 and 2010. The data and level of analysis do not conclusively present causation, nor was this the intent. Rather, we propose a baseline model for testing spatial-temporal dynamics of organized violence. Details: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Humanitarian Action in Situations other than War (HASOW), 2012. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: HASOW Discussion Paper 1: Accessed March 20, 2014 at: http://www.hasow.org/uploads/trabalhos/68/doc/1934668792.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug-Related Violence Shelf Number: 131979 |
Author: Durante, Ruben Title: Fighting crime with a little help from my friends. party affiliation, inter-jurisdictional cooperation and crime in Mexico Summary: We investigate the relationship between inter-jurisdictional cooperation and the effectiveness of law enforcement in Mexico. Exploiting a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) in close municipal elections, we study how improved opportunities for cooperation in crime-prevention among neighboring municipalities - proxied by their degree of political alignment - may result in lower rates of violent crime. We find that municipalities in which the party in power in the majority of neighboring jurisdictions barely won experience significantly lower homicide rates during the mayor's mandate than those in which it barely lost. This effect is sizeable - a decrease of 52 to 65% - and is independent of which party is in power in the neighboring municipalities. Political alignment with neighbors is not correlated with a variety of other outcomes including homicide rates during the previous mandate. The observed reduction in crime does not appear to be driven by improved cooperation with state and federal authorities. Details: Paris: Sciences Po - LIEPP, 2013. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 23, 2014 at: http://vox.lacea.org/pdf/lacea2013_fighting_crime.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Cooperation Shelf Number: 132137 |
Author: Ingram, Matthew C. Title: The Local Educational and Regional Economic Foundations of Violence: A Subnational, Spatial Analysis of Homicide Rates across Mexico's Municipalities Summary: Violence diminishes well-being, and public insecurity erodes the rule of law, undermining the quality of democracy and constraining business and commercial interactions. A better understanding of the origins of violence is therefore crucial. Examining 2010 homicide rates across Mexico's 2455 municipalities, this paper offers a sub-national and spatial study of the patterns and sources of violence. Offering the first spatial Durbin model of homicide in Mexico, the analysis generates novel and rich findings. Core findings include (1) homicide is not randomly distributed across municipalities, (2) homicide rates follow a spatial lag effect, suggesting violence in one community spills over into neighboring communities, (3) education has a meaningful protective effect against violence, but this is only a local, direct effect; and (4) economic inactivity exerts an unexpectedly negative direct effect, but a strong positive indirect effect from neighboring communities; that is, when economic conditions deteriorate in nearby communities, local violence increases, suggesting homicide is committed locally but by individuals in economically depressed, outlying areas. Violence-reduction policies, then, require coordination across nearby communities and should proceed on two fronts: (a) localized improvements in education attainment, which can be addressed within individual jurisdictions, and (b) economic development policies targeted at intermediate regions below the state level but above the municipal level, which require cross-jurisdictional collaboration, even by municipalities across state boundaries - what I refer to as a "local-schools/regional-economy" approach to violence prevention. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2014. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 24, 2014 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/mex_hom_analysis_ingram_0.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Homicides Shelf Number: 132173 |
Author: Shirk, David A. Title: Building Resilient Communities in Mexico: Civic Responses to Crime and Violence Summary: This study is part of a multiyear effort by the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Justice in Mexico Project at the University of San Diego to analyze the obstacles to and opportunities for improving citizen security in Mexico. Each of the authors featured in this edited volume makes a significant contribution to this endeavor through original research - including exhaustive data analysis, in-depth qualitative interviews, and direct field observations - intended to inform policy discussions on how to foster robust civic responses to the problems of crime and violence. This research was developed with an intended audience of policymakers, journalists, leaders of nongovernmental organizations, and other current and future leaders working to address these problems in Mexico. However, there are also important lessons from Mexico's experience that may have resonance in elsewhere in Latin America and other societies grappling with similar challenges. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2014. 294p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 24, 2014 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Resilient_Communities_Mexico.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Prevention Shelf Number: 132178 |
Author: Ajzenman, Nicolas Title: On the Distributive Costs of Drug-Related Homicides Summary: Reliable estimates of the effects of violence on economic outcomes are scarce. We exploit the manyfold increase in homicides in 2008-2011 in Mexico resulting from its war on organized drug traffickers to estimate the effect of drug-related homicides on house prices. We use an unusually rich dataset that provides national coverage on house prices and homicides and exploit within-municipality variations. We find that the impact of violence on housing prices is borne entirely by the poor sectors of the population. An increase in homicides equivalent to one standard deviation leads to a 3% decrease in the price of low-income housing. In spite of this large burden on the poor, the willingness to pay in order to reverse the increase in drug-related crime is not high. We estimate it to be approximately 0.1% of Mexico's GDP. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2014. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper Series: Working Paper 20067: Accessed May 5, 2014 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w20067.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 132248 |
Author: Castillo, Juan Camilo Title: Scarcity without Leviathan: The Violent Effects of Cocaine Supply Shortages in the Mexican Drug War Summary: Using the case of the cocaine trade in Mexico as a relevant and salient example, this paper shows that scarcity leads to violence in markets without third party enforcement. We construct a model in which supply shortages increase total revenue when demand is inelastic. If property rights over revenues are not well defined because of the lack of reliable third party enforcement, the incentives to prey on others and avoid predation by exercising violence increase with scarcity, thus increasing violence. We test our model and the proposed channel using data for the cocaine trade in Mexico. We found that exogenous supply shocks originated in changes in the amount of cocaine seized in Colombia (Mexico's main cocaine supplier) create scarcity and increase drug-related violence in Mexico. In accordance with our model, the effect of cocaine scarcity on violence is larger near US entry points; in locations contested by several cartels; and where, due to high support for the PAN party, crackdowns on the cocaine trade have been more frequent. Our estimates suggest that, for the period 2006-2010, scarcity created by more efficient interdiction policies in Colombia may account for 21.2% and 46% of the increase in homicides and drug-related homicides, respectively, experienced in the north of the country. At least in the short run, scarcity created by Colombian supply reduction efforts has had negative spillovers in the form of more violence in Mexico under the so-called War on Drugs. Details: Washington, DC: Center for Global Development, 2014. 73p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper 356: Accessed May 8, 2014 at: http://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/scarcity-leviathan-effects-cocaine-supply-shortages_1.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 132303 |
Author: Meyer, Maureen Title: Mexico's Police: Many Reforms, Little Progress Summary: This report provides an overview of police reform efforts over the past two decades and examines why, in spite of multiple initiatives, Mexican police forces continue to be abusive and corrupt. In the context of the ongoing security crisis in parts of Mexico, the study argues that a failure to increase efforts to hold Mexico's police accountable for their actions will only perpetuate a vicious pattern of police abuse and a climate of mistrust between the police and the population. The study assesses the sweeping changes made to the criminal justice system in recent years and evaluates federal initiatives to support state and municipal police reform, vet all police forces through the confidence control (control de confianza) and evaluation system, and strengthen oversight mechanisms, such as Internal Affairs Units. Although Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has promised a new security strategy in order to reduce violence and recover citizen trust in police forces, the report shows that his administration has largely maintained the initiatives and police model that were put into place during the Calderon administration. The report contends that while much has been done to reform Mexico's police, establishing strong internal and external controls has not been a priority for the Mexican government. This has meant that agents implicated in wrongdoing - from acts of corruption to grave human rights violations - have little incentive to change their actions, because the odds are slim that they will ever be investigated and sanctioned. Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America, 2014. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 9, 2014 at: http://www.wola.org/sites/default/files/Mexicos%20Police.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Police Brutality Shelf Number: 132310 |
Author: Meyer, Maureen Title: At a Crossroads: Drug Trafficking, Violence and the Mexican State Summary: In this joint WOLA-BFDPP policy brief, the authors provide an overview of current and past drug policies implemented by the Mexican government, with a focus on its law enforcement efforts. It analyzes the trends in the increased reliance on the Mexican armed forces in counter-drug activities and the role that the United States government has played in shaping Mexico's counter-drug efforts. It is argued that government responses that are dominated by law enforcement and militarization do little to address the issue in the long term and draw attention away from the fundamental reforms to the police and justice systems that are needed to combat public security problems in the country. The brief also argues that the most effective way to address drug trafficking and its related problem is through increased efforts to curb the demand for illicit drugs in the United States and Mexico. Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America/Beckley Foundation, 2007. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Briefing Paper 13: http://www.beckleyfoundation.org/pdf/BriefingPaper13.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Policy Shelf Number: 147749 |
Author: Heinle, Kimberly Title: Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2013 Summary: Violence is lower in Mexico than elsewhere in the Americas, but average for the region. Levels of violence are relatively lower in Mexico than in several other countries in the Americas, but are about average for the Western Hemisphere. Mexico's 2011 homicide rate of 23.7 was slightly below the region's average of approximately 24.5 homicides per 100,000 people. However, this was up nearly threefold from Mexico's rate of 8.1 per 100,000 in 2007. No other country in the hemisphere has seen such a large increase in the number or rate of homicides over the last decade. Homicides had been declining through the mid-2000s, reaching a record low in 2007. Continuing a long-term trend, the number of intentional homicides documented by Mexico's National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Information (INEGI) declined significantly under both presidents Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000) and Vicente Fox (2000-2006). Under Zedillo, the number of intentional homicides declined fairly steadily from 15,839 in 1994 to 10,737 in 2000, totaling 80,311 homicides. The annual number of homicides fluctuated somewhat under Fox, but continued to decline generally, with a total of 60,162 homicides. Moreover, the number of homicides actually reached a record low of 8,867 intentional homicides in 2007, the first full year in office for Felipe Calderon (2006-2012). Violence grew dramatically after 2008, with the number of homicides peaking in 2011. After Calderon's first year, the number of intentional homicides documented by INEGI climbed sharply, with year-over-year increases of more than 58% in 2008, 41% in 2009, 30% in 2010, and 5% in 2011. As predicted by last year's Justice in Mexico drug violence report, the number of intentional homicides documented by INEGI declined somewhat in 2012, Calderon's final year in office. Specifically, our March 2013 report predicted that INEGI would register a modest decline for 2012 (no greater than 8.5%). According to figures released in late-2013, the number of intentional homicides documented by INEGI for 2012 declined about 4% to 26,037. All told, throughout the Calderon administration, INEGI reported 121,669 homicides, an average of over 20,000 people per year, more than 55 people per day, or just over two people every hour. The total number of homicides appears to have declined by approximately 15% in 2013. While INEGI's figures are not available for 2013, preliminary data from Mexico's National Security System (SNSP) suggests that the total number of intentional homicides in 2013 declined again this year, and more than in 2012. However, some analysts are skeptical about SNSP's possible manipulation or withholding of data, so these findings should be viewed with caution. This said, at the time of this report, SNSP's tally of all intentional homicides in 2013 was 18,146, down 16.4% from about 21,700 in 2012. If the rate of decline is comparable for INEGI's tally, the total number of intentional homicides in 2012 INEGI will report for 2013 later this year will fall somewhere around 22,000 to 24,000 homicides. Mexico's recent violence is largely attributable to drug trafficking and organized crime. A large part of the sudden increase in violence in Mexico is attributable to drug trafficking and organized crime groups. Tallies compiled independently by media organizations in Mexico suggest that at least a third and as many as two-thirds of all intentional homicides in 2013 bore characteristics typical of organized-crime related killings, including the use of high-caliber automatic weapons, torture, dismemberment, and explicit messages involving organized crime groups. The Mexican newspaper Reforma put the figure at 7,163 organized-crime-style homicides in 2013 (though its coverage appeared to be less complete and less consistent with other sources than previous years), while Milenio reported 10,095 for the same year. Less violence in northern states has increased the spotlight on Pacific coastal states. In 2013, Mexico's violence - especially drug trafficking and organized-crime-style homicides - remained highly concentrated in specific regions, states, and municipalities. The elevated amounts and rates of violence were particularly concentrated in Mexico's Pacific coastal states, as violence in Northern states has diminished significantly. One exception in the north is Baja California, which saw a 31% increase in homicides, particularly as the city of Tijuana saw an increase in violence that ran counter to the significant declines elsewhere in the country. Community self-defense groups grew stronger in Guerrero, Michoacan, and other states. In 2012 and early 2013, public frustration with violence manifested itself in the form of armed community self-defense groups (autodefensas) in states like Guerrero and Michoacan. Particularly in Michoacan, where their presence has expanded into at least 29 of the state's 113 municipalities, such groups grabbed national and international headlines in early 2013 because of their direct clashes with the Knights Templar Organization (Caballeros Templarios, or KTO), a splinter organization that broke from the La Familia Michoacan (LFM) organization in 2010. There are concerns that self defense groups may have ties to organized crime groups and/or engage in acts of vigilante violence, and the Mexican government has tried to set parameters and restrictions on the use of firearms by such groups, so far with mixed results. President Pena Nieto continued to arrest major drug traffickers in 2013 and early 2014. On the campaign trail during 2012, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (2012-2018) had pledged to reduce the government's reliance on the counter-drug strategies employed by the Calderon administration. However, with just over one year in office, President Pena Nieto has continued the previous administration's policies, including a heavy reliance on the military and the targeted arrest of major organized crime figures. This paid off in a number of important successes, including the arrest of Miguel Angel "Z-40" Trevino (head of Los Zetas) and Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman (head of the Sinaloa Cartel). In March 2014, the Pena Nieto administration also announced that Mexican authorities had killed two top KTO leaders: Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, a.k.a. "El Chayo," who had been previously presumed dead, and Enrique "El Kike" Plancarte Solis. Recent organized crime arrests have not appeared to produce large spikes in violence. Some experts say that destroying leadership structures leads to greater violence because it contributes to infighting, splintering, and/or encroachment by rival criminal organizations. However, compared to previous years, the Mexican government's arrests of high-level members of organized crime groups have not resulted in such dramatic surges in violence due to infighting, splintering, or encroachment by rival criminal organizations. This may be attributable to a number of factors, including the dwindling size and capacity of criminal organizations in Mexico, the reduction in competition over drug production and trafficking routes, and/or the possible collusion of government officials to broker a peace. U.S.-Mexico security cooperation continues under the framework of the Merida Initiative. At the outset of the Pena Nieto administration, U.S. officials reportedly expressed concerns about the more centralized, "single window" (ventanilla unica) approach of Pena Nieto's administration to bi-national cooperation. However, while the protocols for such cooperation have changed, U.S.-Mexico cooperation has continued across all four "pillars" of the framework established under the Merida Initiative: 1) dismantling organized crime groups, 2) strengthening judicial sector institutions, 3) building a 21st century border, and 4) fostering resilient communities. Mexican security efforts appear more focused on prevention and criminal justice reform. While President Pena Nieto continued the same strategies of the previous administration during his first year in office, he also began to emphasize crime prevention and judicial system reform more strongly than in the past. Important initiatives in this regard include the creation of a new agency for crime prevention headed by Roberto Campa, as well as the introduction of a new, unified federal code of criminal procedure. The creation and training of a much-touted National Gendarmerie and a more unified police command system moved to the back burner but are still ongoing. Concerted implementation and evaluation efforts will be critical to the success of these initiatives. The drug war's future appears somewhat uncertain given changes in U.S. drug policy. Measures to legalize marijuana in 2013 in Uruguay and in two U.S. states - Colorado and Washington - have raised new questions about the future of the drug war. While public support for legalization of other drugs is very low, over half of the U.S. public now supports marijuana legalization. Legalization of marijuana will likely increase its availability and reduce its price, thereby reducing its profitability for the organized crime groups that currently produce, transport, and purvey it on the black market. While this will seriously diminish the capacity of organized crime groups in Mexico, it could also lead to innovation in their criminal activities to make up for lost revenue and other problems. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico Project, University of San Diego, 2014. 59p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 10, 2014 at: http://justiceinmexico.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/140415-dvm-2014-releasered1.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug-Related Violence (Mexico) Shelf Number: 147748 |
Author: Dube, Oeindrila Title: From Maize to Haze: Agricultural Shocks and the Growth of the Mexican Drug Sector Summary: We examine how commodity price shocks experienced by rural producers affect the drug trade in Mexico. Our analysis exploits exogenous movements in the Mexican maize price stemming from weather conditions in U.S. maize-growing regions, as well as export flows of other major maize producers. Using data on over 2,200 municipios spanning 1990-2010, we show that lower prices differentially increased the cultivation of both marijuana and opium poppies in municipios more climatically suited to growing maize. This increase was accompanied by differentially lower rural wages, suggesting that households planted more drug crops in response to the decreased income generating potential of maize farming. We also found impacts on downstream drug-trade outcomes, including the operations of drug cartels and killings perpetrated by these criminal groups. Our findings demonstrate that maize price changes contributed to the burgeoning drug trade in Mexico, and point to the violent consequences of an expanding drug sector. Details: Washington, DC: Center for Global Development, 2014. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper 355: Accessed May 12, 2014 at: http://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/maize-haize-agricultural-shocks-growth-mexican-drug-sector_0.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 132330 |
Author: Freeman, Laurie Title: Troubling Patterns: The Mexican Military and the War on Drugs Summary: The Mexican military has a dominant and expanding role in Mexico's war on drugs. As its role grows, so does its relationship with the US military, due to their common counter-drug mission. US organizations working to promote human rights and democracy in Mexico are concerned about human rights violations committed by the Mexican military in the drug war, as well as possible implications for US policy and the military-to-military relationship. By analyzing 27 cases of human rights violations committed by the Mexican military during anti-drug activities from 1996 to the present, this study has identified distinct patterns of military abuse in the context of anti-drug efforts. The cases in this study show that: The Mexican military's involvement in the drug war has led to human rights abuses; There is no adequate system to address these abuses when they occur; and The Leahy Law is not being adequately implemented by the US Embassy to ensure that US training and assistance are not provided to Mexican military units that have been implicated in human rights violations. Details: Washington, DC: Latin America Working Group, 2002. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 12, 2014 at: http://www.lawg.org/storage/documents/troubling%20patterns%20the%20war%20on%20drugs%202002.pdf Year: 2002 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Control Shelf Number: 132336 |
Author: De Choudhury, Munmun Title: "Narco" Emotions: Affect and Desensitization in Social Media during the Mexican Drug War Summary: Social media platforms have emerged as prominent information sharing ecosystems in the context of a variety of recent crises, ranging from mass emergencies, to wars and political conflicts. We study affective responses in social media and how they might indicate desensitization to violence experienced in communities embroiled in an armed conflict. Specifically, we examine three established affect measures: negative affect, activation, and dominance as observed on Twitter in relation to a number of statistics on protracted violence in four major cities afflicted by the Mexican Drug War. During a two year period (Aug 2010-Dec 2012), while violence was on the rise in these regions, our findings show a decline in negative emotional expression as well as a rise in emotional arousal and dominance in Twitter posts: aspects known to be psychological markers of desensitization. We discuss the implications of our work for behavioral health, facilitating rehabilitation efforts in communities enmeshed in an acute and persistent urban warfare, and the impact on civic engagement. Details: Redmond, VA: Microsoft Research, 2014. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 29, 2014 at: http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/208580/affect_desensitize-v29.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug War (Mexico) Shelf Number: 132401 |
Author: Brito, Steve Title: Remittances and the Impact on Crime in Mexico Summary: This working paper studies the effect of remittances from the United States on crime rates in Mexico. The topic is examined using municipal-level data on the percent of household receiving remittances and homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Remittances are found to be associated with a decrease in homicide rates. Every 1 percent increase in the number of households receiving remittances reduces the homicide rate by 0.05 percent. Other types of crimes are analyzed, revealing a reduction in street robbery of 0.19 percent for every 1 percent increase in households receiving remittances. This decrease is also observed using a state-level panel in another specification. The mechanisms of transmission could be related to an income effect or an incapacitation effect of remittances increasing education, opening job opportunities, and/or reducing the amount of time available to engage in criminal activities. Details: Inter-American development Bank, 2014. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-514: Accessed June 16, 2014 at: http://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/6482/IFD%20WP%20Remittances%20and%20the%20Impact%20on%20Crime%20in%20Mexico.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Rates Shelf Number: 132463 |
Author: Jones, Nathan P. Title: Understanding and Addressing Youth in "Gangs" in Mexico Summary: This report seeks to understand and define the gang issue in Mexico, establish the regional histories and sociologies of what is known about these gangs, and understand the causes of youth gang involvement. The paper briefly describes U.S.-Mexico bilateral efforts on youth gang prevention via the Merida Initiative, and identifies a sampling of existing civil society groups and programs geared specifically toward addressing youth gangs in Mexico and Central America. The report concludes with a set of policy recommendations for the U.S. and Mexican governments on how to best support civil society and strengthen relevant state institutions. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2013. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series on Civic Engagement and Public Security in Mexico: Accessed July 7, 2014 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/jones_youth_gangs.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Gang Violence Shelf Number: 129819 |
Author: Gobbi, Jose Title: Parrot Smuggling Across the Texas-Mexico Border Summary: This report is intended to provide baseline information on the illegal bird trade across the U.S.-Mexican border in anticipation of changes in smuggling patterns that may result from two separate events -- the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Wild Bird Conservation Act (WBCA). Details: Washington, DC: TRAFFIC USA, 1996. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 21, 2014 at: www.traffic.org/species-reports/traffic_species_birds3.pdf Year: 1996 Country: Mexico Keywords: Parrots Shelf Number: 129388 |
Author: Rios Contreras, Viridiana Title: How Government Structure Encourages Criminal Violence: The causes of Mexico's Drug War Summary: This work advances a theory about corruption, criminal organizations, and violence to show how political institutions set incentives and constraints that lead criminal organizations behave, organize, compromise or fight one another. It is my argument that the propensity of criminal groups to deploy violence increases when formal or informal political institutions are decentralized because violent criminal organizations are less likely to be punished. Under decentralized institutional environments, understood here as those in which different levels of government fail to act cohesively as a single decision-making body, corruption agreements with one government inhibit law enforcement operations conducted by another. As a result, belligerent criminal organizations that would otherwise be punished remain untouched. My argument sheds light on why many criminal organizations are able to operate profitably without major episodes of violence, and illuminates the causes of Mexico's large increases in drug{related violence. A formal model (Chapter 2), an analytical narrative (Chapter 3), and an empirical test (Chapter 4 and 5) show that Mexican drug trafficking organizations increased their propensity to engage in injurious behavior only recently, responding to incentives set by political decentralization that inhibited Mexico's federal government from controlling the actions of its local governments, and thus from limiting trafficker's propensity to battle for turf. Details: Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 2012. 233p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed July 25, 2014 at: http://www.gov.harvard.edu/files/Rios_PhDDissertation.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Control Policy Shelf Number: 132772 |
Author: Paul, Christopher Title: Mexico Is Not Colombia: Alternative Historical Analogies for Responding to the Challenge of Violent Drug-Trafficking Organizations Summary: Drug-related violence has become a very serious problem in Mexico. Of particular concern to U.S. policymakers, violent drug-trafficking organizations produce, transship, and deliver tens of billions of dollars' worth of narcotics into the United States annually. The activities of these organizations are not confined to drug trafficking; they extend to such criminal enterprises as human trafficking, weapon trafficking, kidnapping, money laundering, extortion, bribery, and racketeering. Then, there is the violence: Recent incidents have included assassinations of politicians and judges; attacks against rival organizations, associated civilians, and the police and other security forces; and seemingly random violence against innocent bystanders. Despite the scope of the threat to Mexico's security, these groups are not well understood, and optimal strategies to combat them have not been identified. Comparison between Mexico and Colombia is a tempting and frequently made analogy and source for policy recommendations. A review of these approaches, combined with a series of historical case studies, offers a more thorough comparative assessment. Regions around the world have faced similar challenges and may hold lessons for Mexico. One point is clear, however: Mexico is not Colombia. In fact, Mexico is not particularly like any other historical case characterized by "warlordism," resource insurgency, ungoverned spaces, and organized crime. Despite the lack of a perfectly analogous case, Mexico stands to benefit from historical lessons and efforts that were correlated with the greatest improvements in countries facing similar challenges. A companion volume presents in-depth profiles of each of these conflicts. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2014. 136p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 4, 2014 at: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR500/RR548z1/RAND_RR548z1.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 132898 |
Author: Paul, Christopher Title: Mexico Is Not Colombia: Alternative Historical Analogies for Responding to the Challenge of Violent Drug-Trafficking Organizations. Supporting Case Studies Summary: Drug-related violence has become a very serious problem in Mexico. Of particular concern to U.S. policymakers, violent drug-trafficking organizations produce, transship, and deliver tens of billions of dollars' worth of narcotics into the United States annually. The activities of these organizations are not confined to drug trafficking; they extend to such criminal enterprises as human trafficking, weapon trafficking, kidnapping, money laundering, extortion, bribery, and racketeering. Then, there is the violence: Recent incidents have included assassinations of politicians and judges; attacks against rival organizations, associated civilians, and the police and other security forces; and seemingly random violence against innocent bystanders. Despite the scope of the threat to Mexico's security, these groups are not well understood, and optimal strategies to combat them have not been identified. Comparison between Mexico and Colombia is a tempting and frequently made analogy and source for policy recommendations. A series of historical case studies offers a foundation for a more thorough comparative assessment. Regions around the world have faced similar challenges and may hold lessons for Mexico. One point is clear, however: Mexico is not Colombia. As the historical record shows, Mexico is not particularly like any other case characterized by "warlordism," resource insurgency, ungoverned spaces, and organized crime. Despite the lack of a perfectly analogous case, Mexico stands to benefit from historical lessons and efforts that were correlated with the greatest improvements in countries facing similar challenges. A companion volume describes the study's approach to assessing each historical case and presents findings from the overall analyses. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2014. 285p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 6, 2014 at: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR500/RR548z2/RAND_RR548z2.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 132899 |
Author: Damnjanovic, Jelena Title: Organised Crime and State Sovereignty: The conflict between the Mexican state and drug cartels 2006-2011 Summary: Since December 2006, the government of Mexico has been embroiled in a battle against numerous criminal organisations seeking to control territory and assure continued flow of revenue through the production and trafficking of drugs. Although this struggle has been well documented in Mexican and international media, it has not received as much scholarly attention due to the difficulties involved with assessing current phenomena. This thesis seeks to play a small part in filling that gap by exploring how and why the drug cartels in Mexico have proved a challenge to Mexico's domestic sovereignty and the state's capacity to have monopoly over the use of force, maintain effective and legitimate law enforcement, and to exercise control over its territory. The thesis will explain how the violence, corruption and subversion of the state's authority have resulted in a shift of the dynamics of power from state agents to criminal organizations in Mexico. It also suggests implications for domestic sovereignty in regions experiencing similar problems with organized crime, perhaps pointing to a wider trend in international politics in the era of globalization. Details: Sydney: University of Sydney, Department of Government and International Relations, 2011. 88p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed August 11, 2014 at: http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/8273 Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 132974 |
Author: Fugate, Ashleigh A. Title: Narcocultura: A threat to Mexican national security? Summary: This project analyzes the collective identity and narratives surrounding the culture of the drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), or narcocultura, in Mexico. It questions whether the visible cultural artifacts of the DTOs reflect a cultural identity or if they create an identity that threatens Mexican national security. The analysis establishes that narcocultura is a relevant framework to study Mexican transnational organized crime (TOC). The thesis utilizes both cultural and security studies to illuminate the development of narcocultura in Mexico. The author assesses the transmission of narcocultura through social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. In addition, the study looks at past and present methods that the Mexican government at the municipal, state, and federal level uses to prevent the spread of narcocultura. Ultimately, the aforesaid theories applied to narcocultura reveal essential vulnerabilities that the Mexican government can exploit against the DTOs. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2012. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed August 12, 2014 at: http://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/27832/12Dec_Fugate_Ashleigh.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking (Mexico) Shelf Number: 133001 |
Author: Grayson, George W. Title: The Evolution of Los Zetas in Mexico and Central America: Sadism as an Instrument of Cartel Warfare Summary: The United States has diplomatic relations with 194 independent nations. Of these, none is more important to America than Mexico in terms of trade, investment, tourism, natural resources, migration, energy, and security. In recent years, narco-violence has afflicted Mexico with more than 50,000 drug-related murders since 2007 and some 26,000 men, women, and children missing. President Enrique Pena Nieto has tried to divert national attention from the bloodshed through reforms in energy, education, anti-hunger, health-care, and other areas. Even though the death rate has declined since the chief executive took office on December 1, 2012, other crimes continue to plague his nation. Members of the business community report continual extortion demands; the national oil company PEMEX suffers widespread theft of oil, gas, explosives, and solvents (with which to prepare methamphetamines); hundreds of Central American migrants have shown up in mass graves; and the public identifies the police with corruption and villainy. Washington policymakers, who overwhelmingly concentrate on Asia and the Mideast, would be well-advised to focus on the acute dangers that lie principally below the Rio Grande, but whose deadly avatars are spilling into our nation. Details: Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2014. 102p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 13, 2014 at: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB1195.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels (Mexico) Shelf Number: 133040 |
Author: Bunker, Robert J. Title: Cartel Car Bombings in Mexico Summary: Contemporary Mexican cartel use of car bombs began in mid-July 2010 and has since escalated. Given the proximity to the United States, some literally within miles of the border, the car bombings, with about 20 incidents identified over the last 2 1/2 years, should be of interest to local, state, and federal U.S. law enforcement, the U.S. Army, and other governmental institutions which are providing increasing support to Mexican federal agencies. An historical overview and analysis of cartel car bomb use in Mexico provides context, insights, and lessons learned stemming from the Medellin and Cali cartel car bombing campaigns. In order to generate insights into future cartel car bombings in Mexico, the identification of such potentials offers a glimpse into cartel "enemy intent," a possible form of actionable strategic intelligence. For Mexico, steady and both slowly and quickly increasing car bomb use trajectories may exist. The prognosis for decreasing car bomb deployment appears unlikely. If cartel car bombs were to be deployed on U.S. soil or against U.S. personnel and facilities in Mexico, such as our consulates, we could expect that a pattern of indications and warnings (I&W) would be evident prior to such an attack(s). In that case, I&W would be drawn from precursor events such as grenade and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks (or attempted attacks) on our personnel and facilities and on evolving cartel car bomb deployment patterns in Mexico. The authors conclude with initial recommendations for U.S. Army and defense community support to the military and the federal, state, and local police agencies of the Mexican state, and the various U.S. federal, state, and local police agencies operating near the U.S.-Mexican border. The extent of support in intelligence, organization, training, and equipment is highlighted, as well as the extent that these forms of support should be implemented to counter cartel vehicle-borne IEDs and overall cartel threats. Details: Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, 2013. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Letort Papers: Accessed August 21, 2014 at: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB1166.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 130006 |
Author: Rodriguez Ferreira, Octavio Title: Civic Engagement and the Judicial Reform: The role of civil society in reforming criminal justice in Mexico Summary: Mexico has historically featured a relatively weak civil society, due to the influence of corporatist structures controlled by the Mexican state. Yet, with regard to the criminal justice system, as other reports in this series have discussed, Mexican civil society has recently shown some encouraging signs of engagement and activism in response to significant rule of law and security concerns. Specifically, with regard to judicial reform, Mexican civic activists were very engaged in the historic 2008 constitutional and legal reforms that produced one of the most important changes in Mexico's contemporary history. This reform, which established the foundation for the country's New Criminal Justice System (Nuevo Sistema de Justicia Penal, NSJP), brought about significant changes to the Constitution on matters of criminal law, access to justice, alternative and restorative justice, the prison system, pre-trial detention, presumption of innocence, criminal investigation, due process, public security, asset seizure or forfeiture, special detention regimes, labor conditions in public security, and legislative faculties of Congress in public security and addressing organized crime. Through these amendments, Mexico joined a wave of progressive reforms that has spread throughout Latin America towards a more effective, democratic, and transparent criminal justice system. While the NSJP was reached by the agreement of political parties and hard negotiations in Congress, civil society played a significant role in the process, not only demanding a more just system, but also in pushing for the discussion, keeping the issue in the national agenda, and pursuing its final approval. This report focuses on the role played by organized civil society in the judicial reform process, highlighting the efforts of certain organizations that became particularly influential and emblematic of civic activism in the area of criminal justice reform. To analyze how organized civil society became such an important player in the game, the author first walks through the reform process itself, then analyzes the social dimension of the NSJP, and ends with a look at how the NSJP and society have influenced one another. Through a qualitative approach, the author obtained primary and secondary materials in an effort to analyze and measure the influence of civil society in the reform process. Specifically, the author gathered information on civil society organizations (CSO) that were considered to be amongst the most involved, visible and influential in the creation of the NSJP. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute; San Diego, CA: University of San Diego, Justice in Mexico Project; 2013. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series on Civic Engagement and Public Security in Mexico: Accessed August 23, 2014 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/rodriguez_judicial_reform.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice Policy Shelf Number: 129895 |
Author: Chi, Jocelyn Title: Reducing Drug Violence in Mexico: Options for Implementing Targeted Enforcement Summary: Between 2006 and 2012, drug-related violence in Mexico escalated to unprecedented levels. During this time, five of the top ten most violent cities in the world were found in Mexico, and over 60,000 Mexicans were killed at the hands of Violent Drug Trafficking Organizations (VDTOs). This reign of terror has expanded to include other types of violence, such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and spectacular public displays of violence. Most alarmingly, VDTO victims increasingly include ordinary citizens, journalists, law enforcement and military, and other government officials. To date, enforcement efforts in the United States (U.S.) have focused almost exclusively on reducing the flow of drugs from, and through, Mexico. Violence reduction has been a secondary concern, and has been mostly considered as a potential side-benefit of flow reduction policies. Until recently, Mexican authorities have focused their attacks on the upper leadership of major organized crime groups as a method of reducing flows, and in an effort to address threats to public safety. However, freshly elected President Enrique Pena Nieto has indicated that his administration will shift focus away from drug flows, in order to prioritize crime prevention and violence reduction. Given that both the Bush and Obama Administrations have acknowledged that the U.S. market for illegal drugs is largely responsible for fueling the Mexican drug trade, and that the U.S. has a strategic interest in Mexican security, the U.S. may have a currently-unexploited opportunity to reduce violence in Mexico. In this project, we explore whether the adoption of targeted enforcement in the Unites States could theoretically effect a reduction in violence in Mexico, and, if so, what form that strategy might take. We consider the operational and informational requirements for implementation, as well as the information a decision-maker would require in order to elect targeted enforcement as a strategy for addressing the security problem in Mexico. Targeted enforcement is novel in several respects. While it is not inconsistent with flow-reduction goals, the strategy leverages enforcement resources in the United States to effect violence reduction in Mexico. Furthermore, because it is a deterrent strategy, targeted enforcement requires authorities on both sides to clearly and publicly identify the target and communicate that violence will no longer be accepted as a method of conducting business. Finally, the target will encompass entire VDTOs, and not just individual offenders, which increases the cost of individual offending through internal organizational pressure. Keeping in mind current budgetary constraints, we develop four design options for violence-focused U.S.-side targeted enforcement. We evaluate our options with reference to the potential for crime and violence reduction, intelligence demands, implementation and political feasibility, and community impacts. Through a series of interviews with experts in the field, and an exhaustive review of secondary sources, we find that not only is U.S. adoption of targeted enforcement possible within existing frameworks, but that this approach has great potential for reducing Mexican-side violence. Our findings suggest: - First and foremost, we note that the adoption of a targeted violence-reduction approach need not conflict with current U.S. efforts to reduce drug flows; thus, there should be no cost in terms of drug abuse in the U.S. - While a short-term surge in violence is possible, attacking drug-trafficking revenues in the U.S. could incentivize VDTOs away from using violence to advance their drug-trafficking interests. Authorities would need to better understand the revenue portfolios of VDTOs in order to estimate how responsive organizations might be to attacks on revenues, and measure the cost-effectiveness of such a strategy. - Successful implementation requires sophisticated intelligence, and while there is some indication that both the U.S. and Mexico possess the capacity to gather this intelligence, this capacity would likely need to be refined and/or expanded. - The necessary administrative and enforcement infrastructures appear to be in place in the U.S., though resources would need to be reallocated, and additional funding might be necessary. - In the U.S., policies targeting drug flows are popular due to a perception that they decrease drug consumption; a shift towards violence reduction would probably require intensive outreach to educate stakeholders. In Mexico, current distrust in government would require clear and public communication about target selection and the role of Mexican authorities in U.S.-side enforcement. - Finally, a number of possible community impacts exist, and U.S. and Mexican authorities would need to establish mechanisms for collecting data and tracking trends in order to respond to negative externalities. Details: Los Angeles: UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, 2013. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 25, 2014 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/reducing_drug_violence_mexico.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 129923 |
Author: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Title: Human Rights of Migrants and Other Persons in the Context of Human Mobility in Mexico Summary: 1. Pursuant to Article 41 of the American Convention on Human Rights and Article 58 of its Rules of Procedure, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter "the Inter-American Commission" or "the IACHR") is presenting this report to assess the human rights situation of the international and domestic migrants in the context of human mobility in Mexico and to make recommendations to ensure that the migration and immigration policies, laws and practices in the United Mexican States (hereinafter "the Mexican State," "Mexico" or "the State") comport with the international human rights obligations it has undertaken to protect migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, victims of human trafficking and the internally displaced persons. 2. Throughout this report, various situations are described that affect the human rights of migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, victims of human trafficking and the internally displaced in Mexico. This report's particular focus is on the serious violence, insecurity and discrimination that migrants in an irregular situation encounter when traveling through Mexico, which includes, inter alia, kidnapping, murder, disappearance, sexual violence, human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants. The report also looks at the issue of immigration detention and due process guarantees for migrants, asylum seekers and refugees held in immigration holding or detention centers. The report will also examine situations that affect the human rights of migrants who live in Mexico, such as their right to nondiscrimination in access to public services and their labor rights. The last part of the report examines the difficult circumstances under which those who defend the rights of migrants perform their mission. 3. Mexico is today a country of origin, transit and destination for migrants, and increasingly a country to which they return. Mexico is the necessary gateway of mixed migration flows, which include thousands of migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and victims of human trafficking which have the United States as their main destination and, to a lesser extent, Canada. Of all the countries in the Americas, Mexico is doubtless the one that most clearly reflects the various faces of international migration in a country. Because of the enormous impact that international migration has had on Mexico, particularly as a country of origin for migrants, globally Mexico has been a principal driving force and advocate for the recognition and protection of the human rights of all migrants. 4. Furthermore, in recent years, public security in Mexico has been severely eroded by the intense violence generated by organized crime and the battle being waged against it. The spike in criminal violence in recent years in Mexico poses very complex challenges for the State, which is called upon to take every measure necessary to safeguard the security of persons within its jurisdiction, which obviously includes migrants. Security and protective measures have to be premised on respect for human rights to ensure that the actions taken by the State to fight crime do not end up becoming a source of still greater insecurity or even State abuse. Mexico does not have a citizen security and safety policy specifically geared to preventing, protecting and prosecuting crimes committed against migrants. Furthermore, the State's response to the surge in violence has be to shore up the military and police forces to help them fight crime, mainly drug trafficking. In many instances, the effect of these two factors has been to increase the violence and human rights violations committed by State agents, rather than to safeguard the security of those in Mexico. 5. While the severe insecurity that Mexico is now experiencing has had profound effects on the Mexican population, it has also revealed just how vulnerable migrants in Mexico are, particularly migrants in an irregular situation in transit through Mexico. In recent years, the Commission has been receiving news and reports of multiple cases in which migrants are abducted, driven into forced labor, murdered, disappeared and, in the case of women, frequently the victims of rape and sexual exploitation by organized crime. The Commission has also received information to the effect that in a considerable number of cases, State agents - members of the various police forces or personnel of the National Institute of Migration - have been directly involved in the commission of the crimes and human rights violations listed above. At the present time, the extreme vulnerability of migrants and other persons to the heightened risks of human mobility in Mexico is one of worse human tragedies in the region, involving large-scale and systematic human rights violations. 6. The insecurity of migrants in Mexico was why, during the hearing on the "Situation of the Human Rights of Migrants in Transit through Mexico" held on March 22, 2010, civil society organizations asked the IACHR to have its Rapporteurship on the Rights of Migrant Workers and Their Families conduct an on-site visit to Mexico to examine the situation of migrants' human rights. For its part, the Mexican State's response was that the oversight mechanisms of the Inter-American and universal systems have an open, standing invitation to visit Mexico, so that the Rapporteurship's visit would be welcome. The onsite visit was hastened by a series of communications that civil society organizations sent to the IACHR Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrant Workers, and by thematic hearings held at Commission headquarters which revealed large-scale violations of migrants' human rights in recent years, the inefficacy of the public safety and security services, and the fact that no one was made to answer for the crimes committed against migrants. The Mexican State formally invited the Rapporteur to conduct an in loco visit, which he did from July 25 to August 2, 2011. Details: Washington, DC: Organization of American States, 2013. 272p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 12, 2014 at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/migrants/docs/pdf/Report-Migrants-Mexico-2013.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Asylum Seekers Shelf Number: 133293 |
Author: Amnesty International Title: Out of Control: Torture and other Ill-Treatment in Mexico Summary: This report is the result of several years' research on reports of torture and ill-treatment in different regions of the country. There are grave concerns about the critical conditions facing people held on remand or after sentencing in many of Mexico's prisons. However, the focus of this report is torture and other ill-treatment that occur in the initial period of detention. The report focuses principally on a number of cases documented by Amnesty International in the last two years in the Federal District and the states of Chihuahua, Baja California and the State of Mexico. This report also includes cases from other states documented with the assistance of local human rights organizations. Where possible researchers obtained court documents and other official reports related to cases and submitted a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to the authorities. Researchers interviewed victims, relatives and lawyers and consulted local and national human rights commissions, as well as civil society organizations and independent medical and legal experts. Amnesty International also spoke to government officials and representatives of the federal and state prosecution services, including forensic officials, the judiciary and the national and state human rights commissions. The contribution of all these individuals and organizations were invaluable in preparing this report. Details: London: Amnesty International, 2014. 86p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 2, 2014 at: http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/amr410202014en.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Human Rights Abuses Shelf Number: 133540 |
Author: Enamorado, Ted Title: Crime and Growth Convergence: Evidence from Mexico Summary: Scholars have often argued that crime deters growth, but the empirical literature assessing such effect is scarce. By exploiting cross-municipality income and crime data for Mexico - a country that experienced a high increase in crime rates over the past decade - this study circumvents two of the most common problems faced by researchers in this area. These are: (i) the lack of a homogenous, consistently comparable measure of crime and (ii) the small sample problem in the estimation. Combining income data from poverty maps, administrative records on crime and violence, and public expenditures data at the municipal level for Mexico (2005-2010), the analysis finds evidence indicating that drug-related crimes indeed deter growth. It also finds no evidence of a negative effect on growth from crimes unrelated to drug trafficking. Details: Washington, DC: The World Bank, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit, 2013. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Research Working Paper No. 6730: Accessed October 9, 2014 at: http://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/pdf/10.1596/1813-9450-6730 Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Rates (Mexico) Shelf Number: 133906 |
Author: Jacome, Felipe Title: Trans-Mexican Migration: a Case of Structural Violence Summary: This paper argues that the violence experienced by migrants crossing Mexico in their way to the United States needs to be understood as a case of structural violence. Based on several months of field work conducted along the migrant route in Mexico, the paper emphasizes that trans-Mexican migrants suffer not only from forms of direct violence such as beatings, kidnappings, and rape, but also endure great suffering from expressions of indirect violence such as poverty, hunger, marginalization, and health threats. Addressing trans-Mexican migration as a case of structural violence is also crucial in grasping the complex dynamics that characterize this violence, including the impunity and systematization of violence, and the social forces, policies, and institutions that perpetuate it. Details: Washington, DC: Georgetown University, Center for Latin American Studies, 2008. 36p. Source: Internet Resource; Working Paper Series No. 2: Accessed October 13, 2014 at: http://pdba.georgetown.edu/CLAS%20RESEARCH/Working%20Papers/WP2.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Mexico Keywords: Immigration Shelf Number: 131267 |
Author: Felbab-Brown, Vanda Title: Changing the Game or Dropping the Ball? Mexico's Security and Anti-Crime Strategy under President Enrique Pena Nieto Summary: ANALYSIS - Even as the administration of Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto has scored important reform successes in the economic sphere, its security and law enforcement policy toward organized crime remains incomplete and ill-defined. Preoccupied with the fighting among vicious drug trafficking groups and the rise of anti-crime vigilante militias in the center of Mexico, the administration has for the most part averted its eyes from the previously highly-violent criminal hotspots in the north where major law enforcement challenges remain. - The Pena Nieto administration thus mostly continues to put out immediate security fires - such as in Michoacan and Tamaulipas - but the overall deterrence capacity of Mexico's military and law enforcement forces and justice sector continue to be very limited and largely unable to deter violence escalation and reescalation. - Identifying the need to reduce violence in Mexico as the most important priority for its security policy was the right decision of the Pena Nieto administration. But despite the capture of Mexico's most notorious drug trafficker, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, much of the security policy reform momentum that surrounded the Pena Nieto administration at the outset of its six-year term has prematurely dissipated. Key pillars of the policy are plodding along meekly, including the national gendarmerie, the new intelligence supercenter, and the mando unico. The October 2013 deadline to vet all police units for corruption and links to organized crime was missed once again and extended until October 2014. As with many institutional reforms in Mexico, there is large regional variation in the quality and even design of the reforms being implemented. At least, however, the Mexican Congress, overall a weak player in setting and overseeing anti-crime policy in Mexico, approved a new criminal code in the spring of 2014. The so-called National Code of Penal Procedure (Codigo Nacional de Procedimientos Penales) will be critical in establishing uniform application of criminal law across Mexico's thirty-one states and the Federal District, and standardizing procedures regarding investigations, trials, and punishment. - Instead of pushing ahead with institutional reforms, the Pena Nieto administration has highlighted poor coordination among national security agencies and local and national government units as a crucial cause of the rise of violent crime in Mexico. It has thus defined improving coordination as a key aspect of its anti-crime approach. - Despite its rhetoric and early ambitions, the Pena Nieto administration fell straight back not only into relying on the Mexican military in combination with the Federal Police to cope with criminal violence, but also doing so belatedly and with an essentially analogous lack of planning and prepositioning, and with essentially the same operational design as the previous Felipe Calderon administration. - Although homicides, including those perpetrated by drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), have decreased in Mexico, the drop did not reach the 50% reduction in the first six months in office that the Pena Nieto administration had promised. Moreover, in various parts of Mexico, the violence reduction cannot be necessarily attributed to government policies, but rather is the outcome of new balances of power being established among criminal groups in previously highly contested hotspots. Many of these balances of power among the DTOs had emerged already in the last years of the Felipe Calderon administration. In these areas of newly established criminal control and deterrence, even kidnapping and extortion might be leveling off and becoming more predictable, even as they are overall on the rise in Mexico. - In its security and law enforcement efforts, the Pena Nieto administration has largely slipped into many of the same policies of President Felipe Calderon. In particular, the current administration has adopted the same non-strategic high-value targeting that defined the previous administration. Perhaps with the exception of targeting the Zetas and Los Caballeros Templarios, this interdiction posture mostly continues to be undertaken on a non-strategic basis as opportunistic intelligence becomes available and without forethought, planning, and prepositioning to avoid new dangerous cycles of violence and renewed contestation among local drug trafficking groups. This development is partially the outcome of institutional inertia in the absence of an alternative strategy, and of operational simplicity, compared to, for example, a more effective but also more demanding policy of middle-level targeting. - Importantly, the Pena Nieto administration has sought to pay greater attention to and respect for human rights issues, such as by allowing civilian claims of human rights violations by Mexico's military forces to be tried in civilian courts and establishing a victims' compensation fund. But the efforts to increase rule of law, justice, and the protection of human rights and to reduce impunity and corruption remain very much a work in progress, with the government's resolve, policies, and outcomes varying widely among Mexico's states. - The Pena Nieto administration's focus on socio-economic anti-crime policies and other crime prevention measures is highly laudable. But its signature anti-crime socio-economic approach - the so-called poligonos program - has not been well-operationalized and is not integrated with law enforcement efforts. The discreet efforts remain scattered. The theory, implementation, and monitoring parameters of the national crime prevention strategy are not yet adequately worked out. These deficiencies undermine the program's effectiveness and risk dissipating the dedicated yet relatively small resources allocated to the effort as well as the effort's energy. Monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of socio-economic anti-crime efforts, including the poligonos approach, is particularly weak and nebulous. Details: Washington, DC: Latin American Initiative, Foreign Policy at Brookings, 2014. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 13, 2014 at: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2014/11/mexico%20security%20anti%20crime%20nieto%20felbabbrown/mexico%20security%20anti%20crime%20nieto%20v1%20felbabbrown.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice Policy Shelf Number: 134070 |
Author: Gutierrez-Romero, Roxana Title: The good, the bad and the ugly: The socio-economic impact of drug cartels and their violence in Mexico Summary: This paper assesses the impact that drug cartels and their associated violence have had on development in Mexico. For this purpose, we monitor official and media reports to identify where cartels have operated with and without drug related homicides. Using the difference-in-difference kernel matching method, we find that on the one hand, inequality declined to a large extent in areas where cartels were active without incidents of drug related homicides. On the other, poverty increased in areas that had both the lowest and the highest rates of drug related homicides. Two reasons could explain this increase in poverty. In the most violent areas the number of employers and remunerations declined in key industries, such as manufacturing. In the least violent areas poverty increased possibly due to people migrating from the more violent places. Details: Barcelona: Departament d'Economia Aplicada, University of Barcelona, 2014. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 18, 2014 at: http://dep-economia-aplicada.uab.cat/repec/doc/wpdea1410.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 134119 |
Author: U.S. Congress. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control Title: U.S. and Mexican responses to Mexican drug trafficking organizations : a report by the United States Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, First Session. Summary: Violence in Mexico continues unhindered without any signs of slowing. This report outlines a series of concrete steps the United States can take to support the Mexican government in its fight against drug trafficking organizations and drug-related violence. While our security partnership with Mexico has deepened in recent years, more can be done to help. This report synthesizes information gathered by Caucus staff through a country visit, briefings, interviews, and a review of documents from both government and non-government subject matter experts. The report describes the current strategy and provides important recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders. Being that the Chair and Co-Chair have different views on the causes and sources of illicit firearms in Mexico, that topic will be dealt with in separate reports. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Senate, 2011. 71p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 26, 2014 at: http://www.drugcaucus.senate.gov/Mexico-Report-Final-5-2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Control Shelf Number: 134262 |
Author: Enamorado, Ted Title: Income Inequality and Violent Crime: Evidence from Mexico's Drug War Summary: The relationship between income inequality and crime has attracted the interest of many researchers, but little convincing evidence exists on the causal effect of inequality on crime in developing countries. This paper estimates this effect in a unique context: Mexico's Drug War. The analysis takes advantage of a unique data set containing inequality and crime statistics for more than 2,000 Mexican municipalities covering a period of 20 years. Using an instrumental variable for inequality that tackles problems of reverse causality and omitted variable bias, this paper finds that an increment of one point in the Gini coefficient translates into an increase of more than 10 drug-related homicides per 100,000 inhabitants between 2006 and 2010. There are no significant effects before 2005. The fact that the effect was found during Mexico's Drug War and not before is likely because the cost of crime decreased with the proliferation of gangs (facilitating access to knowledge and logistics, lowering the marginal cost of criminal behavior), which, combined with rising inequality, increased the expected net benefit from criminal acts after 2005. Details: Washington, DC: The World Bank, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit, 2014. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Research Working Paper no. 6935: Accessed January 20, 2015 at: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2014/06/24/000158349_20140624090206/Rendered/PDF/WPS6935.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 134419 |
Author: Deaton, Janice Title: Detention Without Charge: The Use of Arraigo for Criminal Investigations in Mexico Summary: Justice in Mexico is pleased to announce the publication of Detained Without Charge, a special report provides a detailed assessment of the use of arraigo as a prosecutorial mechanism in Mexico, as national and international organizations have increasingly questioned the practice. Evidence collected for this report suggests that detention without charge is a poor substitute for due process protections that help to ensure the integrity and legitimacy of police and prosecutorial investigations. Arraigo, is a form of preventive detention that allows for imprisonment without formal charges for up to 80 days. This investigative tool is presently authorized under Article 16 of the Mexican Constitution as amended in the 2008 reforms that underpin Mexico's ongoing transition to adversarial criminal justice. Among the key findings of this report we find: - 3,166 arraigos were requested by prosecutors from December 2006 through December 2012, of which 2,939 were granted by judicial authority; thus, only 277 requests were denied. Overall, from 2007 to 2012 the percentage of arraigos denied by the judicial authority was just 7%, which indicates that once the prosecutor submitted its request to the judicial authority, 13 out of 14 suspects were detained under arraigo. Of those 13, at least seven were held for more than the initially granted 40-day period. Statements from Mexican authorities suggest that only 3.2% of all arraigos from 2011 to 2012 led to a conviction, meaning that the margin of error could be more than 95%. - Preventive and administrative detentions refer to detention without charge, and are contrary to basic human rights law and specific international conventions, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the American Convention on Human Rights. - Because of the arbitrary nature of detention and prevalence of torture and other human rights violations under arraigo, it has received criticism and grabbed the international attention of numerous human rights organizations and bodies, from the United Nations to Amnesty International, and domestically from Mexico's National Human Rights Commission to the Mexican Commission of the Defense and Promotion for Human Rights, among many others. - Reports by the United Nations and other national and international organizations have found patterns of violations under arraigo, including denial of counsel, torture, and being held incommunicado. - The length and reasonableness of detention, access to counsel, judicial access, torture, and/or right to habeas corpus are all issues raised by human rights advocates and international organizations about the practice of arraigo. - Mexico is not the only country that applies a regime of preventive detention. Other countries, especially under the flag of "preventing terrorism," have developed their own forms of detention with certain similarities, but evident differences from arraigo. Examples are the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Israel, among others. -The authors recommend that the use of arraigo be eliminated and prohibited by the constitution, or at a minimum that major modifications be made to provide some measure of protection of the fundamental rights of individuals detained without charge. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico, Department of Political Science & International Relations, University of San Diego, 2015. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 5, 2015 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/150112_ARRAIGO_Final.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Human Rights Abuses Shelf Number: 134547 |
Author: Wilson, Christopher Title: Plan Tamaulipas: A New Security Strategy for a Troubled State Summary: Recognizing that the situation in Tamaulipas had reached crisis levels, in May, 2014, Mexico's top security officials met with their state level counterparts in Tamaulipas to unveil a new security strategy. At the heart of the conflict between the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, Tamaulipas suffers from high rates of violent crime, including the nation's highest for kidnapping, large-scale cases of migrant abuse, and extremely weak state and local level law enforcement institutions and governance. By sending significant additional resources to Tamaulipas, the federal government made a strong and much needed commitment to support efforts to restore public security in the state. This short report analyzes the new strategy, describes the challenging local context, and offers a few recommendations that could serve to strengthen the effort. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2014. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 9, 2015 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/New_Security_Strategy_Tamaulipas.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Homicides Shelf Number: 134580 |
Author: International Crisis Group Title: Back from the Brink: Saving Ciudad Juarez Summary: Just four years ago, Ciudad Juarez was under siege from criminal gang members and being sabotaged by crooked cops. Killings and kidnappings spiralled out of control despite the deployment of thousands of soldiers and federal police. Today Juarez is on the path to recovery: public investments in social programs and institutional reform plus a unique model of citizen engagement have helped bring what was once dubbed the world's "murder capital" back from the brink. Daunting problems persist. Juarez remains an unruly frontier city of great inequalities, where traffickers and other criminals can too easily find recruits among a largely young population, many of whom still lack good jobs or education. To sustain progress, citizens and local policymakers need to assess achievements and obstacles, relaunching their partnership and upgrading efforts to strengthen local institutions and address social inequities. Though Juarez remains fragile, there are reasons for guarded optimism: civil society leaders - including business and professional groups, non-profit organisations and academics - hold the government accountable for any increase in crime, meeting regularly with municipal, state and federal officials in a unique Mesa de Seguridad y Justicia (Security and Justice Working Group), an independent body including citizens and authorities. All three levels of government remain committed in principle to addressing the causes of violence through social programs aimed at the poor communities that have borne the brunt of the killings. President Felipe Calderon's administration invested more than $380 million in 2010-2011 under its Todos Somos Juarez (TSJ, We are all Juarez) initiative to finance social programs designed to make communities, especially their young people, more resistant to violent crime. Much of the money went to expanding existing programs for the urban poor and building or renovating community centres, schools and hospitals. But the impact of these efforts was never evaluated, largely wasting the opportunity to create innovative, sustainable programs, subject to outside review and evaluation. When he took office in December 2012, President Enrique Pena Nieto promised to make crime and violence prevention central to his security strategy, adopting and adapting some of the strategies initiated by his predecessor. Among his first acts was to order nine ministries to join forces on a national program. Its objectives are sweepingly ambitious: promote citizen participation and a culture of peace and respect for the law; address the risk factors that render children, adolescents, women and other groups vulnerable to violence; create and reclaim public spaces to foster peaceful coexistence; and strengthen institutional capacity at the federal, state and municipal level. The National Program for the Social Prevention of Violence and Delinquency channels funding into high-risk zones chosen to serve as laboratories for social change, including three within Ciudad Juarez. This "socio-urban acupuncture" approach holds promise. Officials say crime rates have already fallen within many of the target zones and promise that detailed surveys will measure impact going forward. But the effort in Juarez itself has been plagued by delays and controversy. The lack of transparency in project selection and monitoring has given rise to accusations of mismanagement and political favouritism. Local authorities are justifiably proud of progress in reducing homicide and other high-impact crimes, such as kidnapping, but more is needed to keep Jurez from again falling victim to a surge of violence. The model of citizen participation embodied in the Mesa de Seguridad y Justicia should be extended to the neighbourhood level, so that working class and poor communities are empowered to monitor violence- prevention projects and work with law enforcement to combat crime. Local police must play a more important role. Authorities on the municipal, state and federal levels should open their efforts to greater scrutiny, crafting long-term strategies that can be continued past the next electoral cycle. The achievements of Juarez and the surrounding state of Chihuahua offer hope for other Mexican cities and regions still suffering epidemic rates of violent crimes, including murder, often at the hands of criminals in league with local authorities. The focus of federal action has shifted to the north east, where the state of Tamaulipas now leads the country in kidnappings, and the south west, where the state of Guerrero and the city of Acapulco have the highest rates of homicides per capita. National authorities have poured soldiers and police into these regions while promising funding for social programs, much as they did a few years ago in Chihuahua. But they have not been able to stem the crisis of confidence in government at all levels: municipal, state and federal. The kidnapping and apparent killing of 43 students from the rural teaching college of Ayotzinapa by a criminal gang allegedly backed by corrupt police has sparked violent protests in Guerrero and mass marches in Mexico City. Perhaps the most important lesson of Juarez is that crime must be tackled through the combined effort of authorities and citizens. Opaque, top-down solutions that fail to address the concerns of local communities - eliciting their ideas and soliciting their support - are unlikely to produce sustainable progress against the scourge of violent crime. Details: Brussels, Belgium: International Crisis Group, 2015. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin America Report No. 54: Accessed February 26, 2015 at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/latin-america/mexico/054-back-from-the-brink-saving-ciudad-juarez.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Shelf Number: 134679 |
Author: Castillo, Juan Camilo Title: Illegal drug markets and violence in Mexico: The causes beyond Calderon Summary: This paper estimates the effect that drug trafficking has had on violence in Mexico in recent years. We use two different proxies for drug trafficking activities at the municipal level: a measure of cartels' presence and the value of cocaine seizures, and instrument them using simple geographic features of each municipality interacted with cocaine seizures in Colombia. In order to motivate our empirical exercise, we propose a simple model of the war on drugs that captures the essence of our identification strategy (e.g., the interrelationship between aggregate supply shocks, the size of illegal drug markets and violence). Our estimations indicate that the rise in drug trafficking in recent years in Mexico has generated a significant and sizable increase in the levels of violence. The effects are especially large for violence generated by clashes between drug cartels. We also find that this effect is mainly driven by municipalities with presence of two or more cartels. Although we find that aggregate supply shocks originated in drug seizures in Colombia have always had an impact on drug trafficking in Mexico, violence generated by drug trafficking has been much greater since president Calderon took office in December 2006. Our results show that government crackdowns on drug cartels might not be the only explanation behind the rise of illegal drug trafficking and violence observed in the last six years in Mexico. Successful interdiction policies implemented in Colombia since 2006 have also played a major role in explaining the worsening of the situation observed in Mexico during Calderon's sexenium. Details: Colombia: Economics Department, Universidad de los Andes, 2013. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed April 9, 2015 at: http://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/143.illegaldrug.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 135206 |
Author: Orozco-Aleman, Sandra Title: Does violence affect migration flows? Evidence from the Mexican drug war Summary: We study the effect of drug-violence on the infl‡ows and outfl‡ows of migrants between Mexico and the United States. The results show that violence increases the infl‡ows of workers from Western Mexico but decreases the infl‡ows from Southern Mexico. Additionally, violence is associated with increases in return migration. One factor that could explain the different behavior of workers from Western and Southern Mexico is having different costs of violence. We use Mexico’'s National Surveys on Victimization and Perceptions of Public Safety to test for differences in the cost of crime and the perception of public safety. The results show that individuals from Western Mexico feel more unsafe in their own municipality and have higher losses due to crime. Therefore, high costs associated with the increase in violence could explain the increase in the infl‡ow of workers from that region of Mexico. Details: Conference Paper: 18th Annual Meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association and the 28th Latin American Meeting of the Econometric Society , Mexico City, 2013. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 9, 2015 at: http://vox.lacea.org/pdf/lacea2013_does_violence.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Violence Shelf Number: 135207 |
Author: Diaz-Cayeros, Alberto Title: Living in Fear: The Dynamics of Extortion in Mexico's Criminal Insurgency Summary: This paper provides an account of the strategies of extortion and co-optation used by drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) toward civil society in Mexico. Drawing on the civil war and mafia crime literatures, our theoretical approach focuses on levels of territorial contestation among armed actors, as well as state capture by DTOs, to explain variation in co-opting or coercing civil society. Through the use of list experiments in a nationally representative survey, the paper measures extortion and assistance by DTOs in Mexico. We find that the effect of territorial contestation among rival DTOs has two effects. The effect on extortion is non-linear: highly contested places and non-contested places, controlled by a single DTO, show significantly less extortion than moderately contested places. The effect on assistance is negative: DTOs provide assistance mostly in non-contested places. Additionally, using areas of governance by the former ruling party, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), as a proxy for state capture by DTOs, we find that both DTO and police extortion is higher in municipalities where the state has been captured. These results suggest that territorial contestation and state capture are important in determining the choice of tactics toward civil society during drug wars. Details: Stanford, CA: Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Stanford University, 2015. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: CDDRL Working Papers: Accessed April 20, 2015 at: http://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/living_in_fear_final_paper.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Violence Shelf Number: 135258 |
Author: Dube, Arindrajit Title: Cross-Border Spillover: U.S. Gun Laws and Violence in Mexico Summary: To what extent, and under what conditions, does access to arms fuel violent crime? To answer this question, we exploit a unique natural experiment: the 2004 expiration of the U.S. Federal Assault Weapons Ban exerted a spillover on gun supply in Mexican municipios near Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, but not near California, which retained a pre-existing state-level ban. We find first that Mexican municipios located closer to the non-California border states experienced differential increases in homicides, gun-related homicides and crime gun seizures in the post-2004 period. Second, the magnitude of this effect is contingent on political factors related to Mexico's democratic transition. Killings increased substantially more in municipios where local elections had become more competitive prior to 2004, with the largest differentials emerging in high narco-trafficking areas. Our findings are consistent with the notion that political competition undermined informal agreements between drug cartels and entrenched local governments, highlighting the role of political instability in mediating the gun-crime relationship. Details: Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), 2012. 69p. Source: Internet Resource: IZA Discussion Paper No. 7098: Accessed April 30, 2015 at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp7098.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Assault Weapons Shelf Number: 135425 |
Author: Marquez-Padilla, Fernanda Title: The (non-) effect of violence on education : evidence from the "war on drugs" in Mexico, Summary: This paper studies the sharp increase in violence experienced in Mexico after 2006, known as "The War on Drugs," and its effects on human capital accumulation. The upsurge in violence is expected to have direct effects on individuals' schooling decisions, but not indirect effects, because there was no severe destruction of infrastructure. The fact that the marked increases in violence were concentrated in some municipalities (and not in others) allows for implementation of a fixed-effects methodology to study the effects of violence on educational outcomes. Different from several recent studies that have found significant negative effects of violence on economic outcomes in Mexico, the paper finds evidence that this is not the case, at least for human capital accumulation. The paper uses several sources of data on homicides and educational outcomes and shows that, at most, there are very small effects on total enrollment. These small effects may be driven by some students being displaced from high-violence municipalities to low-violence municipalities; but the education decisions of individuals do not seem to be highly impacted. The analysis discards the possibility that the effects on enrollment of young adults appear small because of a counteracting effect from ex-workers returning to school. The results stand in contrast with recent evidence of the negative effects of violence on short-term economic growth, since minimal to null effects on human capital accumulation today should have little to no adverse effects on long-term growth outcomes in Mexico. Details: Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Research working paper no. WPS 7230: Accessed May 6, 2015 at: http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64165259&piPK=64165421&theSitePK=469372&menuPK=64166093&entityID=090224b082d2afce_1_0 Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Children and Violence Shelf Number: 135532 |
Author: Seelke, Clare Ribando Title: U.S.-Mexican Security Cooperation:The Merida Initiative and Beyond Summary: Violence perpetrated by a range of criminal groups continues to threaten citizen security and governance in some parts of Mexico, a country with which the United States shares a nearly 2,000-mile border and more than $500 billion in annual trade. Although organized crime-related violence in Mexico has generally declined since 2011, analysts estimate that it may have claimed more than 80,000 lives between December 2006 and December 2014. Recent cases - particularly the disappearance of 43 students in Guerrero, Mexico in September 2014 - have drawn attention to the problems of corruption and impunity for human rights abuses in Mexico. Supporting Mexico's efforts to reform its criminal justice system is widely regarded as crucial for combating criminality and better protecting citizen security in the country. U.S. support for those efforts has increased significantly as a result of the development and implementation of the Merida Initiative, a bilateral partnership launched in 2007 for which Congress has appropriated some $2.5 billion. U.S. assistance focuses on (1) disrupting organized criminal groups, (2) institutionalizing the rule of law, (3) creating a 21st century border, and (4) building strong and resilient communities. Inaugurated to a six-year term in December 2012, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has continued U.S.-Mexican security cooperation begun during the Felipe Calderon government. Pena Nieto has requested increased assistance for judicial reform and prevention efforts, but limited U.S. involvement in some law enforcement and intelligence operations. Despite those restrictions, U.S. intelligence has helped Mexico arrest top crime leaders, including Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman - the world's most wanted drug trafficker - in February 2014.The Interior Ministry is now the primary entity through which Merida training and equipment requests are coordinated and intelligence is channeled. The 114th Congress is continuing to fund and oversee the Merida Initiative and related domestic initiatives. From FY2008 to FY2015, Congress appropriated roughly $2.5 billion in Merida Initiative assistance for Mexico, including some $194 million provided in the FY2015 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (P.L. 113-235). That total is $79 million above the Administration's request; it aims to support efforts to secure Mexico's southern border and justice sector programs. As of April 2015, more than $1.3 billion of Merida Initiative assistance had been delivered. The FY2016 request for the Merida Initiative is for $119 million to help advance justice sector reform, modernize Mexico's borders (north and south), and support violence prevention programs. Possible questions for oversight may include the following. 1) How is the State Department measuring the efficacy of Merida programs and improving or eliminating ineffective programs? 2) To what extent is the Mexican government moving judicial and police reform efforts forward, and how is U.S. assistance supporting those reforms? 3) Are Merida-funded programs helping the Mexican government respond to new challenges and priorities, including securing its southern border? 4) Is Mexico meeting the human rights conditions placed on Merida Initiative funding? Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2015. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: R41349: Accessed May 13, 2015 at: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41349.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 135554 |
Author: Lindo, Jason M. Title: Kingpin Approaches to Fighting Crime and Community Violence: Evidence from Mexico's Drug War Summary: This study considers the effects of the kingpin strategy, an approach to fighting organized crime in which law-enforcement efforts focus on capturing the leaders of the criminal organization, on community violence in the context of Mexico's drug war. Newly available historical data on drug-trafficking organizations' areas of operation at the municipality level and monthly homicide data allow us to control for a rich set of fixed effects and to leverage variation in the timing of kingpin captures to estimate their effects. This analysis indicates that kingpin captures have large and sustained effects on the homicide rate in the municipality of capture and smaller but significant effects on other municipalities where the kingpin's organization has a presence, supporting the notion that removing kingpins can have destabilizing effects throughout an organization that are accompanied by escalations in violence. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2015. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper No. 21171: Accessed May 18, 2015 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w21171.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug-Related Violence Shelf Number: 135693 |
Author: Donnelly, Robert Title: Transit Migration in Mexico: Domestis and International Policy Implications Summary: The recent surge in Central American migration has challenged Mexico to implement policies that uphold human rights for migrants (especially unaccompanied children) who are passing through the country while also deterring unauthorized crossings at the southern border and cracking down on human smuggling and trafficking. However, finding the appropriate balance for these policies - with a humanitarian focus on the one hand and meeting larger "security concerns" on the other hand - has been elusive for the Mexican government. This essay discusses the historical and political context of Mexico's various policy responses to the spike in Central American migration through Mexico toward the United States and analyzes related implications for the country's relationships with the United States and its Central American neighbors. Details: Houston, TX: James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, 2014. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 21, 2015 at: http://bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/4a32803e/MC-pub-TransitMigration-120214.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 135741 |
Author: Jenson, Weston Thayne Title: Breaking bad: U.S.-Mexican counterdrug offensive, the Merida initiative and beyond Summary: In the study of U.S.-Mexico security cooperation, there exists a fundamental challenge to counterdrug operations; the underlying socioeconomic foundation of narco-trafficking. I argue that the historical and current practice of merely relying on military and law enforcement aid is not sufficient when it comes to addressing this socioeconomic foundation of narco-trafficking and transnational crime organizations (TCOs). Using a rational policy model, the analysis evaluates the Merida Initiative's effectiveness at inhibiting drug trafficking operations and decreasing drug-related violence. After demonstrating the ineffectiveness of current counterdrugs policies, this project evaluates three options for future U.S.-Mexico security cooperation utilizing the same criteria used to evaluate the Merida Initiative. The prerogative of this project is to demonstrate the need for a comprehensive plan that both addresses bilateral security needs as well as the underlying social foundation of narco-trafficking in order to be successful in the ongoing Mexican Narco-War. Details: Burnaby, BC: Simon Fraser University, 2013. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 23, 2015 at: http://summit.sfu.ca/item/13521 Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Enforcement Shelf Number: 135761 |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: Mexico's Disappeared: The Enduring Cost of a Crisis Ignored Summary: When Enrique Pena Nieto took office in December 2012, he inherited a country reeling from an epidemic of drug violence. The "war on drugs" launched by his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, had not only failed to reduce violence, but also led to a dramatic increase in human rights violations. Throughout most of his presidency, Calderon denied abuses had occurred and failed to take adequate steps to ensure they were prosecuted. That responsibility now falls to President Enrique Pena Nieto. And nowhere is it more urgent than in the crime of disappearances: where people have been unlawfully taken against their will and their fate is still unknown. Mexico's Disappeared documents nearly 250 "disappearances." In 149 of these cases, evidence suggests that these were enforced disappearances, carried out with the participation of state agents. In virtually all of the cases documented by Human Rights Watch, authorities failed to promptly and thoroughly search for the disappeared person, instead blaming the victim and passing the responsibility to investigate onto families. The limited investigative steps prosecutors took were undermined by delays, errors, and omissions. These lapses only exacerbate the suffering of victims' families, for whom not knowing what happened to their loved ones is a source of perpetual anguish. Another path is possible. In the state of Nuevo Leon, responding to pressure from victims' families and human rights defenders, prosecutors have broken with a pattern of inaction and begun to seriously investigate a select group of disappearances. While progress thus far has been limited, it is an encouraging first step. Ultimately, enforced disappearances are a national problem, and the success of state-level efforts will depend in large measure on whether the federal government is willing and able to do its part. If, like its predecessor, the Pena Nieto administration fails to implement a comprehensive strategy to find the missing and bring perpetrators to justice, it will only worsen the most severe crisis of enforced disappearance in Latin America in decades. Details: New York: HRW, 2013. 176p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2015 at: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/mexico0213_ForUpload_0_0_0.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Disappearances Shelf Number: 127733 |
Author: Chicoine, Luke Title: Exporting the Second Amendment: U.S. Assault Weapons and the Homicide Rate in Mexico Summary: In the four years following the expiration of the U.S. Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB), the homicide rate in Mexico increased 45 percent. Over the same period, over 60,000 firearms recovered in Mexico have been traced back to the U.S. A difference-in-difference approach is used to estimate the effect of the expiration of the AWB on homicide rates in Mexico; states with a strong pre-2005 drug cartel presence are defined as the treatment group. The baseline estimates suggest the expiration of the AWB is responsible for at least 16.4 percent of the increase in the homicide rate in Mexico between 2004 and 2008. Details: Unpublished paper, 2011. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2015 at: http://www.econ-jobs.com/research/32941-Exporting-the-Second-Amendment-US-Assault-Weapons-and-the-Homicide-Rate-in-Mexico.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Assault Weapons Shelf Number: 129728 |
Author: Santamaria, Gema Title: Drugs, gangs and vigilantes: how to tackle the new breeds of Mexican armed violence Summary: Since 2007 Mexico has experienced a steady increase in lethal and non-lethal forms of violence, including kidnappings, extortion, extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances. This spiral of violence has been driven by the consolidation and expansion of non-conventional armed actors operating in an institutional and political climate characterised by pervasive levels of corruption, impunity and criminal collusion. Public indignation over this state of affairs reached a high after the disappearance of 43 trainee teachers in the town of Iguala in September 2014. This report analyses the objectives, structures and impact of non-conventional armed actors in Mexico, focusing on drug-trafficking organisations, street gangs and so-called self-defence forces. It examines the pitfalls and lessons learned from the country's past and present security strategies, and lays out the basis for an alternative approach to understanding and tackling non-conventional armed violence. Based on a careful analysis of the dynamic and hybrid character of these groups, the report argues for an approach that prioritises the fight against corruption and the protection of embattled communities through localised prevention, geographic sequencing and knowledge-based policing. Details: Oslo: Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre, 2014. 9p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 2, 2015 at: http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/Santamar%C3%ADa_NOREF_Drugs%2C_gangs_and_vigilantes_December%202014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 135843 |
Author: Lima, Luis Francisco Rodriguez Title: Enforcement and Robbery in Mexico: An economic approach Summary: There have been very limited attempts to fit the crime model started by Becker in 1968 to the case of Mexico, as well as the usage of victimization surveys for these sorts of models. In this work, we attempt to construct an econometric model based upon economic theory with available data for the years 2000 and 2004 with the aim of estimating the elasticities of enforcement. We analyze victimization survey estimations in contrast to official indicators of crime (robbery) to construct a model according to the specific criminal process of this country. In addition, we explore the potential simultaneity bias in enforcement expenditures and unobserved heterogeneity across states based upon the construction of the budget formulae. Details: Coventry, UK: University of Warwick, 2008. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 3, 2015 at: http://www.cdeunodc.inegi.org.mx/articulos/doc/tesis1luis.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Mexico Keywords: Economics of Crime Shelf Number: 129731 |
Author: Gutierrez, Michel Estefan Title: Violence, In Mexico? Homicide in a Democratizing Society Summary: Scholars who study Mexico have recently argued that the process of democratization the country went through in the past three decades contributed to the upsurge in violence we are currently witnessing. As one regime collapsed and the other emerged, change begot violence. Amid the flood of unequivocal assertions, however, a simple question remains: exactly how violent is Mexico? So far, the academic literature has failed to paint a systematic picture of patterns of violence in Mexico. In this thesis, I set the record straight regarding violence in Mexico and its connection to the country's transition to democracy. I make two empirical contributions that are theoretically consequential. First, I show that regardless of the data source used, violence in Mexico as measured by homicide rates decreased steadily since the early 1990s until 2007. Second, using a series of multiple regression models to determine the effect of political competition and voting participation on homicide rates, I show that democracy has not made Mexico more violent, but less. These findings force us to revisit our understanding of late twentieth century Mexico as a violent, unruly society, as well as debates on the causes of violence in the last few years. They also open new paths for theoretical reflection, raising the puzzle of change without disruption. Details: Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley, 2011. 95p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: accessed June 3, 3015 at: http://www.cdeunodc.inegi.org.mx/articulos/doc/tesis2estefan.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Statistics Shelf Number: 129729 |
Author: Livingston, Andrew Title: A Reputation for Violence: Fractionalization's Impact on Criminal Reputation and the Mexican State Summary: Friday night, July 8th 2011 - gunmen aligned with Los Zetas smash their way into a bar in the Northern Mexican city of Monterrey. They open fire and kill 20 people while wounding even more. The next morning, in an unrelated incident, police find 10 people shot and left to rot in an abandoned SUV. In just 24 short hours, 30 people are added to the ever-expanding casualty count. Horrific days of violence like these have become more frequent over the past few years. The Government of Mexico responds to violent organized criminal groups (OCGs) by increasing enforcement and the OCGs retaliate with brazen acts of aggressive defiance. The 15,000 that died in 2010 alone, elevates the death toll from the Mexican Drug War to around 35,000 since 2007. These huge numbers have a way of desensitizing us to the reality of death. That cannot be allowed to happen. On average, 14 sons, daughters, husbands, wives, friends and neighbors are murdered every day in the violent border city of Juarez. Fourteen died yesterday and more will perish today, tomorrow, and the day after. In an effort to reduce violence and the power of criminal organizations, US and Mexican strategy has focused primarily on removing high valued targets within an OCG's top leadership in order to fracture the organization's power structure. Mexican President Felipe Calderon believes breaking up the gangs will turn a criminal problem that threatens Mexican national security into a regional safety issue. But in the short run fragmentation causes spikes in violence because conflicts arise within and between criminal organizations. After the pre-existing power relationship disintegrates, leaders of criminal groups attempt to increase their market share by muscling out the competition. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration views this escalation in violence as "a sign of success in the fight against drugs" an instance of "caged animals, attacking one another." But this view may be oversimplified. Organized crime groups are horizontally structured for-profit criminal businesses that operate to maximize revenues gained from illegal activities. They typically engage in violence only when it serves a specific business purpose. The strategy of continually breaking apart criminal organizations has kept the balance of power from reaching a stable equilibrium. These uncertain conditions incentivize OCGs to forcefully take advantage of their rivals' unstable control over market share. But physical violence is only one way to increase market share and control competitors. Establishing a threatening reputation from past displays of violence and corrupting government officials are integral components of a combined strategy that allow an OCG to attain a dominant status within the market hierarchy without having to resort to expensive warfare. The following analysis considers criminal violence in Mexico from an economic perspective of illegal firms' incentives to build violent reputation capital. Studying the costs and benefits of utilizing violent intimidation and institutional corruption to gain an economic advantage provides an objective point from which the success or failure of the US-Mexican strategy of fragmentation can be analyzed. Reputation building by criminal organizations will be discussed in the context of their effect on the local population, the government and rival OCGs. This analysis will attempt to answer the central question of whether President Calderon's war against the organized crime groups increases violence and destabilizes the Mexican state. In the end, the continuous periods of intense violence that occur when government enforcement keeps the market destabilized perpetuates an environment where reputation must be constantly rebuilt and reaffirmed with actual displays of violence. This violent environment selects for the most aggressive and brutal leaders all while overburdening criminal justice system and eroding public confidence in the rule of law. Going after the dangerous criminals that control Mexico's illicit underworld sounds like a reasonable and responsible plan to weaken their power over the state but in the end, constantly breaking apart criminal organizations exacerbates many of the problems the government is trying to solve. Details: Hamilton, NY: Colgate University, 2011. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 13, 2015 at: http://www.colgate.edu/portaldata/imagegallerywww/096e1793-d3a4-43b3-b7fa-bd595c56c799/ImageGallery/LivingstonA(1)FinalCopy.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 135999 |
Author: Calderon, Gabriela Title: The Beheading of Criminal Organizations and the Dynamics of Violence in Mexico Summary: In 2006 the Mexican government launched an aggressive campaign to weaken drug- trafficking organizations (DTOs). The security policies differed significantly from those of previous administrations in the use of a leadership strategy (the targeting for arrest of the highest levels or core leadership of criminal networks). While these strategies can play an important role in disrupting the targeted criminal organization, they can also have unintended consequences, increasing inter-cartel and intra-cartel fighting and fragmenting criminal organizations. What impact do captures of senior drug cartel members have on the dynamics of drug-related violence? Does it matter if governments target drug kingpins vs. lower ranked lieutenants? We analyze whether the captures or killings of kingpins and lieutenants have increased drug-related violence and whether the violence spills over spatially. To estimate effects that are credibly causal, we use different empirical strategies that combine difference-in-differences and synthetic control group methods. We find evidence that captures or killings of drug cartel leaders have exacerbating effects not only on DTO-related violence, but also on homicides that affect the general population. Captures or killings of lieutenants, for their part, only seem to exacerbate violence in "strategic places" or municipalities located in the transportation network. While most of the effects on DTO-related violence are found in the first six months after a leader's removal, effects on homicides affecting the rest of the population are more enduring, suggesting different mechanisms through which leadership neutralizations breed violence. Details: Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, 2015. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: CDDRL Working Paper: Accessed July 20, 2015 at: http://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/publication/beheading-criminal-organizations-and-dynamics-violence-mexico%E2%80%99s-drug-war Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 136109 |
Author: Heinle, Kimberly Title: Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2014 Summary: - Violence is lower in Mexico than elsewhere in the Americas, but average for the region. Levels of violence are relatively lower in Mexico than in several other countries in the Americas, but are about average for the Western Hemisphere. Mexico's 2012 homicide rate of 21.5 was just above the region's average of approximately 21.4 homicides per 100,000 people. However, this was up nearly threefold from Mexico's rate of 8.1 per 100,000 in 2007. No other country in the hemisphere has seen such a large increase in the number or rate of homicides over the last decade. - Homicides had been declining through the mid-2000s, reaching a record low in 2007. Continuing a long-term trend, the number of intentional homicides documented by Mexico's National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Information (INEGI) declined significantly under both presidents Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000) and Vicente Fox (2000-2006). Under Zedillo, the number of intentional homicides declined fairly steadily from 15,839 in 1994 to 10,737 in 2000, totaling 80,311 homicides. The annual number of homicides fluctuated somewhat under Fox, but continued to decline generally, with a total of 60,162 homicides. Moreover, the number of homicides actually reached a record low of 8,867 intentional homicides in 2007, the first full year in office for Felipe Calderon (2006-2012). - Violence grew dramatically after 2008, with the number of homicides peaking in 2011. After Calderon's first year, the number of intentional homicides documented by INEGI climbed sharply, with year-over-year increases of more than 58% in 2008, 41% in 2009, 30% in 2010, and 5% in 2011. As predicted by last year's Justice in Mexico drug violence report, the number of intentional homicides documented by INEGI declined somewhat in 2012, Calderon's final year in office. Specifically, our March 2013 report predicted that INEGI would register a modest decline for 2012 (no greater than 8.5%). According to figures released in late-2013, the number of intentional homicides documented by INEGI for 2012 declined about 4% to 26,037. All told, throughout the Calderon administration, INEGI reported 121,669 homicides, an average of over 20,000 people per year, more than 55 people per day, or just over two people every hour. - The total number of homicides appears to have declined by nearly 15% again in 2014. While INEGI's figures are not available for 2014, preliminary data from Mexico's National Security System (SNSP) suggests that the total number of intentional homicides in 2013 declined again this year by about the same proportion as in 2013. However, some analysts are skeptical about SNSP's data because of concerns about possible political manipulation by the Peea Nieto administration, so these findings should be viewed with caution. Keeping such concerns in mind, at the time of this report, SNSP's tally of all intentional homicides in 2014 was 15,649, down 13.8% from the 18,146 reported for 2013 the same time last year. The authors estimate a more modest rate of decline (about 9%) for INEGI's figures, to be released later in 2015. - Mexico's recent violence is largely attributable to drug trafficking and organized crime. A large part of the sudden increase in violence in Mexico is attributable to drug trafficking and organized crime groups. Tallies compiled independently by media organizations in Mexico suggest that at least a third and as many as half of all intentional homicides in 2014 bore characteristics typical of organized-crime related killings, including the use of high-caliber automatic weapons, torture, dismemberment, and explicit messages involving organized-crime groups. The Mexican newspaper Reforma put the figure at 6,400 organized-crime-style homicides in 2014 (though its coverage appeared to be less complete and less consistent with other sources than previous years), while Milenio reported 7,993 for the year. - Amid declining violence, serious security crises continued in central & Pacific states. Even amid the overall reduction in violence, there were serious security crises in central and Pacific states, notably the states of Guerrero, Mexico, and Michoacan. In early 2014, clashes broke out between the Knights Templar Organization (Caballeros Templarios, or KTO) and local "self-defense" (autodefensa) groups in Michoacan, causing the federal government to intervene and deputize some self-defense groups, creating official Rural Defense Forces. In late 2014, there were a series of violent crackdowns by authorities that resulted in the deaths of scores of people - including both alleged criminals and innocent civilians - in the states of Mexico and Guerrero, provoking national and international condemnations. In particular, when municipal authorities in the town of Iguala, Guerrero allegedly turned over dozens of student protestors to a local organized crime group known as the Guerreros Unidos, the perceived corruption and ineptitude of government officials led to massive protests and even acts of violence throughout the country. - The Mexican government arrested major drug traffickers, including "El Chapo" Guzman. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (2012-2018) has continued the previous administration's efforts to arrest major organized crime figures. In early 2014, the Pena Nieto administration succeeded in arresting Mexico's most notorious drug trafficker Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzman (head of the Sinaloa Cartel). In 2014, federal authorities also eliminated key leaders of the Knights Templar Organization, killing Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, a.k.a. "El Chayo" (who had been previously presumed dead) and Enrique "El Kike" Plancarte Solis. In early 2015, authorities continued to make important arrests targeting the Knights Templar Organization, the Gulf Cartel, the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, and the Zetas. - Recent organized crime arrests have not appeared to produce large spikes in violence. Some experts say that destroying leadership structures leads to greater violence because it contributes to infighting, splintering, and/or encroachment by rival criminal organizations. However, compared to previous years, the Mexican government's arrests of high-level members of organized crime groups have not resulted in such dramatic surges in violence due to infighting, splintering, or encroachment by rival criminal organizations. This may be attributable to a number of factors, including the dwindling size and capacity of criminal organizations in Mexico, the reduction in competition over drug production and trafficking routes, and/or the possible collusion of government officials to broker a peace. - Mexican security efforts appear more focused on prevention and criminal justice reform. While President Pena Nieto continued the same strategies of the previous administration during his first year in office, he also began to emphasize crime prevention and judicial system reform more strongly than in the past. Indeed, both the federal and state governments have moved into high gear in the effort to transition Mexico to a new oral, adversarial criminal procedure - popularly referred to as "oral trials" (juicios orales) - that proponents believe will provide greater transparency, efficiency, and fairness in the Mexican criminal justice system. In 2014, the Pena Nieto administration moved these efforts forward considerably by approving a Unified Code of Criminal Procedure that will be implemented at the federal and state levels throughout the country by June 2016. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico Project, University of San Diego, 2015. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 23, 2015 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2015-Drug-Violence-in-Mexico-final.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 136142 |
Author: Beittel, June S. Title: Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations Summary: Reversing a fairly robust record of capturing and imprisoning leaders of Mexico's drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), the escape of notorious cartel leader Joaquin El Chapo Guzman on July 11, 2015, was a huge setback for the Mexican government already beleaguered by charges of corruption and low approval ratings. Mexico's efforts to combat drug traffickers have touched all of the major organizations that once dominated the illicit drug trade: for example, the February 2014 capture of Guzman who leads Sinaloa, Mexico's largest drug franchise; top leaders of Los Zetas in 2013 and March 2015; the October 2014 arrests of Hector Beltran Leyva of the Beltran Leyva Organization and, later, of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes of the once-dominant Juarez cartel. The DTOs have been in constant flux in recent years. By some accounts, in December 2006 there were four dominant DTOs: the Tijuana/Arellano Felix organization (AFO), the Sinaloa cartel, the Juarez/Vicente Carillo Fuentes organization (CFO), and the Gulf cartel. Since then, the more stable large organizations have fractured into many more groups. In recent years, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) identified the following organizations as dominant: Sinaloa, Los Zetas, Tijuana/AFO, Juarez/CFO, Beltran Leyva, Gulf, and La Familia Michoacana. In some sense, these might be viewed as the traditional DTOs. However, many analysts suggest that those 7 seem to have now fragmented to 9 or as many as 20 major organizations. Several analysts estimate there have been at least 80,000 homicides linked to organized crime since 2006. Few dispute that the annual tally of organized crime-related homicides in Mexico has declined since 2011, although there is disagreement about the rate of decline. It appears that the steep increase in organized crime-related homicides during the six-year administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) is likely to trend down far more slowly than it rose. The Mexican government no longer publishes data on organized crime-related homicides. However, the government reported the rate of all homicides in Mexico has declined by 30% since 2012 (roughly 15% in 2013, and another 15% in 2014). Although murder rates have diminished, the incidence of other violent crimes targeting Mexican citizens, such as kidnapping and extortion, has increased through 2013 and stayed elevated. Notably, questions about the accuracy of the government's crime statistics persist. Former President Calderon made his aggressive campaign against the DTOs a defining policy of his government, which the DTOs violently resisted. Operations to eliminate DTO leaders sparked organizational change that led to significantly greater instability among the groups and continued violence. Since his inauguration in December 2012, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has faced an increasingly complex crime situation. The major DTOs have fragmented, and new crime groups have emerged. Meanwhile, the DTOs and other criminal gangs furthered their expansion into other illegal activities, such as extortion, kidnapping, and oil theft, and the organizations now pose a multi-faceted organized criminal challenge to governance in Mexico no less threatening to the rule of law than the challenge that faced Pena Nieto's predecessor. According to the Pena Nieto Administration, 93 of the 122 top criminal targets that their government has identified have been arrested or otherwise "neutralized" (killed in arrest efforts) as of May 2015, although Guzman's escape confounds that achievement. Congress remains concerned about security conditions inside Mexico and the illicit drug trade. The Mexican DTOs are the major wholesalers of illegal drugs in the United States and are increasingly gaining control of U.S. retail-level distribution through alliances with U.S. gangs. This report provides background on drug trafficking and organized crime inside Mexico: it identifies the major DTOs, and it examines how the organized crime "landscape" has been significantly altered by fragmentation. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2015. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: R41576: Accessed July 28, 2015 at: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41576.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Patrol Shelf Number: 136160 |
Author: Verdugo Yepes, Concepcion Title: Crime and the Economy in Mexican States : Heterogeneous Panel Estimates (1993-2012) Summary: This paper studies the transmission of crime shocks to the economy in a sample of 32 Mexican states over the period from 1993 to 2012. The paper uses a panel structural VAR approach which accounts for the heterogeneity of the dynamic state level responses in GDP, FDI and international migration flows, and measures the transmission via the impulse response of homicide rates. The approach also allows the study of the pattern of economic responses among states. In particular, the percentage of GDP devoted to new construction and the perception of public security are characteristics that are shown to be associated with the sign and magnitude of the responses of economic variables to crime shocks. Details: Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund, 2015. 59p. Source: Internet Resource: IMP Working Paper No. 15/121: Accessed July 30, 2015 at: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2015/wp15121.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Economics of Crime Shelf Number: 136277 |
Author: Haahr, Kathryn Title: Addressing the Concerns of the Oil Industry: Security Challenges in Northeastern Mexico and Government Responses Summary: This case study analyzes the Mexican Government's response to recent threats to and attacks against energy infrastructure and personnel in Tamaulipas and Veracruz. The government is addressing the issue of cartel-induced violence in Tamaulipas and Veracruz by mobilizing security frameworks for newly established and existing state law enforcement entities and the Military. The security arrangements, that include policing of major ports and protecting Pemex facilities and operations, should help the oil and gas industry to better absorb the financial risks to its business operations. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2015. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 4, 2015 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Addressing%20the%20Concerns%20of%20the%20Oil%20Industry_0.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 136309 |
Author: Negroponte, Diana Villiers Title: Pillar IV of Beyond Merida: Addressing the Socio-Economic Causes of Drug Related Crime and Violence in Mexico Summary: The 'Merida Initiative' and its successor 'Beyond Merida' form an integral part of the Mexican National Crime Strategy that seeks to contain, if not defeat narcotics trafficking, organized crime and the consequential violence. Elaborated in October 2009, both governments announced the second phase in early 2010. Broader than the 'Merida Initiative,' 'Beyond Merida' proposes four categories, known as 'Pillars,' some of which directly involve the U.S. government agencies and others which imply collaboration. - Pillar I. Disrupting and dismantling criminal organizations . - Pillar II. Strengthen state institutions, i.e. law enforcement, the judiciary and correctional institutions to reduce public insecurity and provide better serve Mexican citizens. - Pillar III. Develop a "smart border" with the U.S. so as to facilitate trade and overcome the bottlenecks currently choking the U.S./Mexico border. - Pillar IV. Address the social and economic factors contributing to the violence and seek to build strong and resilient communities that can withstand the pressures of crime and violence. This article examines U.S. and Mexican government efforts to develop Pillar IV. It also recognizes programs that Mexico commenced in 2010 to focus seriously on the socio-economic causes of violence in the northern cities, Ciudad Juarez and Monterrey. This article addresses the effectiveness of current bilateral programs and asks what changes might be made to increase the impact in the short and long term. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute, 2011. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation: Accessed August 4, 2015 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Merida%20-%20Pillar%20IV%20Working%20Paper%20Format1_1.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 136310 |
Author: Althaus, Dudley Title: Mexico's Security Dilemma: Michoacan's Militias. The Rise of Vigilantism in Mexico and Its Implications Going Forward Summary: Since 2006, violence and criminality in Mexico have reached new heights. Battles amongst criminal organizations and between them have led to an unprecedented spike in homicides and other crimes. Large criminal groups have fragmented and their remnants have diversified their criminal portfolios to include widespread and systematic extortion of the civilian population. The state has not provided a satisfactory answer to this issue. In fact, government actors and security forces have frequently sought to take part in the pillaging. Frustrated and desperate, many community leaders, farmers and business elites have armed themselves and created so-called "self-defense" groups. Self-defense groups have a long history in Mexico, but they have traditionally been used to deal with petty crime in mostly indigenous communities. These efforts are recognized by the constitution as legitimate and legal. But the new challenges to security by criminal organizations have led to the emergence of this new generation of militias. The strongest of these vigilante organizations are in Michoacan, an embattled western state where a criminal group called the Knights Templar had been victimizing locals for years and had co-opted local political power. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2014. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 17, 2015 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/MichSelfDefense_Althaus_Dudley.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Gangs Shelf Number: 136439 |
Author: Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) Title: Ayotzinapa Report: Research and intial conclusions of the disappearances and homicides of the normalistas from Ayotzinapa Summary: The report issued on September 6 by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) concludes that the Mexican government's version of the fate of the 43 forcibly disappeared students from Ayotzinapa is wrong and not substantiated by scientific evidence. The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) is deeply troubled by the government's grave mishandling of the case and supports the experts' call for the government to pursue further lines of investigation to clarify what happened to the students and provide truth and justice to their families. Mexico's Attorney General, Arely Gomez, who replaced former Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam shortly after he presented the Mexican government's grossly flawed version of the students' disappearance, affirmed that her office will analyze all aspects of the report to determine whether to incorporate them into the investigation but refrained from making any statements about the government's grave errors in the case. "Rather than doing new tests to prove a theory that has already been discarded, the Mexican government should work to restructure the investigation and pursue all of the proposed lines of investigation," affirmed Maureen Meyer, WOLA Senior Associate for Mexico. "Given the multiple failures of the government's investigators, a new team should be created within the Attorney General's Office to be in charge of this next stage of the investigation," she stated. The group of five renowned experts on criminal prosecutions and human rights was formed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) based on an agreement with the students' families, their representatives, and the Mexican government. They began their work on March 2, 2015 and have been providing vital technical assistance for the case. Their report reflects six months of extensive work to search for the students, investigate those responsible, provide attention to the surviving victims of the attacks and victims' families, and to develop proposals regarding enforced disappearances in Mexico. The report negates the Mexican government's narrative that after the students had been forcibly disappeared by municipal police they were handed over to a criminal group and subsequently incinerated in a trash dump. "'The experts' report makes clear that the government attempted to sell to the families, Mexican society, and the international community a version of the events that, far from being the truth, is not backed up by scientific evidence," affirmed Meyer. "The government preferred expediency over veracity and went to great lengths, including likely torture, to back up their version of the events," she said. The report also shows that several areas of investigation remain unexplored. In particular, the experts suggest that the extreme violence that was used against the students may have been related to the fact that buses were being used by organized criminal groups in Iguala to transport heroin. Lastly, the report also makes clear that state and federal security forces knew that the students were being pursued and attacked by the municipal police yet they did nothing to come to the students' aid. Details: Grupo Interdisciplinario de Expertos Independientes. Ayotzinapa (GIEI),2015. 35p. (English summary) Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 11, 2015 at: http://media.wix.com/ugd/3a9f6f_e1df5a84680a4a8a969bd45453da1e31.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Investigation Shelf Number: 136721 |
Author: Zamudio Angles, Carlos Alberto Title: First Survey of Illegal Drug Users in Mexico City Summary: The principal motivation for implementing this survey was the lack of existing information regarding the relationship between drug users and their social networks. There is a lack of quality indicators that provide detailed information regarding the consumption of drugs, particularly when faced with the traditional dichotomy of user-addict. This dichotomy fails to see the complexity of the consumption of illegal drugs and reiterates the notion that the drug using population will inevitably move into addiction, thus ignoring the diversity of existing patterns of consumption When the socio-economic demographic of drug users was explored, it was found that more than half of all users had some university education, whether that be unfinished or graduated (54%) and more than a quarter indicated that they had some high school education (27.9). This is higher than the general Mexican population. Two out of 3 users surveyed, are engaged in full-time work (69.9%), a little less than half study (43.7%) and 1 out of 5 surveyed both work and study (22%). Only 1 out of 10 users surveyed indicated that they are currently unemployed or working without pay (9.9%). Considering almost all of those surveyed have some sort of work or daily activity (91.6%), it is recommended that society do a better job of integrating users into the formation of the public policies which affect them. The survey, which focused on the adult population of Mexico City, consisted of 350 questions and was implemented in February and March 2011. The sample size was 429 people with 310 males and 119 women and with an average age of 28.7. Details: Ciudad de Mexico, D.F., Mexico: Colectivo por una Politica Integral hacia las Drogas (CUPIDH), 2012. 9p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2015 at: http://www.cupihd.org/portal/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/first-survey-of-illegal-drug-users.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Shelf Number: 136800 |
Author: Zamudio Angles, Carlos Alberto Title: Drugs DF: Illegal Drugs Markets in Mexico City Summary: In this sixth edition titled Drugs DF, CuPIHD presents a statistical, qualitative, informative and quality analysis of the dynamics and characteristics of illegal drug markets and drug users, particularly within Mexico City. Drugs DF describes the size and characteristics of the drug market in Mexico City, as well as the perceptions and relationships of drug users with their legal, economic, institutional and social environments. Using this research, we highlight the most important market dynamics within Mexico City in order to effectively deal with the issue of drugs and drug policy, not only in Mexico City, but also in all of Mexican society. We are positive that Drugs DF will be a helpful, practical tool for researchers, policy-makers and civil society that are committed to designing and implementing public policies related to illegal drugs. We hope that it will also be informative for those who have interest in going deeper in their understanding of a complex phenomenon, filled with misinformation and prejudice. We hope this publication will con- tribute to a better understanding of illegal drug markets, its dynamics and actors, in such a way that we can begin constructing alternatives to our current drug policies. Details: Ciudad de Mexico, D.F., Mexico: Colectivo por una Politica Integral hacia las Drogas (CUPIDH), 2014. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2015 at: http://www.cupihd.org/portal/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Descargue-DRUGS-DF-aqui..pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Shelf Number: 136801 |
Author: Ley, Sandra Title: Violence and Citizen Participation in Mexico: From the Polls to the Streets Summary: How do citizens cope politically with violence? In the face of rising insecurity, Mexican citizens, particularly victims, have poured into the streets to demand an end to violence and ask for peace and justice. However, as organized crime groups attempt to influence local elections and target political candidates and public officials, citizens have not felt equally encouraged to cast ballots on election day. Elections in Mexico, as well as in other Latin American countries such as Brazil and Guatemala, have been marked by criminal violence. Voters, public officials, and candidates alike have been threatened or attacked by organized crime groups. It is, therefore, important to examine how violence shapes various forms of participation. This paper seeks to provide a broad view of political participation in the midst of Mexico's current security crisis, with the goal of understanding the effects of violence on civic activism. Overall, the paper shows that violence, particularly that directed against party candidates and public officials, threatens the electorate and depresses voter turnout. At the same time, violence has stimulated non-electoral forms of participation that attempt to bring the issue of crime and insecurity onto the political agenda and to hopefully achieve peace and justice. Such demands, however, have not been met yet and much remains to be done. In addition, citizens who take part of these efforts are further exposed to violence and retaliation by criminals and colluded officials. In preparation for the upcoming Mexican midterm elections, this paper also examines the prospects for Mexico's 2015 midterm elections in view of the recent trends in violence and civic protests. Out of the seventeen states that will hold local elections in 2015, six have a particularly alarming violent profile. Guerrero and Michoacan have homicide rates well above the national average. Politicians in both states have also been direct targets of criminal violence. Similarly, in Nuevo Leon, Jalisco, the State of Mexico, and Morelos, criminal groups have made an explicit attempt to influence politics and elections in recent years. Special attention must be paid to these regions. Political authorities must begin developing effective solutions that can effectively keep voters safe and encouraged. The conclusion outlines some policy recommendations on how to generate the necessary conditions for citizens to exercise their right to vote freely. Finally, as a result of the disappearance of the 43 students in Iguala, Guerrero, massive mobilizations have taken place across and outside of Mexico. In the face of the upcoming elections and given the prevailing weaknesses of the instruments so far created for the attention of victims - the General Law of Victims and Provictima - it will be important for these new citizen mobilization efforts to demand the commitment of political candidates and future elected authorities to increase financial and human resources for the effective operation of these institutions, and most important, the fair resolution of their cases. Civil society is a fundamental element for the achievement of political accountability, particularly in a violent context such as the one many Mexican citizens currently live under. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute; San Diego: University of San Diego, Justice in Mexico Project, 2015. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Briefing Paper Series: Accessed October 5, 2015 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2015_Ley_Violence-and-Citizen-Participation-in-Mexico.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Homicides Shelf Number: 136951 |
Author: Heinle, Kimberly Title: Citizen Security in Michoacan Summary: Arguably the most intractable security issue facing the administration of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has been the dynamic and dangerous situation in the state of Michoacan, located on the Pacific in the southwestern portion of the country. During Pena Nieto's first two years in office, the state has seen a significant increase in violence and criminal activities; the emergence, evolution, and internal struggles of armed "self-defense" groups (grupos de autodefensa, commonly referred to as autodefensas); and concerted federal government efforts to gain control and restore order in certain parts of the state, particularly in the state's western Tierra Caliente region. While certain crime indicators - notably homicide - have fallen significantly throughout much of Mexico since 2011, Michoacan is one of the states where problems of crime and violence have been most intractable. It is also one of the places where citizen mobilization has manifested most visibly through self-defense forces and vigilantism, with entire communities rising up to take the law into their own hands because of the real or perceived inability of authorities to address the problem of organized crime. Over the course of 2014, the worsening situation in Michoacan led the Mexican government to intervene heavily and try to regain the trust of the citizenry. The federal government must be exceedingly careful and deliberate in its strategy for intervening in state and local security matters, its approach to dealing with armed citizens taking the law into their own hands, its efforts to empower state and local authorities to pick up the reigns, and its efforts to rebuild civic engagement and social trust. The authors offer three guiding recommendations: First, since achieving success will require that the Mexican government have clear targets focused on outcomes and performance for social development programs aimed at strengthening community resilience (e.g., the relationship between farm subsidies and poppy cultivation, the relationship between the number of student scholarships and gang membership, etc.), the authors recommend that the Pena Nieto administration should conduct and present regular evaluation and assessment of the outcomes of its programs using precise, program-specific performance metrics. Second, a core challenge in Michoacan, as elsewhere in Mexico, is the lack of institutional integrity, which has contributed to often visible corruption of local officials and widespread support for vigilantism. Unfortunately, recent developments have delayed implementation of Michoacan's judicial reform, which was due for implementation in February 2014, pushing back urgently needed reforms to introduce greater transparency and accountability into the state's criminal justice system. Given the state's complex security situation, it is critically important that operators of the criminal justice system - particularly prosecutors, public defenders, and court personnel - be adequately trained and prepared for the transition. Third, the Pena Nieto administration's intervention in Michoacan positions the federal government to help resolve these problems, but it also runs the risk of unwittingly stifling civic engagement. The federal government's liaison should work intently to create spaces and regular opportunities for dialogue and collaboration among citizens and civic organizations, and should particularly empower the state and local citizen security counsels to provide consistent communication and constructive feedback on the progress of security measures. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute; San Diego: University of San Diego, Justice in Mexico Project, 2015. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Briefing Paper Series: Accessed October 5, 2015 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2015_Heilnle-Molzahn-Shirk_Citizen-Security-in-Michoacan.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Homicides Shelf Number: 136952 |
Author: Rodriguez Ferreira, Octavio Title: Criminal Procedure Reform in Mexico, 2008-2016: The Final Coundown for Implementation Summary: This is one of a series of special reports that have been published on a semi-annual basis by Justice in Mexico since 2010 on issues related to crime and violence, judicial sector reform, and human rights in Mexico. This report examines Mexico's progress toward implementation of the country's "new" criminal justice system, which introduces the use of oral, adversarial proceedings and other measures to improve the handling of criminal cases in terms of efficiency, transparency, and fairness to the parties involved. This report is based on several months of research and data analysis, field observation, and active participation by the authors in the process of training law professors, law students, and attorneys in preparation for implementation of the reforms. The report provides a general background on the 2008 judicial reform initiative, and examines Mexican government efforts to implement the reforms at the federal, state, and judicial district level, relying on a unique dataset and maps generated by the Justice in Mexico program based at the University of San Diego. As an additional resource, this report also contains a translation of the 2008 constitutional changes underlying the reforms. Ultimately, the authors find that there has been significant progress toward the implementation of the new criminal justice system, and offer recommendations to assist the Mexican government and international aid organizations to help Mexico sustain this progress in the years to come. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico, University of San Diego, 2015. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 28, 2015 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/151008_FINALCOUNTDOWN_Full-Finallow-res.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice Reform Shelf Number: 137161 |
Author: Paredes, Dusan Title: Is crime in Mexico a disamenity? Evidence from hedonic valuation approach Summary: Since Roback (1982)'s seminal work, the literature has evaluated the role of the amenities to equilibrate the regional differentials of nominal wages and prices. While these studies generally find evidence for traditional amenities and disamenities in developed countries, it still exists a scarce exploration on how those characteristics assessed, like violence, affect the equilibrium in less developed countries. In this paper, we explore violence as amenity or disamenity for the case of Mexico as a particular and unique natural experiment. We use the hedonic wage and rent theory proposed by Roback using data from the Mexican Household Income and Expenditure Survey, along with other information at municipal and state level. For our particular hypothesis, we find evidence to support that inhabitants in traditional drug trafficking states could consider drug-related crime as an amenity. Details: Antofagasta, Chile: Departamento de Economia, Universidad Catolica del Norte, 2015. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: No 67, Documentos de Trabajo en Economia y Ciencia Regional : Accessed October 30, 2015 at: https://ideas.repec.org/p/cat/dtecon/dt201512.html Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 137178 |
Author: Financial Action Task Force Title: Mutual Evaluation of Mexico. Interim Follow-Up Report Summary: The level of compliance of Mexico's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) regime with the FATF 40+9 Recommendations was evaluated in 2008 by a team conformed by representatives from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the FATF-Style Regional Body for South America (GAFISUD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The evaluation led to the country's Mutual Evaluation Report (MER), which was adopted by the FATF Plenary in October 2008. The MER identified several strengths in the country's AML/CFT regime, but also areas of opportunity for its improvement in full consistency with the FATF Recommendations. In this sense, specific observations were made to the case of Mexico, and the country entered into a regular follow-up process. In terms of the FATF regular follow-up process, the Government of Mexico (GOM) has kept the FATF and its members informed of its actions and achievements to fully comply with the observations included in the country's MER. The GOM has previously submitted follow-up reports in October 2010 and October 2011. The GOM is now submitting its Third Follow-up Report. This report intends to provide the FATF and the international community with a comprehensive overview of the overall progress that the GOM has made in the prevention and combating of ML/FT during the past four years. Since the MER was adopted, the GOM has substantially increased its efforts in the fight against ML/FT. These efforts have resulted in important actions to establish a complete and sound AML/CFT legal and institutional framework. As a result, we are convinced that Mexico's current AML/CFT regime is far more advanced than it was before, when the MER was conducted. Details: Paris: FATF, 2012. 192p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 9, 2015 at: http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/Interim%20Follow-up%20Report%20Mexico.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Financial Crimes Shelf Number: 137220 |
Author: Financial Action Task Force Title: Mutual Evaluation Report: Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism. Mexico Summary: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering In South America (GAFISUD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have jointly conducted an assessment of the implementation of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) standards in Mexico. - Mexico has made good progress in developing its system for combating ML and TF since its last assessment by the FATF in 2004. The laws criminalising ML and TF do not however fully meet international standards, and there is scope to significantly improve their implementation. - Laws and procedures do not adequately provide for the freezing without delay of terrorist funds or other assets of persons designated in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolutions. - Co-ordination arrangements amongst relevant government authorities have been strengthened recently but need to be further developed. Further resources are needed for some authorities. - The FIU has strengthened its financial intelligence infrastructure and capacity. It does not currently have direct access to criminal records and the number of staff is low relative to its tasks. - AML/CFT preventive measures are comprehensive, contain risk-based elements, and are being implemented across principal sectors of the financial system. Nonetheless, AML/CFT regulations are still evolving, particularly in non-deposit taking sectors. - All supervisory authorities are implementing fairly comprehensive on-site AML/CFT supervision, though this could benefit from more risk-based processes. - Trust services are the only DNFBP for which AML/CFT measures are in place. Also, no review has been conducted of the non-profit sector to support adoption of measures to prevent unlawful use of legal persons for ML and TF. - Mexican authorities have been co-operating effectively with other countries, particularly in the area of mutual legal assistance and extradition involving ML and related crimes. Details: Paris: FATF, 2008. 338p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 11, 2015 at: http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/mer/MER%20Mexico%20ful.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Mexico Keywords: Financial Crimes Shelf Number: 137228 |
Author: Isacson, Adam Title: Increased Enforcement at Mexico's Southern Border: An Update on Security, Migration, and U.S. Assistance Summary: Key Findings - Far from deterring migrants from making the journey north, the most notable effect of Mexico's migration crackdown has been changes in how migrants are traveling. With decreased possibilities of boarding the train in Chiapas, migrants and smugglers are now relying on different and dangerous routes and modes of transportation, including by foot, vehicle, and boat. These routes expose migrants to new vulnerabilities while simultaneously isolating them from the network of shelters established along traditional routes. - Raids and operations to prevent migrants from riding atop cargo trains, known collectively as La Bestia, have been the most visible and aggressive enforcement efforts under the Southern Border Program. Migration authorities have blocked migrants from boarding trains, pulled migrants off of trains, and raided establishments that migrants are known to frequent, detaining thousands. The train operations have prompted concerns about excessive use-of-force and other abuses by the authorities involved. - U.S. assistance to help Mexico secure its southern border region has increased, though there is limited transparency regarding dollar values, recipient units, equipment, and training. Additionally, some of the U.S.- donated equipment at Mexico's southern border has seen little use and was reported to be ill-suited for the terrain in this region. For example, U.S.-donated observation towers serve little purpose at the densely forested Mexico-Guatemala border. U.S.-donated biometric data equipment was also observed to be in disuse or only used sporadically. - The Southern Border Program brought an increase in mobile checkpoints, and new customs facilities have opened since its launch. Beyond these, there has been little change in the number of roadside checkpoints present on main highways in Chiapas. We observed no new checkpoints on the Pacific coast between Tapachula and Arriaga. The most notable difference is the INM's use of volantas, or mobile checkpoints, which frequently change geographic position, ensnaring unaware migrants and smugglers. The large multi-agency customs checkpoints (Centros de Atencion Integral de Transito Fronterizo, CAITFs) are not a product of the Southern Border Program but have become a key component of the region's border security strategy. Three of these facilities in Huixtla, La Trinitaria, and Playas de Catazaja, Chiapas are already in operation; construction is underway on an additional center in Chiapas and one in Tabasco. - Between July 2014 and June 2015, the Mexican government's apprehensions of Central American migrants increased by 71 percent over the same period in the previous year, before the July 2014 launch of its Southern Border Program. The Southern Border Program modestly increased the presence of immigration agents and security forces, including from Mexico's National Migration Institute (Instituto Nacional de Migracion, INM), Federal Police, and Gendarmeria, a new division of the Federal Police. On the train lines, companies have begun to employ more private security personnel to monitor the cars and tracks. - Increased apprehension and rapid deportation of migrants has not coincided with increased capacity to screen migrants for protection concerns. Rather than viewing this heavy movement of people as a refugee and protection crisis, the Mexican government sees this as an issue of managing large flows of people. Mexican law recognizes a broad definition of "refugee" under which a significant number of Central Americans fleeing violence could qualify; however, few request protection and few receive it. Mexico only granted refugee status in approximately 21 percent of requests in 2014 and during the first seven months of 2015. The lack of awareness or understanding of the right to solicit asylum, the prolonged stay in grim detention center conditions while asylum requests are processed, lack of legal representation, and the shortage of protection officers authorized to make determinations are among the reasons why so few refugees are recognized in Mexico. - Mexico's stepped-up migrant apprehensions reduced the sense of urgency in the United States to support addressing the "root causes" of Central American migration, namely the high levels of violence and poverty, and the lack of opportunity. With fewer migrants arriving at the U.S. border, legislators have delayed or scaled back badly needed reforms or assistance. Whereas Mexico apprehended 67 percent more unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras from October 2014 to September 2015 compared to the same period in the previous year, U.S. authorities apprehended 45 percent fewer over this period. Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), 2015. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 11, 2015 at: http://www.wola.org/sites/default/files/WOLA%20Report_Increased%20Enforcement%20at%20Mexico%E2%80%99s%20Southern%20Border_Nov%202015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Enforcement Shelf Number: 137237 |
Author: Cantu, Juan Carlos Title: The Illegal Parrot Trade in Mexico: A Comprehensive Assessment Summary: Mexico has 22 species of parrots (psittacines) of which six are endemic. Wild parrots are widespread across the country and have a strong connection with Mexican culture. All species except two are officially listed as at risk; 6 species are classified as endangered, 10 as threatened, and 4 as under special protection. The foremost threats psittacines face in Mexico are loss of habitat and illegal trapping for the pet trade. While some research has been done in the past regarding parrot trafficking, the fundamental questions of the volume of illegal trapping, how and where it is carried out, how trapping affects particular species and how the illegal trade relates to the legal trade were poorly understood. This assessment provides, for the first time, comprehensive answers to these and related questions, as well as detailed historical information on the regulatory programs applied to parrot trapping, the enforcement of those programs, seizures by enforcement officials, mortality rates of captured parrots, and prices in the legal and illegal trades, including historical trends. Based on interviews with trappers and representatives of their unions, and analysis of other data, an estimated range of 65,000 to 78,500 parrots are captured each year. The overall mortality rate for trapped parrots exceeds 75% before reaching a purchaser, which translates to about 50,000 to 60,000 dead birds annually, making this trade terribly inhumane and wasteful. The rate of parrot seizures by the environmental police, Procuraduria Federal de Proteccion al Ambiente (Profepa), was assessed. The seizures by Profepa represent an average of only about 2% of the annual illegal trade. Seizure rates appear to be mostly correlated with the level of enforcement effort. It is apparent that Profepa and other agencies currently lack adequate personnel and budgets to police the trade. Through analysis of seizure data obtained from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the assessment determined that only a small percentage of the annual illegal capture is being smuggled out of the country; about 86% to 96% of all trapped Mexican parrots stay in the internal trade. This is a shift from the 1970s and 1980s when the lucrative and huge USA market was considered to drive the trafficking. Now, Mexico must solve the problem internally. This assessment finds that fewer than 150 registered trappers have focused on parrots exclusively. No parrot trapping had been authorized by wildlife officials between 2003 and late 2006. Prior to 2003, the trapping regulations had many drawbacks. Officials were unable to control the number of specimens taken, the time period or the place of capture. The existence of legal trapping authorizations provided cover for the illegal trade, through forging of documents and other illicit methods. Despite the lack of any approved trapping seasons for the last three years unsustainable capture of wild parrots has continued unabated. It takes place all year round, even inside natural protected areas, and affects almost all of the 22 species. Populations of parrots are decreasing due to this exploitation. Scientific surveys estimate a 25-30% decrease in some species; interviews with parrot trappers themselves further corroborate some of these declines. Some parrots have been extirpated from large parts of their historic range. Eventual extinction is foreseeable for whole species if illegal trapping is not reined in. This assessment shows that national and international bans have not cause increased smuggling or increased prices of the affected parrot species over the last 10 years. Prices in Mexico and the USA have, in fact, generally decreased in that time period. Mexico's imports of non-native parrots have sharply increased, but they are too expensive for the huge segment of the Mexican public that purchases low-cost, illegal wild-caught parrots. Breeding centers for native parrots are few; they can breed only a small number of the 22 species and their prices cannot compete with the prices of their wild-caught cousins. This assessment provides policy recommendations to stop the devastating impacts on Mexico's prized native parrots. First and foremost is a well-publicized complete ban on any more trapping authorizations. While authorizations were temporarily halted for three years, new information obtained at the time of printing this report, in October of 2006, indicated that government officials have issued more trapping authorizations. This could be disastrous as it will provide more cover for the illegal trade and fails to send the needed strong message to the trappers and traffickers that the government is serious about conserving viable populations of parrots for the future. Not only a permanent ban, but also dramatically increased enforcement efforts to make the ban effective are needed. This should include increased enforcement efforts by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Law Enforcement agents to reduce the illegal trade, especially for the orange fronted parakeet (Aratinga canicularis), white fronted parrot (Amazona albifrons), yellow cheeked parrot (Amazona autumnalis), lilac crowned parrot (Amazona finschi) and red crowned parrot (Amazona viridigenalis), for which smuggling across the border appears to be increasing, thus is a continuing threat to the species' survival. The lessons about the need for a total ban were learned over several decades in a comparable situation when Mexico attempted to cut back on sea turtle harvesting, but only after several failed harvesting programs and drastic population crashes in almost all native sea turtle populations. For parrots, the time is ripe to tackle the challenges before it is too late. Several Profepa inspectors interviewed agreed a permanent ban is needed. The recommended permanent ban on further parrot trapping should be accompanied by a well-funded bi-national education campaign to make the Mexican and USA publics fully aware that it is wrong to buy any parrot that lacks proper documentation. Encouraging the breeding of low-cost exotic parrots could provide a substitute supply of pets. A Mexican government program to train parrot trappers to pursue other work will be vital, such as breeding exotic parrots and guiding birdwatchers in the field. An important element of conserving wild populations will be to provide some subsidization of trappers, to shift them from an illegal occupation to a legal occupation. USA funding should assist in this as well, in view of the vast deleterious impact that consumer demand from the USA had on these species particularly during the 1970s and 1980s. In sum, only integrated, coherent and well-funded policy changes will succeed in solving the biological, economic and social challenges of the illegal parrot trade. Details: Washington, DC: Defenders of Wildlife, 2007. 121p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 12, 2015 at: https://www.defenders.org/publications/the_illegal_parrot_trade_in_mexico.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Mexico Keywords: Illegal Wildlife Trade Shelf Number: 110587 |
Author: Knippen, Jose Title: An Uncertain Path: Justice for Crimes and Human Rights Violations against Migrants and Refugees in Mexico Summary: In the report An Uncertain Path: Justice for Crimes and Human Rights Violations against Migrants and Refugees in Mexico released today, participating organizations explain how the Southern Border Program has significantly increased migration enforcement operations, apprehensions, and deportations of migrants. This stepped-up enforcement has led to an increase in human rights violations against migrants. These migration operations are increasingly conducted in conjunction with Mexican security forces, and migrant shelters have documented kidnappings, extortions, robberies, and abuses throughout the country. Given that Mexico's National Migration Institute (Instituto Nacional de Migracion, INM) has been the primary agency responsible for carrying out the Southern Border Program, it is clear that, far from a development program, the strategy is focused on migration enforcement actions. The report finds that in 2014, the year the Southern Border Program was announced, the INM spent the largest budget in its history, and that this increase goes hand in hand with the increase in migrant apprehensions. For its part, the United States government has provided political and financial support to the Mexican government for migration enforcement, especially following the 2014 "surge" of migrants, mostly unaccompanied children and families from Central America that arrived at the U.S. southwest border. In July 2014, it was revealed that the State Department was working with the Mexican government on enforcement at its southern border, providing some US$86 million in funds already included in the Merida Initiative, a multi-year U.S. security aid package to Mexico. Furthermore, Congress allocated up to US$79 million in additional funds in fiscal year 2015 for this same purpose. The report demonstrates how the Mexican government's efforts to strengthen protections for migrants have fallen far short of their actual needs. There is no evidence that migrants who are victims of crimes and human rights violations have effective access to justice, despite the creation of new specialized prosecutors for attention to migrants. There is a lack of conclusive data regarding justice for migrants in Mexico. The most detailed data are from the specialized prosecutor's office in Oaxaca, which reports that of the 383 complaints received over four years, only 96 resulted in a preliminary investigation being opened and only four resulted in sentences for the perpetrators. Although the National Human Rights Commission (Comisioin Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, CNDH) and state-level human rights commissions are more approachable for demanding justice, the report finds that their "procedures and investigative capacities are not particularly expeditious or effective." The report reveals that of the 1,617 complaints of human rights violations against migrants that the CNDH received from December 1, 2012 to June 15, 2015, only four resulted in a formal recommendation issued to the institution implicated in the complaint. The report also discusses why there are so many potential refugees in Mexico and so few recognized refugees. It stresses that the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comision Mexicana de Ayuda a Refugiados, COMAR), only has 15 protection officers in the entire country to ensure access to international protection for the more than 100,000 migrants that are detained over the period of a year. Moreover, COMAR's budget did not increase in real terms from 2014 to 2015. Given this context, An Uncertain Path: Justice for Crimes and Human Rights Violations against Migrants and Refugees in Mexico, provides concrete recommendations to the relevant governmental agencies within the Mexican government, including the INM, the Ministry of the Interior, and the federal Attorney General's office, as well as to the United States government. The report is the result of a close collaboration between the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Fundar, Centro de Analisis e Investigacion, and seven shelters and organizations that work to defend migrant rights in five areas of Mexico: Casa del Migrante "Frontera con Justicia," AC in Saltillo, Coahuila; the "Red Sonora" (a network composed of three organizations in Sonora: Kino Border Initiative in Nogales, Centro de Recursos para Migrantes in Agua Prieta y Centro Comunitario de Atencion al Migrante y Necesitado, or CCAMYN, in Altar); Albergue de Migrantes "Hermanos en el Camino" in Ixtepec, Oaxaca; La 72, Hogar - Refugio para Personas Migrantes in Tenosique, Tabasco; and Un Mundo, Una Nacion in Apizaco, Tlaxcala Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), 2015. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 24, 2015 at: http://www.wola.org/sites/default/files/An%20Uncertain%20Path_Nov2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 137321 |
Author: Amnesty International Title: "Treated with Indolence": The State's Response to Disappearances in Mexico Summary: In Mexico, it makes no difference whether disappearances have a high profile internationally and nationally or remain in relative obscurity, nor whether those responsible are state agents or private individuals. Whatever the nature of the disappearance, the authorities seem equally unable to provide a coherent response at the institutional level aimed at uncovering the truth and ensuring justice and reparations for the more than 26,000 people who have disappeared. Amnesty International has documented shortcomings in the authorities efforts to search for the disappeared and their failure to carry out effective investigations that result in victims being identified and those responsible punished. In this report, Amnesty International examines the enforced disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa and the crisis of disappearances in Ciudad Cuauhtemoc in the State of Chihuahua. These two cases are emblematic, reflecting the seriousness of the situation facing the country. This crisis has led to the creation of a large number of groups, including relatives of the disappeared, who are demanding truth, justice and reparation. In the face of state inaction, they have taken up the struggle and made enormous efforts to find their loved ones. Amnesty International urges the Mexican authorities to take concrete steps to address this issue. In particular, it calls on them to ensure that the General Law on Disappearances, which is due to be introduced shortly, incorporates the highest international standards. The new legislation must take into account the experience and the needs of the thousands of victims seeking their loved ones. The law should also establish appropriate mechanisms to investigate and punish disappearances and develop a public policy aimed at preventing and ending enforced disappearances and disappearances carried out by non-state actors. Details: London: AI, 2016. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 28, 2016 at: http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/mexico_disappearances_report_eng_pdf.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Disappearances Shelf Number: 137699 |
Author: Ajzenman, Nicolas Title: On the Distributed Costs of Drug-Related Homicides Summary: Reliable estimates of the effects of violence on economic outcomes are scarce. We exploit the many-fold increase in homicides in 2008-2011 in Mexico resulting from its war on organized drug traffickers to estimate the effect of drug-related homicides on house prices. We use an unusually rich dataset that provides national coverage on house prices and homicides and exploit within-municipality variations. We find that the impact of violence on housing prices is borne entirely by the poor sectors of the population. An increase in homicides equivalent to one standard deviation leads to a 3% decrease in the price of low-income housing. In spite of this large burden on the poor, the willingness to pay in order to reverse the increase in drug-related crime is not high. We estimate it to be approximately 0.1% of Mexico's GDP. Details: Washington, DC: Center for Global Development, 2014. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper 364: Accessed January 28, 2016 at: http://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/distributive-costs-drug-related-homicides_0.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 132248 |
Author: Castillo, Juan Camilo Title: Scarcity without Leviathan: The Violent Effects of Cocaine Supply Shortages in the Mexican Drug War Summary: Using the case of the cocaine trade in Mexico as a relevant and salient example, this paper shows that scarcity leads to violence in markets without third party enforcement. We construct a model in which supply shortages increase total revenue when demand is inelastic. If property rights over revenues are not well defined because of the lack of reliable third party enforcement, the incentives to prey on others and avoid predation by exercising violence increase with scarcity, thus increasing violence. We test our model and the proposed channel using data for the cocaine trade in Mexico. We found that exogenous supply shocks originated in changes in the amount of cocaine seized in Colombia (Mexico's main cocaine supplier) create scarcity and increase drug-related violence in Mexico. In accordance with our model, the effect of cocaine scarcity on violence is larger near US entry points; in locations contested by several cartels; and where, due to high support for the PAN party, crackdowns on the cocaine trade have been more frequent. Our estimates suggest that, for the period 2006-2010, scarcity created by more efficient interdiction policies in Colombia may account for 21.2% and 46% of the increase in homicides and drug-related homicides, respectively, experienced in the north of the country. At least in the short run, scarcity created by Colombian supply reduction efforts has had negative spillovers in the form of more violence in Mexico under the so-called War on Drugs. Details: Washington, DC: Center for Global Development, 2014. 73p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper 356: Accessed January 28, 2016 at: http://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/scarcity-leviathan-effects-cocaine-supply-shortages_1.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Cocaine Shelf Number: 132303 |
Author: International Displacement Monitoring Centre Title: Forced displacement linked to transnational organised crime in Mexico Summary: Drug cartel violence in Mexico has increased dramatically since 2007, when the new government of President Felipe Calderon identified insecurity as a key problem and began deploying the military to fight the cartels in key locations. According to various analysts the strategy has backfired, stirring up a hornet's nest by disturbing existing arrangements between the cartels, and sparking wars both within and between them. The impact of the violence has been enormous. Government figures put the number of people killed since the launch of the security strategy at 47,000, with more than 15,000 losing their lives in 2010 and 12,900 in the first nine months of 2011. The media have repeatedly put the death toll at 50,000, and many have referred to the violence as an insurgency or armed conflict. It is clear, however, that the cartels do not have a political agenda or ideology, and such references have prompted angry responses from the Mexican government. Whether the violence can be defined as an internal armed conflict under international humanitarian law or not, its effects on the civilian population have been significant and the response inadequate. One impact has been forced migration, both internal and cross-border. Because of available resources and timeframe this study focuses exclusively on the former. Civil society organisations, academic institutions and the media have increasingly documented cases and patterns of forced internal displacement caused by drug cartel violence. That said, aside from two cases of mass displacement - in Tamaulipas in 2010 and in Michoacan in 2011 - most people have fled individually, and as a result information is scattered. This study aims to fill that information gap. Firstly, it documents an empirical link between drug cartel violence and forced displacement at the national level, distinguishing it from economic migration and where possible identifying patterns of displacement. Secondly, it identifies and describes the vulnerabilities of those affected, focusing on access to the basic necessities of life and livelihood opportunities in places of displacement, and housing, land and property rights. Thirdly, it maps government responses at both the federal and state level. Details: Geneva, SWIT: IDMC, 2012. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 28, 2016 at: http://www.internal-displacement.org/assets/publications/2012/2012005-am-mexico-Mexico-forced-displacement-en.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Disappearances Shelf Number: 137705 |
Author: Kyle, Chris Title: Violence and Insecurity in Guerrero Summary: This paper is a continuation of the series Building Resilient Communities in Mexico: Civic Responses to Crime and Violence, a multiyear effort by the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Justice in Mexico Project at the University of San Diego to analyze the obstacles to and opportunities for improving citizen security in Mexico. Insecurity and violence associated with organized criminal activity are pervasive in Mexico's southern state of Guerrero. The state's homicide rate is the highest in the country and extortion and kidnapping are commonplace. For perpetrators, there is near complete impunity. The state is divided into territories within which either drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) or community policing networks exercise control over local policing functions. Local, state, or federal authorities occasionally join this competition, but for the most part policing powers are held by others. In rural areas competition between groups of traffickers over the state's prodigious narcotics output has created violent no-man's-lands in buffer zones between territories controlled by rival groups. In cities violence is mostly a byproduct of efforts to establish and preserve monopolies in extortion, kidnapping, and retail contraband markets. Despite claims to the contrary by state and federal authorities, there has been no discernible improvement in public security in recent months or years. Restraining the violence in Guerrero will require that state authorities make a systematic effort to address two existing realities that sustain the criminal activities producing violence. Thus, this paper examines the security situation in the state of Guerrero, including the operation of drug trafficking organizations, and proposes possible solutions to the security crisis. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2015. 51p. Source: Internet Resource: Building Resilient Communities in Mexico: Civic Responses to Crime and Violence Briefing Paper Series: accessed February 17, 2016 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Violence%20and%20Insecurity%20in%20Guerrero.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 137864 |
Author: de Hoyos, Rafael Title: Idle youth in Mexico : trapped between the war on drugs and economic crisis Summary: The present study combines data from Mexico's employment surveys (Encuesta Nacional de Empleo and Encuesta Nacional de Ocupacion y Empleo) with the country's official statistics on murder rates to create a state-level panel data set covering the period 1995 to 2013. Including most of the common controls identified by the literature, the results show that the rate of male youth ages 19 to 24 not studying and out of work (the so-called ninis), is not correlated with homicide rates during the period 1995 to 2006. However, there is evidence that a positive correlation between male ninis and murder rates arises between 2007 and 2013, a period during which murder rates in Mexico increased threefold. The association between ninis and homicide rates is stronger in states located along the border with the United States, a region particularly affected by organized crime and the international financial crisis of 2008-09. Details: Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2016. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Research working paper; no. WPS 7558: Accessed February 17, 2016 at: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2016/02/04/090224b084147697/1_0/Rendered/PDF/Idle0youth0in000and0economic0crisis.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: At-risk Youth Shelf Number: 137868 |
Author: Institute for Economics and Peace Title: Mexico Peace Index 2016. Mapping the Evolution of Peace and Its Drivers Summary: In 2015, Mexico's peace improved by 0.3 percent, which is the smallest improvement in peace in the last five years. The improvement is largely attributed to a 10 percent decline in the violent crime rate and an eight percent decline in the rate of organized crime related offenses. However, this was offset by deteriorations in detention without sentencing, weapons crime and the homicide rate. The latter increased by six percent. Furthermore, the gap between the most and least peaceful states widened slightly in 2015, reversing the trend observed in six of the seven prior years. An area of concern is the trend towards increased impunity, which deteriorated dramatically from 2007 onwards. In 2007, there were four convictions for every five cases of homicide, but by 2013 there was only one conviction for every five cases. This, combined with the increases in detention without sentencing, points to an overstretched judicial system, as is further supported by statistics on the over-crowding of prisons. It also highlights the challenges facing the justice system, whose 2015 federal expenditure was 78 billion pesos, below the 2012 level of expenditure. The longer term trends indicate a marked improvement in peacefulness since 2011, the year in which violence peaked in Mexico. The country has improved its peacefulness by 13 percent since that time. Violent crime, homicides and organized crime have all fallen by nearly 30 percent. These improvements mean that twenty-five out of the 32 states in Mexico have become more peaceful since 2011, including four of the five states that ranked at the bottom in that year. These improvements in peace have resulted in roughly 85 percent of The Mexico Peace Index (MPI), produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, provides a comprehensive measure of peacefulness in Mexico from 2003 to 2015, with new results for 2015. This report aims to deepen the understanding of the trends, patterns and drivers of peace in Mexico, while highlighting the important economic benefits that will flow from a more peaceful society. Details: Sydney, AUS: Institute for Economics and Peace, 2016. 120p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 13, 2016 at: http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Mexico-Peace-Index-2016_English.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Rates Shelf Number: 138663 |
Author: Merino, Mauricio Title: Mexico: The Fight against Corruption. (A Review of onging reforms to promote transparency and curtail corruption) Summary: Though neither of the two recent episodes that sparked Mexico's largest public-awareness movement since the beginning of this century were anything out of the ordinary, they marked a tipping point in Mexican politics. First off, the forced disappearance of 43 students in Iguala, Guerrero, on September 26, 2014, caused a wave of protests against human rights violations and impunity. Soon after, leading journalist Carmen Aristegui published a report on First Lady Angelica Rivera's dubious acquisition of the "Casa blanca," a high-end residence in Mexico City. Aristegui pointed out that Grupo Higa, which built the residence for Rivera "according to her specifications," had been awarded several public-works concessions during Enrique Pena Nieto's governorship of the State of Mexico, as well as during his presidency, provoking widespread public discontent toward corruption in Mexico. In less than 45 days, the social discontent that had accumulated over the course of almost 15 years came to the forefront, with collective outrage focusing on two main issues: impunity and corruption. With Ayotzinapa in the backdrop, the disclosure of First Lady Angelica Rivera's tactics to increase her private wealth, coupled with the president and his wife's ambiguous and insufficient public response, which widely circulated in the media, only exacerbated public discontent - finally opening a window of opportunity to make in-depth modifications to Mexico's institutional design and fight corruption at its roots. The ongoing transparency and corruption reforms have been the subject of much public debate. These reforms have built upon academic and social organizations' years of research and dialogue to draft comprehensive, articulate, and coherent public policy on accountability as a way to fight the corruption that has plagued Mexico's public institutions. Corruption hinders institutions from performing as expected, deteriorates trust and social relationships, violates rights, wastes resources, limits economic growth, and stops income distribution. Corruption is the number one cause of inequality, impunity, and exclusion from Mexico's political regime. In this paper, Mauricio Merino discusses Mexico's fight against corruption and reviews the ongoing reforms to promote transparency and curtail corruption. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2015. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 23, 2016 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/mexico_the_fight_against_corruption.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Human Rights Abuses Shelf Number: 138800 |
Author: O'Neil, Shannon K. Title: Mexico on the Brink Summary: The headlines don't mislead. Mexican society is reeling from the collateral damage of the permanent war on drugs in the Americas, as crime cartels duke it out for control of illicit exports to the US. Indeed, high levels of violence largely explain why Mexico ranked 104th out of 142 countries in the Safety and Security category in the 2013 Legatum Prosperity Index - and why, in spite of a very high ranking (27th) in the Economy category, the country is only 59th in the overall prosperity ranking. But that's just one element of the story of contemporary Mexico. Here, Shannon O'Neil, a senior fellow for Latin American Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (and author of the new book, Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead), focuses on Mexico's progress in escaping what development economists call the "middle-income trap". In the early 1980s, Mexico began to shake off the political and economic torpor created by one-party, Tammany Hallstyle rule and self-imposed isolation from the competitive pressures of a rapidly integrating global economy. Reform was initially forced on the country as a condition for relief from the consequences of default on its foreign loans. But it triggered a series of secondary tremors that shook the domestic economic and political landscape, leading first to the free trade agreement with the US and Canada, and then to the opening of the political system to interests that had no stake in preserving a bloated, bureaucratic government and corrupt, state-owned enterprises. O'Neil picks up the story from there. Arguably the least understood aspect of Mexico's coming of age, she suggests, is the role played by global supply chains in manufacturing. Mexico's combination of competitively priced labour, proximity to the US and Canada, and market-friendly regulation has led to an unprecedented degree of integration between the three economies, powering the growth of Mexico's middle-class. O'Neil makes it clear that the path forward is not strewn with roses, however. Organised crime still makes life terrifying for millions on a daily basis. Public services - in particular, public education - remain inadequate to meet the challenge of creating a workforce the equal of, say, the US or Northern Europe. The national oil monopoly is still corrupt, poorly managed and woefully lacking in modern technology. But by O'Neil's reading, Mexico really does have a shot at joining the elite club of rich, democratic nations. Details: London: Legatum Institute, 2013. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Prosperity in Depth: Mexico: Accessed May 13, 2016 at: https://lif.blob.core.windows.net/lif/docs/default-source/country-growth-reports/pid-mexico-2013---mexico-on-the-brink.pdf?sfvrsn=0 Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 139017 |
Author: Bobonis, Gustavo J. Title: Conditional Cash Transfers for Women and Spousal Violence: Evidence of the Long-Term Relationship from the Oportunidades Program in Rural Mexico Summary: This paper provides evidence of the long-term relationship between male-to-female spousal violence and the Oportunidades conditional cash transfer program. It uses data from three nationally representative surveys that include detailed information on the prevalence of spousal abuse and threats of violence against women. Constructing comparable groups of beneficiary and non-beneficiary households within each village to minimize potential selection biases, the present study finds that, in contrast to the short-run estimates, physical and emotional abuse rates over the long term do not differ significantly between existing beneficiary and non-beneficiary couples. The paper examines possible causes for the difference, most importantly, the role that marital selection and the diffusion of norms rejecting intimate partner violence may play in explaining these effects. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2015. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: IDB WORKING PAPER SERIES No IDB-WP-632: Accessed May 18, 2016 at: https://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/7267/ICS_WP_Conditional_Cash_Transfers_for_Women_and_Spousal_Violence.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Domestic Violence Shelf Number: 139077 |
Author: Jones, Nathan P. Title: The State Reaction: A Theory of Illicit Network Resilience Summary: This dissertation elucidates the relationship between a profit-seeking illicit network's (PSIN's) business strategy and resilience. The dissertation finds that territorial PSIN business strategies challenge "the territorially sovereign state" through activities like kidnapping and extortion. The intensity of the state reaction to the illicit network was the single most important factor in its ability to survive disruptive events. The state, in this case Mexico, reacted more intensely to territorial PSIN's in collaboration with civil society, other states and rival "transactional" PSIN's. In this case the state (Mexico) dissolved a territorial PSIN, suggesting that the state is capable of effectively confronting this illicit network type. On the other hand, the case finds that the state was corrupted by transactional PSINs whose business strategies made them resilient. This finding suggests that through corruption, transactional PSINs will pose a long-term threat to democratic institutionalization in Mexico and internationally anywhere that states must address these illicit networks. The dissertation is an in-depth historical case study of the Tijuana Cartel, also known as the Arellano Felix Organization (AFO). Through archival research and interviews with experts on the illicit network a case study was constructed. Experts interviewed for the dissertation during nine months of fieldwork in Mexico City and Tijuana, included: journalists, law enforcement, scholars, extortion victims and businessmen. Given the similar structures of illicit networks, the findings of this dissertation have important implications for understanding other drug trafficking organizations, prison gangs, terrorists, insurgencies, arms traffickers, among a host of other potential "dark network" actors. Details: Irvine, CA: University of California, Irvine, 2011. 299p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 18, 2016 at: http://wpsa.research.pdx.edu/awards/jones.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Dark Networks Shelf Number: 139085 |
Author: Witte, Eric A. Title: Undeniable Atrocities: Confronting Crimes Against Humanity in Mexico Summary: This report focuses on the nine-year period of December 1, 2006 to December 31, 2015. This covers the entirety of Felipe Calderon's presidency (December 1, 2006 to November 30, 2012), and just over half of the six-year term of current President Enrique Pema Nieto. To put statistics and institutional developments in context, however, the report includes some information from previous years, and especially the final years of the Vicente Fox presidency (December 1, 2000-November 30, 2006). The current crisis is the most intense period of violence in Mexico's modern history, but not its first. Accordingly, the report includes a brief overview of prior periods in which the government was also implicated in atrocity crimes for which there has been no accountability - including the period of the so-called "Dirty War," waged by the government against left-wing students and dissidents from the late 1960s to 1980s - in order to situate the recent surge in violence within a broader historical and political context. WHAT ARE "ATROCITY CRIMES"? The United Nations defines the term as encompassing the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. This report uses the term to refer to particular forms of violent crime that have affected many tens of thousands of civilians and may amount to crimes against humanity. Those affected include not only Mexicans but migrants from Central America, who travel a perilous path through the country and are increasingly the victims of vicious cartel violence. Specifically, the report examines three types of atrocity crimes: killings, disappearances, and torture and other ill-treatment. The report attempts to paint a composite picture based on a good-faith effort to synthesize all available statistics on and documentation of atrocity crimes in Mexico from December 2006. But that picture is only partial. Only accurate and complete data can reveal the full nature and scale of these crimes. The bulk of the data on which the analysis rests necessarily comes from government sources. This creates a considerable methodological challenge because government data on atrocity and other crime in Mexico is notoriously incomplete, skewed towards minimization, and therefore often unreliable. Collection of crime data is decentralized; states vary in their capacity and will to collect and share data with the federal government and public; some states keep data electronically and online, while others still keep records on paper, which are difficult to access. Particularly for atrocity crimes, data suffers from inaccurate and inconsistent categorization, itself a symptom of enduring denial about the scope and gravity of the situation. For instance, if charged at all, torture is often categorized as a lesser crime, such as "abuse of authority," and enforced disappearances may instead be classified as "kidnappings." Decades of impunity have engendered popular distrust in the justice sector, culminating in one of the greatest barriers to collecting accurate crime statistics: the fact that over 90 percent of crimes in Mexico are never reported to authorities in the first place. All of this has contributed to widely varying assessments of the scale and nature of atrocity crime, and confusion over the adequacy of the justice system's response. Some government data used here comes from public reports and statements from agencies including the federal Attorney General's Office (PGR), the Executive Secretariat of the National System of Public Security (SNSP), the autonomous government statistics office (INEGI), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), and the Defense Ministry (SEDENA). Reports and publications of Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) provide another important, if flawed, source of data. BEYOND PUBLIC REPORTS FROM GOVERNMENT ENTITIES, this report relies on information obtained through extensive use of Mexico's progressive legal regime on the right to information. Although critical public information is still too often withheld, the Open Society Justice Initiative, its partners, and others have been able to gain new insight into atrocity crime data, specific cases, and the functioning of justice institutions through information requests submitted to the federal and state governments. This report also relies on an extensive review of United Nations and Inter-American treaty body jurisprudence and reports; federal and state human rights commissions; national, regional, and international civil society reports; legal scholarship by Mexican and non-Mexican academics and political analysts; as well as investigative reports from Mexican and international media. These resources were augmented by over 100 first-hand interviews conducted by Mexico-based and international Justice Initiative staff and consultants, in person and by email and telephone, over the course of 2013-2015. Most in-person interviews were conducted in Mexico City, Coahuila, Guerrero, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, and Queretaro, although a small number were conducted in Morelos and Geneva. Almost all interviews were conducted in Spanish; for some, there was simultaneous interpretation into English, with the Spanish version considered definitive. All interviews were conducted with the verbal consent of the interviewee. Some sourcing has been anonymized at the request of the interlocutor. Those interviewed included government officials at the federal and state levels, including prosecutors, police, judges, members of congress and congressional staff, and officials at human rights and truth commissions. Research also included numerous interviews with Mexican and international experts and civil society representatives, as well as diplomats and academics. Details: New York: Open Society Foundations, 2016. 220p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 7, 2016 at: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/undeniable-atrocities-en-20160602.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Against Humanity Shelf Number: 139298 |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: Closed Doors: Mexico's Failure to Protect Central American Refugee and Migrant Children Summary: Tens of thousands of children flee Central America's Northern Triangle - El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras - each year, on their own or with family members, because they have been pressured to join local gangs, threatened with sexual violence and exploitation, held for ransom, subjected to extortion, or suffer domestic violence. Mexican law provides for refugee protection for children and adults who face persecution or other threats to their lives and safety in their home countries. Even so, less than 1 percent of the children who are apprehended by Mexican immigration authorities are recognized as refugees. Closed Doors examines the reasons for this gulf between the need for protection and Mexico's low refugee recognition rates, detailing the formidable obstacles children face in even applying for recognition. Immigration agents frequently fail to inform them of their rights and do not adequately screen them for possible refugee claims. They do not receive state-appointed lawyers or other government assistance in preparing applications for refugee recognition. More dauntingly, most are held in prison-like conditions, leading many children to accept deportation to avoid protracted time in detention. The report concludes with specific steps Mexico should take to address these shortcomings. Mexican authorities should ensure that children have effective access to refugee recognition procedures and end immigration detention of children; and they should provide appropriate care and protection for unaccompanied migrant children by identifying the housing arrangements that are most consistent with their best interests. Details: New York: HRW, 2016. 164p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 7, 2016 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/mexico0316web_0.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Asylum Shelf Number: 139305 |
Author: World Wildlife Fund Title: Illegal Logging and its Impact in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve Summary: 1. Illegal logging is the main conservation problem in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. This report presents the direct and indirect evidence of illegal logging from 2001 to the beginning of 2004. 2. The report is based on the following evidence: (i) a change analysis of the forest cover in the central core zone (that has a total of 9,671 ha) of the Reserve through aerial photographs obtained in 2001 and 2003, (ii) field samplings of 12 properties in 2003, and (iii) the deforestation analysis in two areas of the buffer zone from 2001 to 2003. The report also discusses: sites where the impact of logging was especially evident in the buffer zone; data obtained during 21 aerial flights in 2003 and 2004; and 42 letters and complaints made primarily by the agrarian communities requesting support from the authorities to solve the issue of illegal logging. Additionally, reference is made to 23 inspections carried out by the Michoacan Delegation of the Federal Attorney General's Officer for Environment Protection (PROFEPA), between 2002 to 2004 in five properties; the construction of 43 trenches by the communities to stop illegal logging trucks; and of the location of 61 sawmills documented in the region. 3. The circumstances surrounding the illegal logging in five properties in the state of Michoacan are analyzed in detail: the ejido of Francisco Serrato, the Federal Property, and the indigenous communities of San Francisco Curungueo, Francisco Serrato and Crescencio Morales. 4. The available data on logging in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere shows that between 2001 and 2003 at least 370 hectares have been deforested in the buffer zone (Francisco Serrato and Emiliano Zapata ejidos) and 140 hectares have suffered from serious forest degradation in the core zone. However the number of hectares logged does not reflect the seriousness of the problem. Considering the various types of evidences studied, a total of 28 communities have suffered from illegal logging during the last three years. Twenty three of these communities are located in the core zone (an area where logging is prohibited according to the 2000 Presidential Decree) and the remaining five communities are located on the buffer zone). On the other hand, it is not necessary to loose all the trees to affect the overwintering sites of the Monarch butterfly, since the removal of only a few trees may substantially alter the microclimatic conditions required for their survival. 5. The case studies presented here show local efforts to combat the illegal logging, including the letters of complaint sent to the to the authorities and obstructions created to stop the trucks of the illegal loggers. Communities have repeatedly requested the permanent presence of the army to fight this problem which affects their forests. 6. Despite this, the response from the authorities has been sporadic and not of the necessary magnitude to stop this environmental crime. The law enforcement operations carried out by the authorities in April and May 2004 were important, however, these operations must be permanent in order to ensure the effective protection of the protected area. 7. Recommendations to stop the illegal logging include : (i) permanent presence of the army (as requested by the leaders of the agrarian communities), (ii) the obstruction of entrances to the core zone of the protected area to block the access of the illegal loggers, (iii) the periodical inspections of the Reserve and sawmills of the region, and (iv) the implementation of immediate communication mechanisms, so that the communities may inform the authorities of logging activities effectively . Details: Washington, DC: World Wildlife Fund, 2004. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 1, 2016 at: http://www.eco-index.org/search/pdfs/363report_3.pdf Year: 2004 Country: Mexico Keywords: Deforestation Shelf Number: 139542 |
Author: Nunez, Hector Title: Is Crime in Mexico a Disamenity? Evidence from hedonic valuation approach Summary: Since Roback (1982)'s seminal work, the literature has evaluated the role of the amenities to equilibrate the regional differentials of nominal wages and prices. While these studies generally find evidence for traditional amenities and disamenities in developed countries, it still exists a scarce exploration on how those characteristics assessed, like violence, affect the equilibrium in less developed countries. In this paper, we explore violence as amenity or disamenity for the case of Mexico as a particular and unique natural experiment. We use the hedonic wage and rent theory proposed by Roback using data from the Mexican Household Income and Expenditure Survey, along with other information at municipal and state level. For our particular hypothesis, we find evidence to support that inhabitants in traditional drug trafficking states could consider drug-related crime as an amenity. Details: Documentos de Trabajo en Economia y Ciencia Regional from Universidad Catolica del Norte, Chile, Department of Economics , 2015. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 25, 2016 at: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dWNuLmNsfHdwZWNvbm9taWF8Z3g6NDVlZTdlZWE3N2NlZDUzMQ Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Violence Shelf Number: 139822 |
Author: Martinez-Cruz, Adan L. Title: Crime and Persistent Punishment: Long-Run perspective on the links between violence and chronic poverty in Mexico Summary: The relationship between violence and chronic poverty has been studied mostly in the context of war or long-term episodes of conflict. In contrast to previous studies, this paper explores whether violence that does not include the shattering of infrastructure impacts the chance that poverty may remain chronic. A long-run perspective is gained by analyzing unique, recently gathered panel data at the municipality level in the Mexican context, covering the period from 1990 to 2010. Violence is measured as the number of non-drug-related homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. A municipality is classified as chronically poor if the percentage of people in food poverty remains above the national average during two consecutive periods. Econometric analysis is carried out through discrete choice models. Putting the results in context, consider of a chronically poor municipality in 2005 in which average household income is below the 25th percentile in 2000. If this municipality had a 10.47 non-drug-related homicide rate, the 75th percentile in 2000, its chance of remaining chronically poor into 2005 was almost double the corresponding chance of a municipality with the same mean household income but at the national median of violence in 2000 (zero non-drug-related homicides Details: Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Research Working Paper 7706: Accessed July 25, 2016 at: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2016/06/16/090224b0843d3863/1_0/Rendered/PDF/Crime0and0pers0ic0poverty0in0Mexico.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 139826 |
Author: Medel, Monica Title: Bleeding Mexico: An Analysis of Cartels Evolution and Drug-Related Bloodshed Summary: Drug-related violence in Mexico has increased exponentially in the last five years, killing near 50,000 people. Even though the country has been a producer of marijuana and opium poppy for nearly a century, it was not until the beginning of the new millennium that drug violence skyrocketed. Up until now, academic studies and policy papers have focused primarily on the political changes Mexico underwent over the last decade and on ingrained corruption as the central factors in explaining the increased violence. But such a jump in homicides rates, as well as the sheer brutality of the violence involved, also reflects the evolution of the country's drug organizations -- which went from being merely feared and ruthless drug producers and smugglers to far-reaching criminal empires that now dominate all aspects of the illicit drug underworld in the Americas. Many have become so powerful that they have formed their own armies of hit men and foot soldiers that operate like full-fledged paramilitary groups protecting their territories and smuggling routes to American soil. Further feeding the cycle of murders in Mexico is an increasing diversification of drug gangs' businesses, which now range from drug production and smuggling to extortion, kidnapping and human trafficking. Through an historical, spatial and statistical analysis, this study sets out to deconstruct the current wave of Mexican drug violence, show how it is spreading and why, and how that reflects the evolution of Mexican drug organizations. Details: Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin, 2012. 179p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed August 26, 2016 at: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/18831 Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 140037 |
Author: Rotman, Maia Title: 'Unsafe'' and on the Margins: Canada's Response to Mexico's Mistreatment of Sexual Minorities and People Living with HIV Summary: 'Unsafe' and on the Margins: Canada's Response to Mexico's Mistreatment of Sexual Minorities and People Living with HIV, (PDF) is a 54-page report based on IHRP field research in Mexico, including interviews with more than 50 Mexican healthcare providers, human rights activists, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community, people living with HIV, journalists, and academics, all of whom testify to widespread discrimination and rights-violations in Mexico's healthcare delivery. The release of the report, funded by the Elton John AIDS Foundation, coincided with World Refugee Day on June 20, 2016 as well as Canada's first-ever pride month. 'Unsafe' and on the Margins: Canada's Response to Mexico's Mistreatment of Sexual Minorities and People Living with HIV,' The report says that Canada should remove Mexico from its refugee 'safe' list because of the country's serious human rights abuses. Failure to do so could place Canada in violation of its international legal obligations. Despite some progressive legislation, including universal healthcare and a federal commitment to non-discrimination, in practice, Mexico's most vulnerable communities continue to encounter significant obstacles to accessing these rights. As a result, the country remains unsafe for many, particularly people living with HIV or at heightened risk of infection, and especially sexual minorities and marginalized populations. Nevertheless, Mexico appears on Canada's designated country of origin (DCO) list, which entitles Mexican claimants to only half the time claimants from non-DCO countries get to prepare their claims, and creates the possibility of prejudgment among decision-makers, the report said. The report raises concerns that Canada is circumventing its international legal obligations by keeping Mexico on the 'safe' country list. As a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol, Canada has a duty to not discriminate against refugee claimants by reason of their race, religion or country of origin. According to the report, systemic discrimination and unlawful denial of healthcare to people living with HIV and populations at heightened risk of infection contravene Mexico's international legal obligations. Proper and timely HIV treatment can mean a healthy life-span for people living with HIV, but late diagnosis or lack of consistent treatment creates a high risk of life-threatening infection and higher likelihood of transmission. Furthermore, Mexico's failure to adequately fund HIV prevention or education programs has contributed to a culture of stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV. Health advocates told the IHRP about ignorance and misinformation about HIV within the medical community, breaches of confidentiality, denial of healthcare or segregation within healthcare centres, and other human rights abuses against people living with HIV. The report calls on Canada in its capacity as a champion of human rights, both domestically and internationally, and also as Mexico's third-largest trading partner. As expressed in the report's recommendations, Canada should urge Mexico to ensure that people living with HIV are able to access healthcare services free from obstruction or discrimination. The report also encourages Canada to offer assistance to Mexico to develop protocols for healthcare professionals to ensure equal and consistent access to healthcare, with particular emphasis on people living with HIV, in accordance with Mexico's international legal obligations. Details: Toronto: University of Toronto Faculty of Law, International Human Rights Program, 2016. 58p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 28, 2016 at: http://ihrp.law.utoronto.ca/utfl_file/count/PUBLICATIONS/Report-UnsafeAndOnMargins2016.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Discrimination Shelf Number: 146136 |
Author: de Casio, Ana Cardenas Gonzalez Title: The Effect of the 'War on Organised Crime' on the Mexican Federal Judiciary: A Comparative Case Study of Judicial Decision-Making Summary: Using a comparative case study design, this thesis explores the impact on the Mexican federal judiciary of steep rises in violent crime, proliferation of armed organised crime groups, greater involvement of the military in crime control activities and the government's 'war on organised crime'. The thesis develops 'enemy penology' as a theoretical framework based on the observation that the Mexican government has increasingly conceptualised offenders as enemies and called for an explicitly militarised criminal justice response. Drawing on this theoretical framework, the thesis analyses qualitative data from two different sites - a 'crime control as warfare' scenario (highly militarised state) and an unchanged context (less militarised state). Findings are examined within the enemy penology framework and also drawing on theories of judicial behaviour and judicial roles in order to explain the overarching finding that judges seem to have insulated themselves from the 'enemy penology' promulgated by the government. Analysis of 40 written judgements in drug cases and 28 semi-structured interviews with judges (drawn from a total of 56 interviews achieved during the fieldwork) indicated that decision making, guilt determination and sentencing were almost identical in the two locations despite stark differences in context. In both locations, the study observed an inclination to privilege police evidence, high conviction rates despite poor prosecutorial performance and insufficient evidence, and a tendency to impose minimum sentences. Interviewees discussed these issues as well as the impact of armed criminality, military involvement in crime control and judicial independence. Overall, the Federal judiciary appeared to be not influenced by the enemy penology paradigm reproduced by public officials and criminal policies. Mexican judicial behaviour was found to be strongly shaped by a formalistic and legalistic understanding of judicial duties where accuracy in law interpretation is expected, disregarding other goals, including politics and policy considerations. This understanding is enhanced by the judiciary through strict observance of precedents, reversals and enhancing law-interpreter and ritualist judicial roles. Nonetheless, the empirical data also showed that judges' views and opinions are informed by strategic goals, attitudes, motives, managerial needs and the pursuit of self-respect and recognition. In sum, examining court judgements and judges' views about deciding cases in the light of the prevalent 'enemy penology' provided a rich understanding of the way decision- making in criminal matters is constructed by judges as well as the complex and often contradictory layers that comprise the image and role of the Mexican federal judge. Details: London: King's College London, Dickson Poon School of Law, 2016. 332p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed October 13, 2016 at: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/57599059/2016_Gonz_lez_De_Cos_o_Ana_C_rdenas_1140394_ethesis.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Offenders Shelf Number: 145441 |
Author: Suarez, Ximena Title: A Trail of Impunity:Thousands of Migrants in Transit Face Abuses amid Mexico's Crackdown Summary: On September 3, 2016, in a public event with the United States' Republican party presidential candidate Donald Trump, Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto commented on how essential it is for his government and for Mexico's relationship with the United States to make Mexico's southern border with Central America "more secure." This discourse is not new. In July 2014 Mexico announced the controversial "Southern Border Program" and has since pursued policies that prioritize securing the country's Southern Border from migrants through control measures and a significant increase in detentions and deportations, ignoring concerns about the human rights of migrants and potential refugees traveling through Mexico, in particular from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. A new assessment of the situation reveals that migration enforcement operations keep increasing, at a time when Mexican authorities have not sufficiently improved their capacity to screen migrants to detect protection concerns and to seriously investigate crimes against migrants in transit in the country. Official data, information obtained through freedom-of-information requests, journalistic sources, and information from some of the shelters assisting migrants in Mexico reveals that 2016 may be the year with the highest number of detentions, deportations, and asylum petitions in Mexico. Details: WOLA; Fundar: Centro de Analisis e Investigacion, and the Casa del Migrante Frontera con Justicia, in Saltillo, Coahuila, 2016. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 15, 2016 at: https://www.wola.org/analysis/a-trail-of-impunity/ Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Deportation Shelf Number: 144875 |
Author: Clark, Kyleigh M. Title: When Prohibition and Violence Collide: The Case of Mexico Summary: Some theorists have found a positive correlation between increased drug prohibition enforcement and a rise in violence. These studies focus on the United States and Colombia, arguing that prohibition amplifies violence, rather than decreasing it. Much like the United States and Colombia earlier in their histories, Mexico has recently experienced an escalation in violence. Since beginning a democratic transition in 2000, the Mexican government has intensified a war on drugs by strengthening the rule of law, battling corruption, and cooperating with the United States' drug war. This study, using a congruence method with process-tracing, will analyze the Mexican case in depth, with the goal of determining whether increased drug prohibition enforcement has escalated drug-related violence in Mexico, and what effect the violence has on the legitimacy of democracy itself in Mexico Details: Dayton, OH: Wright State University, 2011. 146p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed October 17, 2016 at: http://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2209&context=etd_all Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Control Policy Shelf Number: 146034 |
Author: Gautreau, Ginette Lea Title: The Third Mexico: Civil Society Advocacy for Alternative Policies in the Mexican Drug War Summary: The growth of the drug war and rates of narco-violence in Mexico has captured the attention of the international community, leading to international debates about the validity and effectiveness of the War on Drugs mantra. Since 2006, the Mexican government has been actively combating the cartels with armed troops, leading to high rates of human rights abuses as well as growing opposition to official prohibition policies. This thesis explores three movements advocating for alternatives to the Mexican drug war that have their foundation in civil society organizations: the movements for human rights protection, for drug policy liberalization and for the protection and restitution of victims of the drug war. These movements are analysed through a theoretical framework drawing on critical political economy theory, civil society and social movement theory, and political opportunity structures. This thesis concludes that, when aligned favourably, the interplay of agency and political opportunities converge to create openings for shifting dominant norms and policies. While hegemonic structures continue to limit agency potential, strong civil society advocacy strategies complemented by strong linkages with transnational civil society networks have the potential to achieve transformative changes in the War on Drugs in Mexico. Details: Ottawa: University of Ottawa, 2011. 130p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed October 17, 2016 at: https://www.ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/31029/1/Gautreau_Ginette_2014_Thesis.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 140768 |
Author: Braakmann, Nils Title: Crime, health and wellbeing -- Longitudinal evidence from Mexico Summary: This paper uses variation in victimization probabilities between individuals living in the same community to shed new light on the costs of crime. I use panel data from the Mexican Family Life Survey for 2002 and 2005 and look at the impact of within-community differences in victimization risk on changes in self-rated and mental health. My results from fixed effects and instrumental variable estimations point towards substantial negative health effects of actual victimization, which might help to explain the existence of compensating differentials in wages or house prices found in earlier studies. Details: Munich: Munich Personal RePEc Archive, 2013. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: MPRA Paper No. 44885: Accessed December 7, 2016 at: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/44885/1/MPRA_paper_44882.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Communities and Crime Shelf Number: 147945 |
Author: Payan, Tony Title: Security, the Rule of Law, and Energy Reform in Mexico Summary: This paper argues that Mexico must anticipate and resolve potential problems in organized crime, corruption and natural resource allocation priorities in order to successfully implement its energy reforms. This paper is part of a Baker Institute Mexico Center research project examining the rule of law in Mexico and the challenges it poses to implementing the country's energy reform. Details: Baker Institute Mexico Center, 2016. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 8, 2016 at: http://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/6bf37bd2/MEX-pub-RuleofLaw_PC-120116.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Natural Resources Shelf Number: 140350 |
Author: Meyer, Maureen Title: Mission Unaccomplished: Mexico's New Criminal Justice System Is Still a Work in Progress Summary: After eight years of reform, Mexico has a new criminal justice system -- at least on paper. When the Mexican Congress passed a series of constitutional reforms to Mexico's justice system in 2008, it was lauded as an important step towards making the criminal justice system more effective, efficient, and transparent and as one of Mexico's most powerful and ambitious tools to counter impunity and corruption. Given the magnitude of the reforms, the federal and state governments were given eight years to make the full transformation from a primarily inquisitorial, written-based system to an adversarial, oral-based system in which the prosecution and defense present competing evidence and arguments in open court. As of June 18, 2016, the transition to the new criminal justice system (Nuevo Sistema de Justicia Penal) is officially over. But a fully reformed system is far from being a reality in the country. The reformed system had to be implemented in Mexico's 31 states and Mexico City for the investigation and prosecution of crimes at both the federal and state levels. Although authorities asserted that by the June 18 implementation deadline, the new system was operating to some extent in all of the country for state-level crimes, they reluctantly acknowledged that only four states met all the criteria to consider the system fully operational (Coahuila, Nuevo León, Yucatán, and Chihuahua). Regarding crimes under federal jurisdiction, Mexican authorities said in an interview with WOLA that the new system is operating in 28 states; however, in states with high levels of violence and the presence of organized crime, such as Guerrero, Tamaulipas, Jalisco, and Baja California, the new system just began to operate in June 2016. Federal crimes are under the authority of the Attorney General's Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR) and include crimes related to drug trafficking and organized crime. Apart from a disorganized and slow implementation process, the full transition to the new system will be delayed until prosecutors and judges conclude thousands of cases opened under the inquisitorial or "old" system, which has faced backlogs for decades. In the old system, federal prosecutors usually take over seven months before presenting charges against a suspect and on average each prosecutor handles forty cases. Additionally, on June 15, 2016—just three days before the transition to the new system officially ended—the Mexican Congress finally approved a key set of amendments (miscelanea penal) that defined the operational and procedural aspects of the adversarial system, including relevant due process exceptions in organized crime cases. Implementing these amendments will also delay the complete transition to the adversarial system. Given these complications, an evaluation by the Mexican think tank CIDAC estimated that the full implementation of the new system could take 11 more years, meaning that it could be until 2027 that people prosecuted in Mexico fully benefit from the new safeguards of the reformed system. Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), 2016. 11p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 19, 2016 at: https://www.wola.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Mission-Unaccomplished-Justice-Reform-Mexico_WOLA.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice Reform Shelf Number: 144888 |
Author: Osorio, Javier Title: Hobbes on Drugs: Understanding Drug Violence in Mexico Summary: This dissertation analyzes the unprecedented eruption of organized criminal violence in Mexico. To understand the dynamics of drug violence, this dissertation addresses three questions. What explains the onset of the war on drugs in Mexico? Once the conflict starts, why does drug violence escalate so rapidly? And lastly, why is there subnational variation in the concentration of violence? Based on a game theoretic model, the central argument indicates that democratization erodes the peaceful configurations between the state and criminal organizations and motivates authorities to fight crime, thus triggering a wave of violence between the state and organized criminals and among rival criminal groups fighting to control strategic territories. In this account, state action is not neutral: law enforcement against a criminal group generates the opportunity for a rival criminal organization to invade its territory, thus leading to violent interactions among rival criminal groups. These dynamics of violence tend to concentrate in territories favorable for the reception, production and distribution of drugs. In this way, the disrupting effect of law enforcement unleashes a massive wave of violence of all-against-all resembling a Hobbesian state of war. To test the observable implications of the theory, the empirical assessment relies on a novel database of geo-referenced daily event data at municipal level providing detailed information on who did what to whom, when and where in the Mexican war on drugs. This database covers all municipalities of the country between 2000 and 2010, thus comprising about 9.8 million observations. The creation of this fine-grained database required the development of Eventus ID, a novel software for automated coding of event data from text in Spanish. The statistical assessment relies on quasi-experimental identification strategies and time-series analysis to overcome problems of causal inference associated with analyzing the distinct - yet overlapping - processes of violence between government authorities and organized criminals and among rival criminal groups. In addition, the statistical analysis is complemented with insights from fieldwork and historical process tracing. Results provide strong support for the empirical implications derived from the theoretical model. Details: Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame, 2013. 485p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed February 15, 2017 at: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/1749033212.html?FMT=ABS Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 150551 |
Author: Germa-Bel Title: A two-sided coin: Disentangling the economic effects of the 'War on drugs' in Mexico Summary: Mexican President Felipe Calderon was sworn into office in December 2006. From the outset, his administration was to deploy an aggressive security policy in its fight against drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), in what became known as the Mexican 'War on Drugs'. The policy was strongly condemned because of the 68,000 unintentional deaths directly attributable to it. Here, we evaluate the economic effects of this 'War on Drugs'. To disentangle the economic effects of the policy, we study the effects of homicides and the rise in the homicide rate together with the impact of federal public security grants and state-level military expenditure on economic growth. Using spatial econometrics, we find that at the state-level the number of homicides reduced the Mexican states' GDP per capita growth by 0.20 percentage points, while the growth in the homicide rate increased the states' per capita GDP by 0.81 percentage points. The government's efforts to fight DTOs had a positive and highly significant impact on economic growth. Details: Barcelona: Research Institute of Applied Economics, 2016. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper 2016/11 : Accessed February 15, 2017 at: http://www.ub.edu/irea/working_papers/2016/201611.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 146289 |
Author: Gutierrez-Romero, Roxana Title: Estimating the impact of Mexican drug cartels on crime Summary: We estimate the impact of drug cartels and drug-related homicides on crime and perceptions of security in Mexico. Since the location where drug cartels operate might be endogenous, we combine the difference-in-difference estimator with instrumental variables. Using surveys on crime victimization we find that people living in areas that experienced drug-related homicides are more likely to take extra security precautions. Yet, these areas are also more likely to experience certain crimes, particularly thefts and extortions. In contrast, these crimes and perceptions of insecurity do not change in areas where cartels operate without leading to drug-related homicides. Details: Bellaterra: University Autonoma de Barcelona, Departament d'Economia Aplicada; 2014. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 16, 2017 at: http://www.ecap.uab.es/RePEc/doc/wpdea1406.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 141060 |
Author: CNDH Mexico Title: Adolescentes: Vulnerabilidad y Violencia Summary: This report Examines the impact of poverty, social disorganization, and the influence of peers and adults that encourage crime and violence among juveniles in Mexico. It consists of interviews who explain how and why they became involved in organized crime. Details: Mexico: CNDH, 2016. 188p. Source: Internet Resource: Informe Especial: Accessed February 17, 2017 at: http://www.cndh.org.mx/sites/all/doc/Informes/Especiales/Informe_adolescentes_20170118.pdf (In Spanish) Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Adolescents Shelf Number: 147326 |
Author: Salcedo-Albaran, Eduardo Title: Structure of a Transnational Criminal Network: "Los Zetas" and the Smuggling of Hydrocarbons Summary: Mexico is currently one of the most important hotspots of criminal activity with effects in the Western Hemisphere. In this criminal dynamic, the Sinaloa Cartel, The Gulf Cartel, "La Familia Michoacana", "The Knights Templar" and "Los Zetas" are some of the most relevant criminal networks that originated in Mexico, but currently reach and operate in different countries across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. While the operations of criminal networks inside of Mexico are severely violent, outside of Mexico their operations mainly consist of smuggling, transportation and distribution of illegal drugs, and other such activities. "Los Zetas", initially created out of former elite army soldiers, was the armed wing of the criminal network known as the “Gulf Cartel” [Cartel del Golfo] at the beginning of the present century. However, very quickly "Los Zetas" began operating as an independent criminal network, currently challenging the Gulf Cartel for control of trafficking routes and "plazas", meaning gaining local power in municipalities. Bearing this in mind, in this paper we present and discuss a model of a transnational criminal structure of "Los Zetas". Details: Bogota, Colombia: Vortex Foundation, 2014. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Vortex Working Paper no. 12: Accessed February 23, 2017 at: http://media.wix.com/ugd/f53019_b8156d42310843a1b9dbcce4095c51b8.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Network Shelf Number: 141197 |
Author: Carreon Rodriguez, Victor G. Title: Economic Analysis of Theft Reporting: The Case of Mexico City Summary: Theft is the major component of crime rates in Mexico City and its reporting remains low and stable even when the budget assigned to federal public security reached an increase of 202.23% in 2006-2010. We develop a utility maximization model that attempts to explain the incentives that individuals face when theft reporting and we empirically verify it. We empirically verify a direct relationship between theft reporting and the recovered proportion of what is robbed. Also, we find an inverse relationship between theft reporting and (i) its price, and (ii) theft itself. Details: Mexico: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas A.C., 2013. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 23, 2017 at: http://www.libreriacide.com/librospdf/DTE-568.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Rates Shelf Number: 141204 |
Author: Perez Casanova, Gaspar M. Title: The Lost Path: Regulating Transit Illegal Immigration on Mexico's Southern Border Summary: This thesis focuses on the efforts that the Mexican government has made for the regulation of illegal immigration in transit through the country. This study explores the origins and trends of Central American migration, the complexity of Mexico’s southern border, and the reasons for the failure of plans and programs implemented by three different administrations to regulate and protect migration flows. It finds that those plans and programs failed because Mexico did not perceive the control of Central American illegal immigration as an end; instead, it has been used to foster foreign policy objectives or to respond to second-order effects produced by the war against organized crime. Since 2000, Mexican administrations have faced different realities, both domestic and international, which have shaped their response for border management and the regulation of illegal immigration. Security and the reordering of regional migration flows have been the priorities, relegating transit migration to a second plane. Mexico has accomplished important advances to give certainty and protection to illegal immigrants, but an integral and effective framework to regulate migration is lacking. Processes of planning, implementation, and evaluation of migration policies are barely defined, and the implementation of plans and programs is ineffective due to institutional weaknesses. The regulation of transit migration in Mexico is an unresolved issue. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2014. 176p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed February 23, 2017 at: http://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/44643/14Dec_Perez_Casanova_Gaspar.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 141206 |
Author: Diaz-Cayeros, Alberto Title: Caught in the Crossfire: The Geography of Extortion and Police Corruption in Mexico Summary: When Mexican president Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006 he declared a war on the nation’s drug traffic organizations (Ríos and Shirk, 2011). Violence escalated as criminal organizations became increasingly fragmented and disputed their territories (Killebrew and Bernal, 2010; Beittel, 2011). The main strategy followed by the federal government involved capturing leaders and lieutenants of criminal organizations (Calderón et al. forthcoming). This seemed to provoke even more violence, by making the competition over-territorial control fiercer and providing incentives for many gangs to make extortion and protection fees (derecho de piso) an additional source of revenue (Guerrero-Gutiérrez, 2010). Given the absence of legal(and peaceful) rules and enforcement mechanisms for competitors in the illegal drug market, disagreements were usually solved violently. Under the pressure of the crackdown by the federal police, the navy and the army, contracts among criminal gangs were often disrupted, leading to even more violence. Competition over the strategic routes towards the market in the United States was settled by literally eliminating rivals (Dell, 2012). The wide availability of illegal guns crossing from the US border (Dube et al., 2013) turned firearm deaths into the main cause of death among young men in Mexico.Meanwhile, citizens became caught in the crossfire of rival drug cartels and extortion at the hands of criminal gangs. A highly visible example of this was the case of two students in the prestigious private university Tecnológico de Monterrey who were kidnapped by drug traffickers in 2010, but then killed by the military in a botched attempt to rescue them. The case became particularly controversial due to the excessive use of force by the army and their effort to cover up the case with planted evidence. During the late 1990s and early 2000s Mexico gradually changed from being a transit territory for drugs heading to the United States market to a place of increasing consumption (Castañeda and Aguilar, 2010). This transformation was partially driven by a change in the way that wholesale drug importers were paying for services; they switched from payments only in cash to payments with part of the same drug they were distributing (Grillo, 2011:80). The change from a transportation to a retail distribution business implied that drug cartels had to increase the number of personnel. Having a larger full-time workforce, the cartels could now count on small armies of salaried criminals at their disposal. The perfect complement to this new industrial organization was an easily corruptible police and judicial system at all levels of government. Increasingly fragmented criminal organizations began to diversify their illegal activities–to extortion of small businesses, kidnappings of middle-class individuals, racketeering and control of retail trade in their territories, and extortion of migrant workers– perhaps in associations with police departments. Although it is difficult to provide evidence on how much real progress has been made, there is no question that efforts at reforming the police forces in Mexico face a momentous challenge in such environment. Although a new federal police force was created after 2006 and, in principle, all police had to comply with background checks and other administrative procedures, in fact, state and municipal police forces remain not just corrupt but also keep on using excessive force and violating human rights. This became patently clear in the case of the 43 Ayotzinapa missing students that in October of 2014 were detained by the municipal police of the city of Iguala, to be handed in to the killers of a drug traffic organization. The police forces of Iguala are not the only ones that are penetrated by organized crime and have failed to protect citizens. This chapter explores the connection between police distrust, corruption and extortion. Despite the difficulty in measuring these phenomena through conventional public opinion polls and citizen or firm level surveys,much can be learned from the variation across geographic units in reported victimization and corruption. We use a list experiment collected through the Survey on Public Safety and Governance in Mexico (SPSGM), to study the practices of extortion by both police forces and criminal organizations. Using a Bayesian spatial estimation method, we provide a mapping of the geographic distribution of police extortion. Our findings suggest that weak state institutions in vast regions within Mexico have become captured, through corruption, by competing drug traffic organizations. Extortion prevails either because police forces have become agents of criminal organizations or because criminals can engage in racketeering without any police intervention. We conclude with a discussion of the emergence of self-defense groups as a strategy for coping with extortion; a strategy that while effective at protecting citizens,may further undermine state capacity. Details: Stanford, CA: Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, 2014. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: CDDRL Working Paper; Accessed February 28, 2017 at: http://fsi.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/caught_in_the_crossfire_final_final.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 141225 |
Author: Magaloni, Beatriz Title: The Mexican War on Drugs: Crime and the Limits of Government Persuasion Summary: In order to successfully battle organized crime, governments require a certain degree of citizens' support. Governments are sometimes able to influence citizens' opinions, but sometimes they are not. Under what circumstances do pro-government frames influence citizens' opinions? Will individuals who are victims of crime be equally sensitive to frames than those who are not? We argue that crime victimization desensitizes citizens to pro-government frames. This further complicates governments' fights against criminals, creating a vicious circle of insecurity, distrust, and frustrated policy interventions. To test our argument, we conducted a frame experiment embedded in a nationwide survey in Mexico. The empirical evidence supports our argument in most circumstances; yet desensitization is moderated by love media-exposure and identification with the president's party. Details: Stanford, CA: Center on Democracy, Development, and The Rule of Law, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, 2013. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: CDDRL Working Paper no. 144: Accessed February 28, 2017 at: http://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/144.Romero_Magaloni_Diazcayeros_frameeffects_v6.0.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 141226 |
Author: Romero, Vidal Title: How do Crime and Violence Impact Presidential Approval? Examining the Dynamics of the Mexican Case Summary: In order to effectively fight criminal organizations, governments require support from significant segments of society. If citizens have a positive assessment of the executive’s job, the likelihood that they will report crimes, and act as allies in the fight increases. This provides important leverage for incumbents, and allows them to continue their policies. Yet, winning the hearts and minds of citizens is not an easy endeavor. Crime and violence affect citizens' most valuable assets: life and property. Thus, one would expect a close relationship between public security and presidential approval? To generate robust answers to this question, and its multiple implications, we use Mexico as a case study, and use data at both the aggregate and at the individual level. We find that approval levels are indeed affected by crime, but not by all crimes. Perhaps surprisingly, they are not affected by the most serious of crimes: homicide. At the individual level, we find that support for the mere act of fighting organized crime has a stronger effect on approval than actual performance on public security. We also find no effect of crime victimization on approval at the individual level. Details: Stanford, CA: Center on Democracy, Development, and The Rule of Law, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, 2013. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: CDDRL Working Papers, Vol. 142: Accessed February 28, 2017 at: http://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/142.Magaloni_DiazCayeros_Romero_ApprovalandCrime_v1.4..pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Homicides Shelf Number: 141227 |
Author: Sullivan, John P. Title: Cross-Border Connections: Criminal Inter-Penetration at the U.S.-Mexico "Hyperborder" Summary: The United States (US) and Mexico share a complex border and a common threat for transnational organized crime. The US-Mexico border is one of the most complex in the world. At first glance cross-border threats appear to be concentrated along the nearly 2,000 mile long frontier. This frontera divides the American states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas from their Mexican counterparts Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. Yet, as I will describe the impact of cross-border criminal connections reach far from the frontera and influences crime and corruption in major cities and exurban enclaves far from the actual border. Details: Bogota, Colombia: Vortex Foundation, 2013. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Vortex Working Paper no. 11: Accessed February 28, 2017 at: http://media.wix.com/ugd/522e46_bd5201a66cbd4437b6ef6dc91dce4b46.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 141256 |
Author: Guevara Moyano, Inigo Title: Sharp Around the Edges: A Comparative Analysis of Transnational Criminal Networks on the Southern Borders of NAFTA and the EU Summary: Although radically different in so many ways, Mexico and Bulgaria share the common benefits, grievances, and some major misfortunes of being on the bottom end of the two most powerful economic development polls in the Western World: NAFTA and the EU. The most disrupting of misfortunes is that both countries have become hubs to a broad number of Transnational Criminal Networks (TCNs). This paper compares TCN's in Mexico and Bulgaria, analyzing their network’s structure, modus operandi, and development, prescribing a set of recommendations to assist the institutions in charge of combating them as well as those that need to survive them. Details: Bogota, Colombia: Vortex Foundation, 2014. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Vortex Working Paper no. 13: Accessed March 2, 2017 at: http://www.casede.org/BibliotecaCasede/13VWPSharpAround.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 141259 |
Author: Brown, Ryan Title: Impact of Violent Crime on Risk Aversion: Evidence from the Mexican Drug War Summary: Whereas attitudes towards risk are thought to play an important role in many decisions over the life-course, factors that affect those attitudes are not fully understood. Using longitudinal survey data collected in Mexico before and during the Mexican war on drugs, we investigate how an individual's risk attitudes change with variation in levels of insecurity and uncertainty brought on by unprecedented changes in local-area violent crime due to the war on drugs. Exploiting the fact that the timing, virulence and spatial distribution of changes in violent crime were unanticipated, we establish the changes can plausibly be treated as exogenous in models that also take into account unobserved characteristics of individuals that are fixed over time. As local-area violent crime increases, there is a rise in risk aversion that is distributed through the entire local population. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2017. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper No. 23181: Accessed March 4, 2017 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w23181.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Enforcement Policy Shelf Number: 141337 |
Author: Nasir, Muhammad Title: It's No Spring Break in Cancun: The Effects of Exposure to Violence on Risk Preferences, Pro-Social Behavior, and Mental Health in Mexico Summary: Exposure to violence has been found to affect behavioral parameters, mental health and social interactions. The literature focuses on large scale political violence. The effects of high levels of criminal violence – a common phenomenon in Latin America and the Caribbean – are largely unknown. We examine drug violence in Mexico and, in particular, the effects of exposure to high municipal levels of homicides on risk aversion, mental health and pro-social behavior. Using a nonlinear difference-in-differences (DID) model and data from the 2005-06 and 2009-12 waves of the Mexican Family Life Survey, we find that the surge in violence in Mexico after 2006 significantly increased risk aversion and reduced trust in civic institutions while simultaneously strengthening kinship relationships. Although the deterioration of mental health due to violence exposure has been hypothesized to explain changes in risk aversion, we find no such effect. This suggests that the literature may be potentially missing out on other relevant channels. Details: Rimini, Italy: Rimini Centre for Economics Analysis, 2016. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper: Accessed March 6, 2017 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2690100 Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Mental Health Shelf Number: 141343 |
Author: International Crisis Group Title: Veracruz: Fixing Mexico's State of Terror Summary: Once regarded as a minor hub in Mexico's criminal economy, Veracruz is now confronting the harrowing truths from over a decade of violence and grand corruption. At least 2,750 people are believed to have disappeared in a state whose former governor is wanted for embezzlement on numerous counts. The murders of seventeen journalists from 2010 onwards are the most notorious examples of a whirlwind of killings that targeted, among others, legal professionals, police officers, potential witnesses to crimes and any civilians who dared check the ambitions of a multitude of criminal organisations and their political accomplices. A new governor from the opposition National Action Party (PAN) has promised to clean out the state and prosecute wrongdoers, fostering hopes that peace can be restored. But as economic turbulence threatens the country, and bankruptcy looms over Veracruz, strong international support will be crucial to bolster initiatives aimed at finding the bodies of the disappeared, investigating past crimes, and transforming the state's police force and prosecution service. Veracruz is emblematic of the challenges facing the country as a whole. Threats by the new U.S. administration to curb Mexican imports and fortify the border to keep out undocumented immigrants imperils its southern neighbour's economic prospects. Similarly, President Trump’s predilection for armed force to combat cartels ignores the harm produced by the militarisation of public security as well as its proven ineffectiveness. But Mexican voices demanding a stronger national response are hamstrung by the extreme unpopularity of political leaders and public estrangement from government. Corruption and perceived criminal complicity have undermined the legitimacy of the Mexican government at all levels, especially at the tier of the country's 31 regional states. Baptised "viceroys" as a result of the extraordinary powers granted them during Mexico’s transition from one-party regime to multiparty democracy, state governors have also become some of the country’s most disreputable public authorities. Since 2010, eleven state governors have come under investigation for corruption. In Veracruz, an alliance between criminal groups and the highest levels of local political power paved the way to an unbridled campaign of violence through the capture of local judicial and security institutions, guaranteeing impunity for both sides. Strengthening institutional probity and capacity in Veracruz, as in the rest of Mexico, will require federal and state levels to deliver on vows to work in partnership to staunch corruption, and on their willingness to abjure short-term political and electoral advantage. With the election of the new governor, Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares, the once hegemonic Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) lost power in the state for the first time in over 80 years. But the PRI remains in control at the federal level and has shown wavering commitment to Yunes’ reformist plans, not least because of the importance of securing votes from the region, the country’s third most populous, in the 2018 presidential election. The state’s budgetary crisis and the new governor’s two-year mandate make it highly unlikely that the state government could accomplish sweeping reform to Veracruz’s institutions without sustained federal backing. A flagship initiative that deserves emphatic support is the Veracruz Truth Commission. Created in November 2016, it could establish the causes and responsibilities behind the state’s criminal atrocities, as well as create new benchmarks for transparency and civil society engagement in criminal investigation and prosecution across the country. To do so, it should be granted additional powers to initiate criminal investigations and searches for victims of disappearances. The Veracruz state attorney’s office and State Police should be provided with greater federal resources, and trained and thoroughly vetted seconded personnel from the federal Attorney General’s Office as well as the Federal Police, to help carry out these tasks. Simultaneously, donors should be encouraged to support local civil society actors participating in efforts toward transparency, truth and prosecution. By admitting that Veracruz has become the site of crimes against humanity, the new state government forced a radical break with the recent past. Empty state coffers, the governor's short mandate, jostling for presidential election and the menace seemingly posed by an unorthodox U.S. administration together represent a set of obstacles and distractions that should not be allowed to impede Veracruz's path out of silence and terror. Details: Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2017. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin America Report No. 61: Accessed March 10, 2017 at: https://d2071andvip0wj.cloudfront.net/061-veracruz-fixing-mexico-s-state-of-terror_0.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Disappearances Shelf Number: 144439 |
Author: Macleod, Morna Title: Violencias graves en Morelos Una mirada sociocultural. (Severe violence in Morelos. A sociocultural view) Summary: In the last decade there has been an unprecedented escalation of violence in the state of Morelos, which has led him to appear as one of the most violent and insecure in Mexico. The Mexico Peace Index (IEP, 2015) places Morelos as the fifth state in terms of crimes committed by organized crime (kidnapping, extortion and drug trafficking), while the Center for Research in Development (CIDAC) ) Places it in second place (CIDAC, 2015). Under this emergency, a group of researchers and students of the UAEM, has been focused on analyzing from a sociocultural angle the problem of violence in Morelos. Their contributions are an invaluable material not only to understand this frightening reality that is destroying the human, civil and small-town life of that state. (English Summary; full document in Spanish) Details: México : Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Facultad de Estudios Superiores de Cuautla, 2016. 254p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 15, 2017 at: http://www.casede.org/BibliotecaCasede/Novedades-PDF/Violencias_Morelos_UAEM.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 144472 |
Author: Gonzalez Rodriguez, Jose de Jesus Title: TRÁFICO DE ARMAS. Entorno, propuestas legislativas y opinión pública (TRAFFICKING OF WEAPONS. Environment, legislative proposals and public opinion) Summary: As a practice that has accompanied human activities over time, the production and marketing of weapons has evolved with the rapidity of globalized societies. The social control and the power that gives possession of arms constitute an attraction that has seduced people and rulers since time immemorial. Shotguns, rifles, machine guns and their variants - excluding the analysis of the transfer of military weaponry, subject of which includes some data only to contextualize the information. Later, the present text addresses the item of organized crime and the international trade in armaments, where some data are mentioned of the criminal groups linked to such activities, information that is complemented by the issue of the markets for such an input in Latin America . The aspect that examines the link between illegal arms trafficking and organized crime violence in Mexico is addressed in a section that examines various figures from both the Federal Judicial Branch, international organizations, and the official bodies responsible for generating statistics And indicators at the national level. This section is closely related to the section dealing with the issue of trade and illegal trafficking of arms of the United States to our country, which shows both the estimated volume of the arms and the value of these. Subsequently, the document examines the various governmental actions implemented to address the phenomenon at hand, mentioning some aspects about the institutions and agencies created by the federal government in this area, as well as the policies and actions carried out in the fight against Such practices. A later section of the document includes information obtained from an official database generated by the United States Office for the Control of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), which was examined by various institutions in that country and given To be known later in Mexico. The information in this chapter is relevant in that it allows identifying the use and destination of the weapons of a lot legally acquired in that country and that later those weapons were used in the commission of illicit crimes by criminal organizations. Two further sections constitute the body of this document, the first of which addresses the analysis of various public opinion studies that on the subject of possession and trade in arms have been raised both in the United States and in our country. The second topic sets out a diagnosis of the international situation prevailing over arms control legislation. This same section includes a section that reviews the different initiatives that have been promoted on this topic in the Chambers of the Congress of the Union since the LVIII Legislature, Details: Mexico: Centro de Estudios Sociales y de Opinión Pública, 2014. 93p. Source: Internet Resource: Documento de Trabajo núm. 183: Accessed March 17, 2017 at: http://www.casede.org/BibliotecaCasede/Trafico-de-armas-docto183.pdf (Report in Spanis) Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Illegal Weapons Shelf Number: 144475 |
Author: Arias, Eric Title: How Does Media Influence Social Norms? A Field Experiment on the Role of Common Knowledge Summary: How does media influence beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors? We know surprisingly little about this influence and I argue that two mechanisms account for its impact. Media provides new information that persuades individuals to accept it (individual channel), but also, media informs listeners about what others learn, thus facilitating coordination (social channel). Using a field experiment in Mexico, I disentangle these effects and analyze norms surrounding violence against women. I examine the effect of a radio program when it is transmitted privately versus when it is transmitted through public outlets. Although I find no evidence supporting the individual mechanism, the social channel increased rejection of violence against women, support for gender equality, and unexpectedly, increased pessimism regarding the future decline of violence. Details: Unpublished paper, 2016. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2017 at: https://wp.nyu.edu/ericarias/wp-content/uploads/sites/641/2016/04/AriasCommonKnowledge.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Gender-Based Violence Shelf Number: 144566 |
Author: Correa-Cabrera, Guadalupe Title: Trafficking in Persons Along Mexico's Eastern Migration Routes: The Role of Transnational Criminal Organizations Summary: The aim of this research is to understand the role of transnational organized crime in human trafficking along Mexico's eastern migration routes, from Central America to Mexico's northeastern border. In this region, drug traffickers are smuggling and trafficking unauthorized migrants in order to diversify their revenue streams. This project analyzes the new role of Central American gangs and Mexican -origin drug trafficking organizations--now known as transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) - in the trafficking of persons from Central America to Mexico's northeastern border. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Latin American Program, 2017. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 11, 2017 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/final.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 144799 |
Author: Balmori de la Miyar, Jose Title: Breaking Sad: Drug-Related Homicides and Mental Well-Being in Mexico Summary: This paper examines the effects of drug-related violence on depression among adults in Mexico, amid a conflict known as the "Mexican Drug War." The empirical strategy consists of first-differences in aggregate health outcomes at the municipality level before and after the beginning of the conflict. To account for potential migration biases, I use variation on net cocaine supply from Colombia and on federal-local enforcement cooperation. Results suggest an increase of 1.0% in depression among women, for every additional one-standard deviation expansion in drug-related homicide rates. In stark contrast, Mexican men are largely unaffected by drug-related violence. Details: Unpublished paper, 2015. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 12, 2017 at: http://lacer.lacea.org/bitstream/handle/123456789/53018/lacea2015_drug_related_homicides.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 144820 |
Author: Brown, Ryan Title: The Effect of Violent Conflict on the Human Capital Accumulation of Young Adults Summary: This paper estimates the effect of an unprecedented increase of drug-related violence in Mexico on the educational attainment, cognitive ability, time allocation, and employment behavior of young adults between the ages of 14 and 17. The panel nature and the timing of the second (2005) and third wave (2009) of the Mexican Family Life Survey allows for some unique gains in the conflict literature, as we are able to compare pre and post violence outcomes, assess migratory behavioral response, and control for time invariant person-specific characteristics through individual fixed effects models. Preliminary results suggest children exposed to local violence have achieved lower levels of education, have reduced cognitive alertness, and are more likely to work. These effects are strongest for males and children of parents that work in occupations most adversely effected by the Mexican drug war. Details: Unpublished paper, 2015. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 12, 2017 at: http://paa2015.princeton.edu/uploads/153402 Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 144893 |
Author: Heinle, Kimberly Title: Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2016 Summary: This report examines trends in violence and organized crime in Mexico through 2016. Over the years, this series of Justice in Mexico special reports has compiled and attempted to reconcile often imperfect, confusing, and even conflicting information from both official and non-governmental sources regarding trends in violence and organized crime, and particularly "drug-related" violence. As the eighth annual report on Drug Violence in Mexico, this study compiles the latest available data and analysis of trends to help separate the signals from the noise to help better understand the facets, implications, and possible remedies to the ongoing crisis of violence, corruption, and human rights violations associated with the war on drugs. - Mexico has experienced dramatic increases in crime and violence in recent years. The number of intentional homicides documented by Mexico's National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Information (INEGI) declined significantly under both presidents Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000) and Vicente Fox (2000-2006), but rose dramatically a year after President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) took office. All told, throughout the Calderon administration, INEGI reported 121,669 homicides, an average of over 20,000 people per year, more than 55 people per day, or just over two people every hour. No other country in the Western Hemisphere saw such a large increase either in its homicide rate or in the absolute number of homicides over the last two decades. - After a decline in 2012-2014, homicides began to rise again in 2015 and jumped 20% in 2016. Official homicide statistics from Mexico's National Security System (SNSP) registered significant decreases in 2012 (about 5%), in 2013 (about 16%), and in 2014 (about 15%), before climbing upwards again in 2015 (+7%) and 2016 (+22%). SNSP reported the number of intentional homicides at 18,650 in 2015 to 22,932 in 2016. The worsening of security conditions over the past two years has been a major setback for President Enrique Pena Nieto (2012-2018), who pledged to reduce violence dramatically during his administration. - In 2016, increases in cases of intentional homicide were registered in 24 states. Fueling the national increase in homicides were increases in 24 states. Notably, the largest increases were registered in Colima with a 600% increase from 2015 to 2016, Nayarit (500% increase), and Zacatecas (405% increase), all of which have an important role in drug production or trafficking and are contested by rival organized crime groups. Meanwhile, several states registered noticeable decreases, including Queretaro with a 69% decrease in intentional homicides and Campeche with a 24% decrease. - Local officials and journalists remained prime targets of violence in 2016. According to Justice in Mexico's Memoria dataset, seven current or former mayors were killed in 2016 (in comparison five mayoral candidates, two sitting mayors, and one former mayor were killed in 2015). Justice in Mexico also documented 11 journalists and media-support workers killed in 2016 in Mexico, continuing a slight downward trend from the 14 killed in 2015 and 15 killed in 2014. - Mexico's recent violence is largely attributable to drug trafficking and organized crime. What is particularly concerning about Mexico's sudden increases in homicides in recent years is that much or most of this elevated violence appears to be attributable to "organized crime" groups, particularly those involved in drug trafficking. While there are important methodological problems with compiling data on organized crime-related killings, tallies produced over the past decade by government, media, academic, NGO, and consulting organizations suggest that roughly a third to half of all homicides in Mexico bear signs of organized crime-style violence, including the use of high-caliber automatic weapons, torture, dismemberment, and explicit messages involving organized crime groups. In 2016, there was greater disparity in the estimated number of organized crime-style killings documented by some sources (6,325 according to Reforma newspaper and 10,967 according to Milenio), but the proportion of total homicides was at least 25% and perhaps greater than 40%. - "El Chapo" Guzman's arrest and extradition appear to be partly fueling violence. The notorious kingpin leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzman, was arrested in early 2016. Guzman had been arrested previously in 2001, after which he escaped prison. He was then arrested in 2014, only to escape again in 2015. After the most recent arrest, demands for Guzman's extradition to the United States where he would face a 17- count indictment came to fruition. In early 2017, Guzman arrived in New York to face charges of organized crime, murder, and drug trafficking, among others. The analysis in this report suggests that a significant portion of Mexico's increases in violence in 2015 and 2016 were related to inter- and intra-organizational conflicts among rival drug traffickers in the wake of Guzman's re-arrest in 2016. - Constitutional deadline for New Criminal Justice System implementation passes. The New Criminal Justice System (NJSP) is in full effect nationwide, with the constitutional deadline for all 32 states to launch the system having passed on June 18, 2016. The justice system's overhaul from the traditional 'mixed inquisitorial' model of criminal procedure to an 'adversarial' model is significant step toward strengthening Mexico's democracy. However, many recognize that substantial further efforts will be needed to bolster the rule of law. - President Pena Nieto's approval rating hits new low amid concerns about corruption. Despite some important achievements, in 2016 President Peea Nieto (2012-2018) received the public's lowest approval rating not just for his first four years in office, but the lowest of all time for any president since Mexico began documenting approval ratings. In addition to accusations of corruption in his government and among fellow PRI politicians, Pena Nieto's unpopularity also reflects dissatisfaction with the country's recent economic and security problems, including the federal government's poor handling of the disappearance and murder of dozens of students from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero in 2014. - President Donald Trump prioritizes counter-narcotics efforts in Mexico. Drug trafficking from Mexico has become a more urgent concern in light of the mounting heroin epidemic in the United States, with the U.S. Center for Disease Control reporting that heroin-related deaths quadrupled to more than 8,200 people from 2002-2013. Initial diplomatic signals suggest that newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump wants to push the Mexican government to reinvigorate its counter- narcotics efforts and also work to increase U.S. security measures along the 2,000 mile Southwest border. However, tensions between the two countries could undermine the close law enforcement and security cooperation achieved under the administrations of presidents George W. Bush (2000-2008) and Barack Obama (2008-2016). Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico, Department of Political Science & International Relations, University of San Diego, 2017. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 21, 2017 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017_DrugViolenceinMexico.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 145064 |
Author: Cortes, Nancy G. Title: Perspectives on Mexico's Criminal Justice System: What Do Its Operators Think? Survey of Judges, Prosecutors, and Public Defenders Summary: Justice in Mexico, a research and public policy program based at the University of San Diego, released the English version of the latest publication in the Justiciabarometro series, Justiciabarometro 2016- Perspectives on Mexico's Criminal Justice System: What do its operators think?, thanks to the generous funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The 2016 Justiciabarometro provides a comparative analysis of the justice system operators' demographics and perspectives, as well as comparisons to similar data collected in 2010. Survey participants included 288 judges, 279 prosecutors, and 127 public defenders in 11 Mexican states, with a response rate of 56%, a 2.4% margin of error, and a 95% confidence interval. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico, Department of Political Science & International Relations, University of San Diego, 2017. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 21, 2017 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2016-Justiciabarometro_English-Version_Online.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Court Reform Shelf Number: 145065 |
Author: Ingram, Matthew C. Title: Networked Justice: Judges, the Diffusion of Ideas, and Legal Reform Movement in Mexico Summary: Existing research shows that the ideas of judges matter for judicial behavior both on the bench (decision making) and off the bench (lobbying and mobilization for institutional change). Yet there is little empirical evidence regarding the content and distribution of these ideas and even less evidence and fewer theoretical propositions regarding the manner in which ideas transfer or diffuse among judges. Addressing these empirical and theoretical gaps, I survey judges in the Mexican state of Michoacan and apply techniques of network analysis. The project makes four main contributions: (1) original data on the attitudes of judges regarding prominent institutional and jurisprudential changes shaping the legal landscape in Mexico; (2) egocentric data on network structure for the sampled judges; (3) sociocentric data on network structure at the level of judicial district, state supreme court, and entire state generated by aggregating the egocentric data; and (4) a mixed-methods analysis of the causal relationship between network features and judicial attitudes, drawing on egocentric methods, sociocentric methods, and personal interviews with focal individuals. Complementing literatures on political socialization, policy diffusion, and complex systems, the analysis clarifies our understanding of the role of judicial networks in strengthening democracy and the rule of law. Details: Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, 2012. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper #385: Accessed April 29, at: https://kellogg.nd.edu/publications/workingpapers/WPS/385.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Judges Shelf Number: 145205 |
Author: Moloeznik, Marcos Pablo Title: Security and Justice in Jalisco: Scenarios and proposals Summary: In the year 2015, the escalade of violence closes with a crisis of (in) security in the state of Jalisco which is unparalleled in its recent history. In that context, the demand for public security and justice has become the main concern and request by the citizenry, in accordance with the results of the most reliable opinion polls, as well as of the more diverse and representative sectors of our entity. In view of the State's failure to fulfill its obligation to guarantee the right to security for everyone who lives in our community, the University of Guadalajara, in compliance of all and every one of its substantial functions (teaching, generating knowledge and establishing links), has been systematically carrying out significant contributions in the areas of security, human rights and the justice for years. The work is a compilation of 25 collaborations, divided in five thematic sections. The great majority of the authors identify with the theories of multidimensional and integral security which claim that the phenomena of violence, crime and delinquency are based on structures of socioeconomic difference, contexts of poverty, marginality and weak social cohesion. This interpretation also leads to maintaining that government institutions suffer from notable insufficiencies, among them the lack of professionalism of government employees, corruption, opacity and lack of transparency, as well as the absence of planning and administration of the public budgets. In the first thematic section block, "Strategic vision and critical issues", the four collaborations that make it up study from the historic factors to the problems of implementing public policies in Jalisco as a whole and, in particular, in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara. The topic of the link between public security and penal justice is approached as two factors that should be integrated accompanying each other. The second section "Violence and high-impact crimes", compiles studies that compare homicides at national and state levels; the manifestation of the different kinds of violence and the study of disappearances, kidnapping and torture. These contributions expose how the official statistics are unequal and omit the description of reality, basically with political purposes, in order not to look like a state that has high crime indicators that could tint the image of local government officials, and inhibit tourism or capital investment. The six chapters making up the section "Human Rights and vulnerable groups" make a realistic analysis of the human rights violations in the state, emphasizing the lack of independence of the State Human Rights Commission. They cover the topics of suicide, juvenile delinquency, gender violence and the difficulties migrants face on their route throughout Jalisco. These analyses reflect the vulnerability besetting a lot of sectors of the population. The fourth section is devoted to the "Institutions and capacities of the state of Jalisco". It consists of five chapters that analyze the Judiciary power and the relation among the implementation of the new penal justice system; police corps, their weaknesses and capacities; the public advocacy and the public security system (or systems), which must be encouraged as a State policy. The panorama that is emerging is worrying: The justice system lacks independence and the police bodies, coordination; which has led to the proposal of a unified command, which in Jalisco has been advertised as one of the steps to follow. The articles strongly stress the weaknesses of these institutional subsystems, and they almost take for granted that they do not have the strength to implement the reforms to penal justice and the coordination of police corporations. Furthermore, if these institutional capacities are too weak to confront common crime, all the more reason to believe that they would be unable to do their job, that they would be overpowered rapidly if the cjng were to grow in influence and managed to consolidate in the state of Jalisco. In addition, in the light of the new adversarial Justice system, the aforementioned section includes recommendations made from good practices documented in the last few years in those federated entities that have already implemented them. The final section "Federacion Jalisco in the frame of national security", contains four chapters that close the book with excellent analyses on CJNG penetration and growth and the presence and role of the Army. It is pointed out that due to both, the existence of a criminal group whose name locates it in the state and to the increased presence of the Army and the Federal Police to face it; Jalisco risks a growth in the presence of organized crime, which will force the participation of the federal forces. In short, this work implicitly presents the possible scenarios for Jalisco: An increase of violence that would require the federal forces to head the effort to curb the enemy or, on the contrary, that the Jalisco leaders face reality, become aware of the magnitude of the phenomenon of (in) security, and implement the necessary reforms. This publication makes concrete recommendations, provides tools, raw materials and information to understand the security crisis that can be brewing. It is up to society and government officials to use it to put together a new security agenda. Details: Guadalajara: Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, 2016. 259p Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 1, 2017 at: http://www.casede.org/BibliotecaCasede/Novedades-PDF/Security_%20justice_Jalisco.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice Systems Shelf Number: 145221 |
Author: Fuentes, Johanan Rivera Title: Crime Hype in Mexico: A fierce battle for attention Summary: The way media covers drug-related violence in Mexico generates more violence because it responds to the publicity-seeking behavior of Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs). My analysis shows that excessive media coverage in violent states translates into more narcomantas and that high numbers of narcomantas are positively and strongly correlated with high levels of violence. The incentive for DTOs to 'publish' a narcomanta in response to media coverage in violent states is three times larger than in states with average violence. My projections show that in extremely violent states a shock in coverage generates an average increase of 1.6 narcomantas during the following week. DTOs use media attention to build reputation and increase the perception of insecurity. The way media covers violence in Mexico is generating feelings of fear and danger in the population. The 2011 Survey on Public Safety and Governance in Mexico shows that common offenses such as house robberies and street assaults have not changed much since the early 2000s. However, insecurity perception has increased to the point that, today, over 80 percent of the population is afraid of being victims of these crimes. Fear and insecurity perception can make the population an easy target for extortion, local authorities an easy target for corruption and hinder reporting. The situation is now at a point where action is needed. The best method for promoting a more responsible behavior while protecting media freedom is self-regulation since it originates from a multi-stakeholder open discussion on editorial guidelines and accountability mechanisms. I recommend the following next steps should be taken in the next six months to build a strong self-regulatory media environment: - Create a code of editorial guidelines to reporting on publicity-seeking crimes. Each code of ethics responds to the peculiarities of the media and its context, hence it can be tailored to the sensitivities of the Mexican society and democracy. - Institute a self-regulatory body that oversees completion of the code and has a complaint system open to the public. These bodies can have different forms such as ombudsmen, press councils, editorial committees, etc. - Introduce training programs for journalists. Good reporting on publicity-seeking crimes requires a lengthier and more thoughtful narrative. Additionally, journalists reporting on violence and conflict should know how to assess risks in threatening environments and be trained in digital as well as physical security. - Design a campaign to raise awareness among the population. Raising awareness is about creating civic engagement. Without civil engagement self-regulation compliance becomes almost impossible. Setting up a self-regulatory system will prevent the media from furthering DTOs objectives. This will help raise professional standards, strengthen the social standing of journalism in the country while increasing the quality of information people receive and reducing publicity-seeking violence. Details: Cambridge, MA: Harvard Kennedy School, 2013. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 2, 2017 at: http://ksghauser.harvard.edu/index.php/content/download/66767/1239878/version/1/file/SYPA_JohananRivera_2013.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 145247 |
Author: Schultheis, Ryan Title: A Revolving Door No More? A Statistical Profile of Mexican Adults Repatriated from the United States Summary: Repeat migration is slowing significantly for Mexican adults removed from the United States. An official survey of Mexican adults removed or voluntarily returned by the U.S. government found an 80 percent drop in the number intending to seek re-entry, from 471,000 in 2005 to 95,000 in 2015. Overall, the share of Mexican returnees saying they intended to return to the United States fell from 95 percent in 2005 to 49 percent in 2015. This stark shift in the decision-making of Mexican returnees represents an important aspect of the changing dynamics of U.S.-Mexico migration - one worth considering as U.S. policymakers contemplate appropriating vast new sums for additional border enforcement. This report provides a statistical profile of Mexican adults repatriated from the United States between 2005 and 2015. Using representative data collected in the Mexican Northern Border Survey (EMIF Norte) and repatriation data from the Mexican Interior Ministry, it explores the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of deportees, their immigration histories, and information on their future migration plans and minor children left behind in the United States. While a number of factors likely contribute to the decision of repatriated adults to forgo repeat illegal migration and instead remain in Mexico, this trend has profound implications for governments and communities on both sides of the border. For Mexico, it highlights the importance of building out reception services to ensure the successful social and economic reintegration of repatriated Mexican adults who can contribute to future economic growth in Mexico. Such programs, as well as economic conditions in both Mexico and the United States, will determine whether the revolving door of migration continues to slow. Details: Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2017. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 4, 2017 at: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/revolving-door-no-more-statistical-profile-mexican-adults-repatriated-united-states Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Enforcement Shelf Number: 145308 |
Author: Anderson, Jill Title: Bilingual, Bicultural, Not Yet Binational: Undocumented Immigrant Youth in Mexico and the United States Summary: An entire generation of children, adolescents and young adults has been caught in the crucible of increasing criminalization of immigrants coupled with neoliberal globalization policies in Mexico and the United States. These are first- and second-generation immigrant youth who are bicultural, often bilingual, but rarely recognized as binational citizens in either of their countries. In the United States, Mexican immigrants account for an estimated 28 percent of the immigrant population (the largest origin group) and 56 percent among the undocumented immigrant population (Zong and Batalova 2016). Since 2005, an estimated two million Mexicans have returned to Mexico after having lived in the United States, including over 500,000 U.S.-born children (Gonzalez-Barrera 2015, Jacobo and Espinosa 2015). As of 2005, the population of Mexican-origin immigrant youth in the United States (first- and second-generation) reached an estimated 6.9 million. They have come of age in conditions of extreme vulnerability due to their undocumented status or the undocumented status of their parents. As of 2015, about 10 percent of the undocumented bicultural immigrant youth population has significant although precarious legal protections under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) while a little over 15 percent of Mexican-American immigrant youth now live in conditions of exile from the United States under automatic bans assigned to them or their caretakers post-deportation and return. The majority of undocumented immigrant youth live in the United States within the legal limbo between the two possibilities of "protected status" and "exile," but under the constant threat of the latter. A crisis of terms and a scarcity of accurate, quantitative data about undocumented, mixed-status, and in particular, deported/returning immigrants continue to challenge efforts to articulate and advocate for adequate public policies. We do know that the returning population since 2005 is younger, returns as a part of a family unit, returns under duress, has spent more years in the United States, and is predominately male. The challenges that immigrant youth face in the aftermath of deportation and return are varied. Emotional distress, post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression and alienation are commonly described as key factors during the first months to years of return. These young people have experienced family separation, a sense of alienation, and human rights violations during detention and deportation. Systemic and inter-personal discrimination against deportees and migrants among the non-migrant population in Mexico can make an already challenging situation more difficult. For some, an accent, a lack of language proficiency in Spanish, and/or tattoos make it difficult to "blend in," find jobs, or continue their studies. In addition to emotional and socio-cultural stress, there are also facing systemic educational, employment and political barriers to local integration and stability. The Mexican federal government's response to its returning citizens has exclusively emphasized crisis-management during the initial days of return and has been characterized by an ad hoc response: re-naming old programs as opposed to re-imagining and adapting them to a decidedly new paradigm. This paper gestures towards an alternative. The Mexican government can build on the constructive and successful models of policy design, programming and implementation within the Ministry of Foreign Relations (SRE) and the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME) amongst Mexican immigrants in the United States over the last twenty years. By replicating initiatives first taken abroad, the 45 SRE delegation offices across Mexico that are primarily dedicated to passport services might begin to collaborate with returning immigrant families and local institutions to include services that also support integration via legal identity, education, employment, public health, and cultural activities. Just as consulates across the United States have evolved to include and respond to the needs of immigrants and local institutions in the United States, the SRE delegation offices in Mexico can evolve with a focus on return immigrant families in their local and global contexts. Furthermore, the U.S. and Mexican governments must collaborate on a multi-year binational commission of government actors, civil society leaders, academics, and members of transnational mixed-status immigrant families to produce a broad quantitative study of transnational families using differentiated indicators such as age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity/race, language(s), self-proscribed identity, immigration status, educational aspirations, and public health. This study must move beyond, although not away from the emphasis on pathways to citizenship for Mexican immigrants in the United States, to focus on family reunification, education, and legal mobility for transnational families in transnational contexts. Bicultural immigrant youth are an integral part of mixed-status transnational families who increasingly have members on both sides of the militarized U.S.-Mexico border. They need public policies that are crafted in terms of the recognition, unification (temporary or permanent) and integration of their families. Furthermore, their integration into the community of their choice must be predicated upon access to education (including higher education), employment, and international mobility as bi-national citizens. By re-framing the debate over immigration as a broader conversation about the constellation of public policy reforms needed to govern transnational movement and citizenship in the twenty-first century, we can better articulate just what is at stake in a major historical shift that has only begun. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2016. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2017 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/bilingual_bicultural_not_yet_binational_undocumented_immigrant_youth_in_mexico_and_the_united_states.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminalization of Immigrants Shelf Number: 145354 |
Author: Couch, Neil Title: 'Mexico in Danger of Rapid Collapse'. Reality or Exaggeration? Summary: More than 55,000 people have been killed in Mexico's vicious drug wars between 2006 and 2011. The Pentagon's Joint Operating Environment Paper 2008 speculated that the country was one of two major states at risk of rapid and sudden collapse. This paper investigates the potential causes of state failure and the extent to which these are present in Mexico today as a result of corruption and violent, lucrative organised crime. It explains the mutual dependency between the two and shows how deeply entrenched and extensive their power and influence have become at all levels of government and in key state institutions. It examines progress in the National Security Strategy and the impact of crime and corruption on key strategic measures of success. It concludes that the Pentagon's failure to understand the nature of the conflict led to a gross overstatement of the risk to the country. It also demonstrates, however, that crime and corruption threaten the transitional democracy that has emerged in Mexico since the turn of the century. Finally, it raises questions regarding the reliability and general applicability of some theories of state failure, state legitimacy and civil-military relations. Details: London: Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, 2012. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Seaford House Paper: Accessed May 17, 2017 at: http://www.da.mod.uk/Publications/category/90/mexico-in-danger-of-rapid-collapse-reality-or-exaggeration-14620 Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 131268 |
Author: Mattola, Pirita Title: Non-tradition security: Mexico and the framing of transnational organized crime by Felipe Calderon Summary: My overall objective in this thesis has been to shed light on non-traditional security issues and their implications. In this specific research project the focus has been on transnational organized crime and particularly on the case of Mexico. By relying on the theoretically flexible framework of Critical theory and on the methodological tools provided by Speech act theory and Critical discourse analysis I have analyzed the framing of transnational organized crime by the Mexican president Felipe Calderon. The primary analytical interest has been the produced social meaning of security and its connection to transnational organized crime. The used research material comprises of all the organized crime-related speeches, statements and interviews given by Felipe Calderon in 2010. The arguments made in this paper are twofold concerning the theoretical debate over the meaning of security as well as the possibility to perceive transnational organized crime as a relevant part of this debate. I have wished to introduce a wider perspective to security and expand the security mindset towards multiple referent objects, more comprehensive conceptualizations and integrative ways of producing security. I have also explained how contemporary transnational organized crime is connected to the asymmetries of globalization and how it affects the security and well-being of collectivities even if it doesn't appear as an existential threat to states per se. Theoretically speaking these arguments rely on the ideas of the Welsh school, the Copenhagen school and the human security perspective which expand security beyond the concerns over existential survival, militarism and state-centrism. Throughout the theory chapter I use Critical theory in comparison to the hegemonic traditional theories and in parallel with more specialized conceptualizations that provide their own suggestions for the management of transnational organized crime. The methodological tools are also derived from social constructivism and Critical theory. However, in this regard the notion of securitization as promoted by the Copenhagen school has been replaced by an idea of an inter-subjective security framing that perceives utterances not only as performative acts but as elements of discourses which build social meaning. Analytically speaking the focus has thus been on those elements that reflect discursive conventions or transformation in terms of security and transnational organized crime. Based on the analysis, the social meanings that Felipe Calderon promotes in his discourses represent some kind of 'a twilight zone' between conventional state-centric thinking and more collective security-oriented thinking. On an ontological level Calderon clearly acknowledges the relevance of transnational organized crime as a major source of insecurity as well as its connection to the lack of human emancipation. Human security and transnationality are perceived as relevant dimensions of security and become tied to a notion of shared responsibility across multiple sectors and levels of action. From the perspectives of horizontally broader and vertically deeper security Calderon's argumentation succeeds in gaining the approval of certain foreign state leaders. This in turn increases the impression of inter-subjectivity of his discourses. In regard to the provision of security, however, Calderon's approach is more conventional and state-centric. The rhetorical emphasis is primarily on inter-state cooperation and the role of the private sector remains unrepresented. Also especially in the national context Calderon builds rather sharp barriers for any alternative representations of reality and underlines the relevance of reactive actions as a necessary addition to proactive initiatives. This action-oriented part of his argumentation represents a more militarized approach but interestingly the involvement of the army is still approved by a great majority of Mexicans. In sum it could be said that the outcomes of the research are inevitably shaped by the limitations that the nation-state creates for Calderon as a representative of a sovereign-bound entity. Despite the many unconventional aspects, the link between human security, emancipation, national security and transnational organized crime remains somewhat unsolved. It is difficult to say whether the inclusion of human security and emancipation is based on a genuinely normative goal-setting that is oriented towards collective security, whether it stems from the transnational nature of organized crime or serves some justification purposes of the security paradigm. This issue would thus benefit from further research. Details: Tampere, Finland: University of Tampere, 2011. 83p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed June 7, 2017 at: http://tampub.uta.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/82271/gradu04826.pdf;sequence=1 Year: 2011 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 145983 |
Author: Nasir, Muhammad Title: Violence and Child Health Outcomes: Evidence from Mexican Drug War Summary: An emerging literature finds that early life exposure to conflict has important effects on subsequent physical and cognitive development. While this literature focuses on large-scale violent events and low intensity conflicts, there is a lack of studies examining high levels of criminal violence. This discrepancy is important as many areas in the world, particularly Central and South America, experience consistently high levels of organized crimes. This study examines whether these health effects also extend to criminal violence setting by focusing on the sharp increase in homicide rates in Mexico since 2007-08. Using sibling fixed effects, I study whether the levels and timing of municipality homicide rates affect children's physical health and cognitive and non-cognitive development in Mexico. The results show a strong effect of in utero exposure (depending on the trimester) on the physical health and cognitive development and no effect on socio-emotional behavior and chronic illnesses. Specifically, an average increase in the homicide rate between the pre-escalation period of 2005-06 and 2009 while in utero reduces both height- for-age Z-scores (HAZ) and cognition (measured by Raven's scores) by 0.08 standard deviation (SD). The results further provide suggestive evidence about maternal stress and prenatal care use as potential channels. Details: Brighton, UK: The Institute of Development Studies - at the University of Sussex , 2016. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Households in Conflict Network: Accessed June 22, 2017 at: http://www.hicn.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/HiCN-WP-208.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Children and Violence Shelf Number: 146346 |
Author: Park, Jung H. Title: What Explains the Patterns of Diversification in Drug Trafficking Organization? Summary: The purpose of this thesis is to identify the factors that influence drug trafficking organizations' motivations to diversify their operations. With that in mind, the thesis seeks to answer the question: What explains the patterns of the drug trafficking organization's diversification? For this thesis, I have used sources found on corporate diversification, in addition to sources that I have found for three Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs): the Sinaloa, Los Zetas, and Tijuana, to highlight the similarities and the differences in patterns among the three. The thesis concludes that various factors allow the DTOs to diversify into new businesses. First, as is the case in Mexico, the state has to be weak to provide opportunities for the clandestine organizations to diversify. Second, DTOs find opportunities through economic globalization and abundance of organizational resources that they use to motivate themselves to diversify. Moreover, to acclimate to the ever-changing clandestine landscape, DTOs require a decentralized internal structure. DTOs diversify to maximize their ability to cross-subsidize their revenue to combat state suppression. Rather than using hard power to cripple the DTOs, the Mexican government needs to understand their operation to hit them where it hurts, in their profits, by better understanding their operation. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2016. 103p. Source: Internet Thesis: Resource: Accessed July 27, 2017 at: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=794992 Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 0 |
Author: Galemba, Rebecca B. Title: Cultures of Contraband: Contesting Illegality at the Mexico-Guatemala Border Summary: Driving from Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas, Mexico to the communities on the Mexico-Guatemala border where I planned to live and conduct fieldwork from September 2006- September 2007, I drove through several rural farms, towns, and winding roads. Upon reaching the Pan-American Highway is a makeshift police station, a small concrete building labeled, PFP (Policia Federal Preventiva, or Federal Preventative Police). Outside a police car was stationed as traffic whizzed by. Shortly before entering the border communities, there is also a military base. The Mexican government installed this base in the late 1990s during the Zapatista conflict to monitor resistance, despite the fact that the Zapatistas had little presence in the Comalapa region. The military currently uses the base to erect road blockades to inspect for contraband, illegal migrants, illicit drugs, and illegal firearms. There were almost always blockades on Fridays so that soldiers could inspect vehicles returning from market day at the official border crossing at La Mesilla, Guatemala and Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, Mexico. I had originally intended to conduct research at the Mexico-Guatemala border to study the contrasts between policies that simultaneously advocated an "open" border for free trade and a militarized border to comply with Washington's security demands to stem the northward flow of illicit drugs, crime, and undocumented migrants (Benitez Manaut 2003; Pickard, CIEPAC 2007). Despite the increased presence of the Mexican military and police forces2 in the region, border residents agreed that since the late 1990s they experienced less official border surveillance. Instead, residents allude to a booming industry of cross-border contraband in everyday goods, as well as undocumented migrants, arms, and drugs. I realized that my original interest in undocumented migration formed part of a larger picture of historical and cross-border flows of people, goods, and information. Studying border flows from the ground-up revealed a border region that was not just simultaneously "open" to goods and "closed" to people as I had anticipated, but full of various contingent and conflicting openings and enclosures. When I interviewed a Mexican customs inspector at Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, he lamented, "In this region illegality governs. It is what distinguishes this region [from other customs inspections posts]." This inspector had worked in multiple customs ports throughout Mexico, but seemed to resign and adapt himself to this aspect of "illegality," referring to it as part of the "regional culture." Despite stricter laws and Mexico's modernization of the official border crossing and customs inspections in the late 1990s, he told me that most commerce in the region occurred in clandestine crossings. This dissertation examines the multiple meanings of illegality and how notions of illegality permeate, and at times govern, social, political, and economic life at the Mexico-Guatemala border. A 2006 article in El Financiero, labeled the Mexico-Guatemala border "a paradise for contraband...[stating that] the problem, which is little spoken about, is that illegality dominates everything at the border." By focusing on the residents of a clandestine border pathway on the Mexico-Guatemala border, I problematize the concept of "illegality," arguing that the social and economic relations engendered by illegal practices often generate new forms of law, economy, and moral norms. While legal and illegal practices may blur in everyday interactions (Nordstrom 2007), I examine how residents distinguish and organize the heterogeneity of these practices in order to situate illegality within the larger political and moral economy. By examining the daily relations between border residents, state and federal agents, farmers, formal-sector companies, and smugglers, I illustrate how illegality produces and reconstitutes gendered, ethnic, and class inflected subjectivities. Details: Providence, RI: Brown University, 2009. 364p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: https://repository.library.brown.edu/storage/bdr:155/PDF/ Year: 2009 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 130138 |
Author: Rios, Viridiana Title: What Media Coverage Can Do: Inducing Illegality in Mexico Summary: Grounded in a long tradition of literature that tries to identify what drives media coverage, this paper presents empirical evidence that press coverage influences the behavior of non-state actors. Particularly, using a unique data set of 1,800 communications between non-state actors in the form of drug tracking organizations (publicly displayed banners o narcomesajes), we estimate reaction functions for measures of press coverage and the intensity of credit-taken banners. We find evidence of unidirectional Granger causality from press coverage to criminal credit-taking. When press coverage increases, criminal organizations react by further increasing the number of banners publicly displayed. We attribute this effect to changes in criminal strategy: credit-taking criminals decide to become more public when they know that their public expressions will be better spread by the press. Our estimates show that a "shock" in media coverage generates up to 1.6 credit-taking banners from criminals more during the following week. Details: Unpublished paper, 2016. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 8, 2017 at: https://scholar.harvard.edu/vrios/publications/what-media-coverage-can-do-inducing-illegality-mexico Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 146774 |
Author: Solis, Leslie Title: Prisons in Mexico: What For? Summary: The Mexican penitentiary system is in crisis and yet the issue is not being addressed, much less solved. The Last Administration concentrated on expanding the capacity of the federal prison system. More cells were built for more inmates, without thinking about an essential question: Prison, what for? An for Whom? Details: San Diego: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, UC San Diego, 2013. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 22, 2017 at: https://issuu.com/irpsmedia/docs/mex-eva_indx-prisons_english_versio Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Inmates Shelf Number: 131752 |
Author: Amnesty International Title: False Suspicions: Arbitrary Detentions by Police in Mexico Summary: In this report, Amnesty International researched the way in which arrests by police forces in Mexico occur, specifically, when the authorities alleged that they arrest a person in flagrante delicto; that is, at the time when a crime was being committed. We found that, in Mexico, the arrests of people who were allegedly committing a crime at the time of the arrest, do not serve as a genuine response to the crimes being committed in the country, but are used by the authorities illegally, mainly against those who face historical situations of discrimination, with a worrying impact on young men living in poverty. Details: London: AI, 2017. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 9, 2017 at: https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Mexico-Arbitrary-Detentions-Report-ENG-1.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Arrests and Apprehensions Shelf Number: 147171 |
Author: Parraguez Kobek, Luisa Title: The State of Cybersecurity in Mexico: An Overview Summary: The cost of cybercrime incidents in the world has gone from US$3 trillion in early 2015 to a projected US$6 trillion by 2021. Luis Almagro, the Secretary General of the OAS, acknowledged that information and communication technologies (ICTs) and its multiple uses continue to evolve at a rapid pace in the region and countries are highly vulnerable to potentially devastating cyberattacks. Mexico's economy and geostrategic location is an attractive target for illicit cyber activities. On the one hand, it is enjoying considerable Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and a solid GDP growth and on the other, it is still relatively vulnerable in cybersecurity and cyber defense. Mexico ranks as the second country in Latin America with the most cyberattacks, with a 40% growth in the number of attacks between 2013 and 2014, and approximately 10 million victims in 2014. Cybersecurity, sustainability and resilience are not only necessary for Mexico's safekeeping but they are also important factors in its social and economic development. Mexico needs to engage with its national, regional and international partners to combine resources, multi-stakeholder initiatives and facilitate information sharing to ensure its security in cyberspace. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2017. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 11, 2017 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/cybersecurity_in_mexico_an_overview.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Computer Crimes Shelf Number: 147207 |
Author: Gastelum Felix, Siria Title: Resilience in Sinaloa: Community Responses to Organized Crime Summary: The term resilience has started to sound like a cliche. The concept has become a popular buzzword in development discourses over the last decade, but in the international global policy fora, resilience remains a loosely defined conceptual approach. The empirical ambiguity of the concept, its incipient implementation as well as its rising popularity can make resilience susceptible to becoming another empty rhetorical promise in development brochures. However, the resilience approach to development has the potential to show us new modes of learning about the ways we organize ourselves into more effective networks to achieve common goals and overcome disruptions. This report is the first of a series of evidence-based research in Sinaloa, Mexico on community resilience and organized crime supported by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI) as part of the #GIresilience Project. The Resilience Series, as it is formally known seek to provide substantial knowledge and data on building community resilience in the context of organized crime to the ongoing multi-stakeholder dialogue in the international global development policy fora. Drug wars, illicit economies, and weak governance have marred Sinaloa for decades, along with countless failed security policies. In the last thirty years, the state became the base of one of the largest transnational drug-trafficking networks in the world: the Sinaloa Cartel. As the power of the Sinaloa DTO increased, the influence of organized crime became prominent in citizen's daily lives. The Sinaloa Federation became a separate power structure effectively challenging and overpowering legitimate state institutions. Against this tumultuous background, extraordinary civic responses to the effects of organized crime have been taking place at the community level. These responses are effectively non-violent and demonstrate great capacities of resilience at the grassroots where violence and violations are intensified. Our intention is to bring these perspectives and resilient actors into the global policy dialogue on organized crime and development, to discuss alternatives to the traditional security-driven responses. The ultimate aim of the #GIresilience Project is to create a global network of resilient communities to counter and mitigate the effects of criminal networks. This involves a) highlighting the courageous and inspiring work done under the most arduous circumstances, and b) incubating and developing resilience-based initiatives that can protect, enable and empower citizens who have taken and continue to take a stand against organized crime. By tapping into these communities' own sources of resilience, we can build sustainable responses to organized crime and develop their capacity to thrive. Details: Geneva, SWIT: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, 2017. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 12, 2017 at: https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Resilience-in-Sinaloa-community-responses-to-OC.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 147222 |
Author: Jackson, Rachel Title: Reclaiming the City: Police Reform in Mexico City, 2002-2008 Summary: When Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador became mayor of Mexico City at the end of 2000, a massive crime wave was sweeping the national capital. From 1995 to 1998, the city's overall crime rate had nearly tripled. Aware that taking back the streets from criminals would require a new approach, Lopez Obrador brought in an experienced political leader, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, to head the Secretariat of Public Security of the Federal District. Together they introduced new systems that could document, map, and analyze crime and lead to more-efficient allocation of police resources and better preventive policing strategies. Ebrard also engaged a team to create Community Protection Units, improve police-citizen relationships, professionalize the police, and build a neighborhood police program. Despite abrupt leadership transitions at the public security secretariat, a decade later Mexico City had greater capacity to combat crime and greater political control over high-crime areas of the city, thereby laying the foundation for additional public security reforms. Details: Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, 2014. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: innovations for Successful Society: Accessed October 2, 2017 at: https://successfulsocieties.princeton.edu/sites/successfulsocieties/files/Policy_Note_ID243.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Analysis Shelf Number: 147523 |
Author: Suarez-Enriquez, Ximena Title: Overlooking Justice: Human Rights Violations Committed by Mexican Soldiers against Civilians are Met with Impunity Summary: The report "Overlooking Justice: Human Rights Violations Committed by Mexican Soldiers against Civilians are Met with Impunity" analyzes the crimes and human rights violations committed by Mexican soldiers that have been investigated and punished by the civilian justice system, as well as the cases that remain unpunished. For over ten years, rather than prioritizing justice, Mexico's public security strategy and efforts to combat organized crime have focused largely on using force through the deployment of soldiers into Mexican streets. Efforts to strengthen civilian institutions such as the police and the Attorney General's Office have taken a back seat to this militarized approach. During the early years of its security cooperation with Mexico through the framework of the Merida Initiative, the United States supported this strategy by allocating a significant amount of funds to Mexico's armed forces. The militarization of public security in Mexico has had at least three grave consequences: violence has increased in the country while human rights violations persist, the urgency and pressure to pass reforms to strengthen the civilian police force has decreased, and accountability has been virtually nonexistent. Soldiers who commit crimes and human rights violations, public officials who request the deployment of soldiers into states or municipalities, and politicians who have failed to undertake serious efforts to improve the civilian police force in Mexico are rarely held accountable. Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America, 2017. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 8, 2017 at: https://www.wola.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/WOLA_MILITARY-CRIMES_ENGLISH_REPORT.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Human Rights Abuses Shelf Number: 148072 |
Author: Burgi-Palomino, Daniella Title: "Does My Story Matter?" Seeking Asylum at Mexico's Southern Border Summary: Mexico closed 2016 with a record total of 8,788 asylum applications, more than double compared to 2015. Over 90 percent of these were from Central America, which reflects the flow of families and children from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador seeking protection not only in the United States but also across the region. This year, asylum applications continue to grow. According to preliminary government figures, between January and March 2017 Mexico received 3,543 asylum applications, more than it did in all of 2015. In the United States, apprehensions of individuals and families at the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped in the first few months of 2017 compared to figures for the same period in 2016. However, the conditions in Central America driving this migration remain largely unchanged - the high levels of gang violence, corruption, and impunity remain some of the worst in the world. According to one study, in both 2015 and 2016 El Salvador was the world's most violent country, and its capital, San Salvador, was the most murderous city. The three Northern Triangle countries had a combined total of 14,870 homicides in 2016 and individually were still well above the minimum of 10 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants identified by the United Nations to constitute an epidemic of violence - with El Salvador at 81 murders, Honduras at 58, and Guatemala at 27 per every 100,000 inhabitants. NGO reports from early 2017 demonstrate sustained generalized violence perpetrated by gangs and security forces resulting in forced displacement, extortion, sexual and gender-based violence, severe limitations on access to education for children, and internal displacement due to the construction of megaprojects. Latin America Working Group Education Fund (LAWGEF) staff traveled to Tenosique and Tapachula in southern Mexico during the second half of 2016 in order to understand the dynamics of Central American asylum-seeking families and children crossing Mexico's southern border, the degree to which they had access to protections, and how they were impacted by migration enforcement operations. We concluded that, three years after the implementation of Mexico's Southern Border Plan, harsh migration enforcement tactics continue to violate the rights of not only migrants but also of Mexican border communities. We found that the routes inland from the border near Tenosique and Tapachula remain full of danger for migrants and asylum seekers. Violence is perpetuated by organized crime, smaller criminal groups, and often in collusion with Mexican migration enforcement agents and local police. Access to asylum in Mexico is still the exception rather than the rule. The process remains difficult and frustrating. Obtaining international protection in Mexico is largely dependent on access to legal counsel, case accompaniment, and proximity to Mexico's Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comision Mexicana de Ayuda a Refugiados, COMAR) offices to complete the process. Mexico's National Migration Institute (Instituto Nacional de Migracion, INM) often discourages migrants from applying for asylum as opposed to effectively screening individuals and channeling them to COMAR. Far too few children have a chance to access asylum in Mexico and are not channeled to COMAR from Mexico's National System for Integral Development of the Family (Sistema Nacional para el Desarrollo Integral de la Familia, DIF) or INM facilities. We confirmed that efforts to house asylum seekers outside of detention facilities, or alternatives to detention initiatives, are being implemented on an ad-hoc basis and are far from fully institutionalized across the country. At the same time, this report confirms a growing interest among asylum seekers in staying in Mexico, if they have access to services and jobs. We found that even after receiving asylum, refugees have limited opportunities to lead a normal life along Mexico's southern border because of a lack of opportunities and safety concerns. Despite all of these challenges, it is important to note that Mexico has taken some steps forward to strengthen its asylum system and address abuses against migrants since our trip. However, it is a mixed bag. While there has been progress, there have also been some steps backwards. These problems demonstrate that Mexico's asylum system must still be strengthened by increasing COMAR's resources to expand staffing and coverage across Mexico, expanding alternatives to detention programs for asylum seekers, and ensuring adequate screening and identification of all those in need of protection, including unaccompanied migrant children. U.S. support for improving Mexico's asylum system should be an integral part of its cooperation with Mexico. Details: Washington, DC: Latin America Working Group, 2017. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 15, 2017 at: http://lawg.org/storage/documents/LAWGEF_MX_Asylum_Report_July_2017.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Asylum Seekers Shelf Number: 148185 |
Author: Laurency, Patrick Title: Hybrid Police Work and Insecurity in the Mexican Federal State Summary: In the years leading up to 2015, the level of violent crime against ordinary citizens continued to rise in some Mexican states. It remains alarming today, despite a steady decrease in violence related to drug trafficking since 2011. Conventional analysis suggests that citizen security deteriorated mainly as a result of the Mexican government's sudden turn toward a more confrontational policing approach, including the reliance on military and paramilitary actors. This view holds that new policing strategies - commonly referred to as mano dura in the Latin American context - ultimately provoked a splintering of drug cartels into smaller criminal units, which subsequently felt compelled to generate sufficient income by diversifying their criminal portfolio into extortion, kidnapping or armed robbery. By contrast, this paper argues that the persistence of or increase in the insecurity of ordinary citizens beyond 2011 is connected to hybridized policing systems that are increasingly marked by an undifferentiated deployment of actors of different origin (military, paramilitary, police) for public security tasks. These include, first and foremost, collaborative arrangements among different public police forces at the federal, state and municipal levels and between the police and non-commercially operating private actors, like local vigilante groups. Additionally, the Mexican policing system is heavily reliant upon the deployment of military forces for fighting criminal activities. While hybrid systems of policing can be highly effective in principle, they remain prone to significant security risks and failures in Mexico. This is largely conditioned by structural peculiarities of the Mexican state, which are highly relevant for public security, including limited statehood, an ill-managed process of decentralization and excessive partisan rivalry as well as the historical prevalence of vigilantes in the country. The paper shows that these structural circumstances of the Mexican policing system contained latent threats to public security from the beginning. Hybridized forms of policing finally brought these threats to the forefront as security risks or failures. Details: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada: Centre for Security Governance, 2017. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: CSG Papers, no. 17: http://secgovcentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/CSG-Paper-17-Hybrid-Police-Work-and-Insecurity-in-the-Mexican-Federal-State.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Paramilitary Policing Shelf Number: 148197 |
Author: Hale, Gary J. Title: Vigilantism in Mexico: A New Phase in Mexico's Security Crisis Summary: The violent struggle between rival Mexican drug cartels and other criminal groups has left tens of thousands dead and towns across Mexico paralyzed with fear. With overwhelmed police forces relatively powerless to control drug-related murders and kidnappings, a growing number of vigilante organizations, or self-defense groups, aim to restore order-but now even they are fighting, and killing, among themselves. The rise of these vigilantes is yet another test for the Mexican government. Will people continue to take security matters into their own hands? How long will they operate as independent security units? In Michoacan, what started as a cooperative agreement between self-defense groups and the federal government has become a tug-of-war over which group will ultimately provide security in Western Mexico. In one incident, police in March 2014 found two charred bodies-believed to be members of a self-defense group-in the back of a pickup truck. Days later, Mexican federal police arrested Hipolito Mora, leader of a prominent, rival self-defense group.1 Internecine fighting among the vigilante groups only means trouble for their future- and the government that deputized them as armed, rural defense forces. Details: Baker Institute, Rice University, 2014. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: Issue Brief 04.18.14: Accessed November 16, 2017 at: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/Research/3e645892/BI-Brief-041814-Vigilantism.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Gangs Shelf Number: 148201 |
Author: Salcedo-Albaran, Eduardo Title: Firearms Trafficking: Mexico - United States border Summary: The aim of this paper is to explain the global scale operation of firearms trafficking. The document conveys information about (i) the process of diversion of firearms, (ii) the actors usually involved in the illicit trade of guns, and (iii) the links of firearms trafficking with criminal networks. In the second part of the document these elements are explicit in the exposition of the Mexico-USA border situation of firearms trafficking, currently one of the most relevant hotspots for this criminal activity. Details: Global Observatory of Transnational Criminal Networks, 2017; Bogota, Colombia; Vortex Foundation. 2017. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: The Global Observatory of Transnational Criminal Networks - Research Paper No. 16. VORTEX Working Papers No. 30: Accessed November 17, 2017 at: http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/522e46_269c0e689dbe438dafd8c0cd460e709d.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 148219 |
Author: Leutert, Stephanie Title: Migrant Smuggling Along Mexico's Highway System Summary: On July 23, 2017, Mexican and Central American migrants stumbled out of a trailer left outside a Walmart in San Antonio, looking for water and help after spending hours inside a cargo truck despite southern Texas' intense summer heat. When law enforcement officials arrived on the scene, they found 30 severely dehydrated migrants and another 10 that had died as the temperatures soared and oxygen became scarce. The tragedy focused attention on how smugglers use cargo trucks to move irregular migrants in the United States, but this form of migrant smuggling is neither new nor constrained to South Texas. In the popular imagination surrounding migration through Mexico, the infamous train network "La Bestia" looms large. The images of hundreds or even thousands of migrants clinging to trains have defined the migration itself and Mexico's migratory policies. Yet, despite being the most visible form of migration through Mexico, only a small percent, estimated between 10 and 20 percent, of transit migrants ride the train on their journey north to the United States. Since Mexico announced Plan Frontera Sur in July 2014-the country's latest border security and immigration strategy-this number has dipped even lower. This paper addresses how smugglers bypass the train network to move migrants north in buses, trailers, and private vehicles along Mexico's highway system. By analyzing cases from both before and after Plan Frontera Sur, this paper documents migrants' increasing reliance on more invisible forms of transportation. Details: Austin, TX: Robert Strauss Center for International Security and law, University of Texas at Austin, 2017. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 1, 2017 at: http://www.strausscenter.org/images/pdf/MSI/MSI_Migrant_Report.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 148675 |
Author: Yates, Caitlyn Title: Penitentiary System Reform Summary: Properly functioning prisons serve as an indicator of a country's ability to confront insecurity, and Mexico's prison conditions fail to demonstrate adequate institutional capacity. The Mexican Congress passed a prison reform law in 2016 aimed at drastically reforming the justice system and prison practices. Yet, there remain serious concerns such as inadequate prison conditions, violations of prisoners' rights, and an increase in violence and organized criminal operations within the penitentiary system. This paper analyzes current Mexican prison conditions, recent policy interventions in the prison system, and policy recommendations. These include: ensuring equal rights for all incarcerated individuals, reducing prison official complicity, emphasizing restorative justice, eradicating sentencing for minor crimes, better allocating resources for prison officials and institutions, and eventually reducing extradition. Details: Austin, TX: Robert Strauss Center for Interntional Security and Law, 2017. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Mexico Security Initiative, Policy Research Project Paper: Accessed December 5, 2017 at: https://www.strausscenter.org/images/Courses_Scholars/PRP_2017/CaitlynYates_PRP_copy.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Correctional Institutions Shelf Number: 148718 |
Author: Martinez, Cesar Title: Security Policy in Mexico: Recommendations for the 2018 Presidential Election Summary: For over ten years, Mexico's security situation has been a consistent public concern and policy priority. Since the 2000 democratic transition, the country's criminal landscape has changed dramatically. The dissolution of implicit organized-crime political agreements, a move toward more confrontational security strategies, and intra- and inter-group fighting have shattered criminal groups, pushed criminal activity into new industries and exploitative practices, and forced the Mexican government to rethink and continuously adjust its security strategy. The result of these changes is that today's organized criminal groups look different from their historic predecessors, which dedicated their time and energy primarily to transporting and cultivating drugs and keeping a low profile. Today's groups experiment with a range of illicit revenue-generating activities and have adopted shockingly brutal and violent tactics. These profits are then funneled into corrupting political institutions at every level, weakening the government's ability to fulfill its mandate and decimating public trust. The overall insecurity also hurts the country's economy, with estimates that it slashes 1.25 percent off the country's GDP every year. In July 2018, Mexico will elect its next president for the following six years. In the backdrop, the country's homicide level is once again on the rise after a two-year drop. Further, almost 60 percent of the population reported in 2016 that insecurity or delinquency was Mexico's principal problem. These ongoing challenges and concerns will ensure that public security features prominently in the upcoming presidential campaigns and will be a central issue for the incoming administration. To address some of these issues, this Policy Research Project on Mexico's security policy- sponsored by the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law-will address Mexico's major security challenges and offer a series of policy recommendations. The report is divided into four chapters, focusing on the overall security strategy, important domestic and international security issues, illicit economic markets, and civil society efforts. Within each chapter, the authors identify the current policies, evaluate their effectiveness, and provide steps for a path forward to a safer and more secure Mexico. Details: Austin, TX: Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, 2017. 166p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Research Project Report Number 193 ; Accessed December 6, 2017 at: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/61475/prp_193-security_policy_in_mexico-2017.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 148728 |
Author: Pargiter, Tamsin Title: Understanding Cartel Violence in Mexico: Mapping the many Dimensions of Cartel Violence Summary: This paper seeks to move beyond the general base-level of violence that is regularly present in cartel politics in order to understand the specific causal mechanisms behind dramatic surges of cartel related violence. With violence as the dependent variable, this study identifies two prominent theories that seek to explain cartel violence, and tests their independent variables against empirical evidence. By using a longitudinal comparative analysis, this paper tested whether the unconditional state repression of cartel activity or the end of a state-sponsored protection bracket resulted in a surge in cartel violence. Based on homicides per 100,000 inhabitants as well as the distinct analysis of cartel-state conflict from inter- and intra- cartel violence, this paper finds a strong causal connection between unconditional state repression and increased cartel violence. This paper additionally finds that while the breaking of patron-client ties may foster an environment that is especially prone to violence, it is not sufficient to cause a surge in violence. Details: New York: Barnard College, 2016. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed January 17, 2018 at: file:///C:/Users/pschultze/Downloads/PargiterThesisFinalDraft%20(1).pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Cartels Shelf Number: 148850 |
Author: Murphy, Tommy E. Title: Following the Poppy Trail: Causes and Consequences of Mexican Drug Cartels Summary: We study the historical origins and consequences of Mexican cartels. We first trace the location of current cartels to the location of Chinese migration at the beginning of the XX century, and document that both events are strongly connected. We then use Chinese presence in 1930 as an instrument for cartel presence today. We find a positive link between cartel presence and good socioeconomic outcomes, such as lower marginalization rates, lower illiteracy rates, higher salaries, and better public services. We also report that municipalities with cartel presence have higher tax revenues and more political competition. Given that Chinese immigration at the end of the century was driven by elements largely exogenous to the drug trade, the link between cartel presence and good socioeconomic outcomes can be interpreted in a causal way. Previous research has shown that the presence of organized crime is associated with bad outcomes at the macro level (Pinotti, 2015) and has deep effects at individual level, making children more likely to be criminals in adulthood (Sviatschi, 2017a; 2017b). Our paper reconciles this previous literature with the fact that drug lords, the leaders of this particular form of organized crime, have great support in the local communities in which they operate. Details: Buenos Aires, Argentina: Universidad de San Andres, 2017. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 17, 2018 at: ftp://webacademicos.udesa.edu.ar/pub/econ/doc130.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 148851 |
Author: Dominguez Villegas, Rodrigo Title: Strengthening Mexico's Protection of Central American Unaccompanied Minors in Transit Summary: In the summer of 2014, the number of unaccompanied children traveling from the Northern Triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) through Mexico and on to the United States surged. Some undertook the dangerous journey to escape violence, endemic poverty, or recruitment by criminal gangs, while others hoped to reunite with family in the United States. To stem the flow of migrants through its territory, Mexico stepped up enforcement at its southern border and along popular routes through the country, apprehending more than 50,000 such children since 2014. The spike in the apprehension of unaccompanied children-a growing share of whom are girls and children under age 12-has raised questions about how well equipped Mexican immigration authorities are to uphold legal requirements for the protection of minors. This report draws on previously unpublished data from Mexican government agencies, interviews with key officials, and accounts from civil society to examine the legal framework for the protection of child migrants in Mexico, its implementation, and the gaps between the two during the apprehension, screening, and housing process. Despite a legal framework that emphasizes the best-interests-of-the-child principle and has a generous definition of who qualifies for refugee status, the author highlights a number of areas where further progress is needed if young migrants are to be adequately screened for international protection needs, housed in age-appropriate facilities, and informed of their right to apply for asylum. Details: Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2017. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 27, 2018 at: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/strengthening-mexicos-protection-central-american-unaccompanied-minors-transit Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Immigrant Children Shelf Number: 149275 |
Author: Orraca Romano, Pedro Paulo Title: Crime Exposure and Educational Outcomes in Mexico Summary: Driven by drug-trade related crimes, homicide levels in Mexico have dramatically increased since 2007. This study examines the effect of students' exposure to crime on educational outcomes. Using school level data, a panel of Mexico's primary and secondary schools from 2006 to 2012 is constructed to analyse the effect of exposure to local homicides on standardised test scores and grade failure rates. The results show that an increase of one unit in the number of homicides per 10,000 inhabitants reduces average standardised test scores between 0.0035 and 0.0142 standard deviations. This effect is larger in secondary schools, grows stronger if the homicide occurs closer to the examination date, and is relatively stable when using either total homicides or drug-trade related homicides to measure crime exposure. Higher homicides rates are also associated with an increase in the grade failure rate. It is proposed that the negative effects of crime exposure are partly due to a reduction in the number of contact hours, where students do not compensate for this by studying more outside of the school. By having a negative impact on educational outcomes, early exposure to homicides has potential long term consequences since it may affect educational attainment levels and future income streams. Details: Sussex, UK: Department of Economics, university of Sussex, 2015. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 13, 2018 at: http://conference.iza.org/conference_files/SUMS_2015/orraca_romano_p5554.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Academic Performance Shelf Number: 149455 |
Author: Johnson, Jennifer Title: The Forgotten Border: Migration and Human Rights at Mexico's Southern Border Summary: The nature of transborder migration and human rights violations against migrants at Mexico's southern border has received scant attention. The Forgotten Border: Migration & Human Rights at Mexico's Southern Border sheds light on the abuse and exploitation experienced by many transmigrants as they journey northward, as well as trends in Mexico's practices regarding immigration and border enforcement policies. The nature of transborder migration and human rights violations against migrants at Mexico's southern border has received scant attention. The Forgotten Border: Migration & Human Rights at Mexico's Southern Border sheds light on the abuse and exploitation experienced by many transmigrants as they journey northward, as well as trends in Mexico's practices regarding immigration and border enforcement policies. In 2008, the U.S. Congress will consider giving $1 billion in assistance to Mexico as part of the "Merida Initiative." As programs in this aid package are framed as support for human interdiction, border security and law enforcement activities, it is critical that policymakers and advocates gain a clearer understanding of the broader context in which human rights abuses take place in Mexico's southern border region to ensure that U.S. policy, and in particular, the Merida Initiative, does not aggravate a precarious situation any further. Details: Washington, DC: Latin America Working Group, 2008. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 20, 2018 at: http://www.lawg.org/storage/documents/forgotten%20border.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Mexico Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 149528 |
Author: Mendoza Garcia, Jose Antonio Title: Do place-based interventions displace crime in cities? an evaluation of two crime prevention strategies in Chihuahua, Mexico Summary: Scholars and practitioners have traditionally been skeptical of place-based crime prevention and reduction interventions because they can potentially displace crime to other times, locations, settings, or crime events. However, only few empirical studies have successfully demonstrated crime displacement, and when found it has tended to be less than the benefits of the intervention. Some scholars have even differentiated between benign and malign displacement, the former referring to socially acceptable redistribution of crime and the latter to producing worse outcomes than without the intervention. Existing scholarship in sociology and criminology has found that interventions more commonly produce a diffusion of benefits in the form of a reduction of crime in areas adjacent to the intervention, through deterrence or discouragement. This study analyzes crime displacement following both public and private place-based interventions in Chihuahua, Mexico, a city whose crime rates catapulted as a result of the Mexican War on Drugs. The first intervention considered here is that of gated communities, privately initiated responses that now house around a tenth of the total population of the city. The second intervention type studied centers on public sector initiatives. Here the thesis presents a spatial analysis of the National Program for the Social Prevention of Crime and Violence (PRONAPRED), a publicly funded situational-prevention strategy that transfers funds to local actors working on crime prevention. Using empirical evidence from these two intervention typologies, this thesis focuses on identifying whether or not there is spatial displacement of crime. The results of this study do not identify significant crime displacement nor diffusion of benefits from interventions to adjacent areas, except for pedestrian robberies, which increase around gated communities but decrease next to PRONAPRED interventions. However, controlling for other factors, it finds that marginalization levels and the presence of community-based interventions impact crime displacement. Details: Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2017. 90p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed March 26, 2018 at: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/111413 Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Community-Based Interventions Shelf Number: 149574 |
Author: Correa-Cabrera, Guadalupe Title: Arguments to Reform Mexico's Anti-trafficking Legislation Summary: In the past few years, Mexico has taken a number of steps to prevent and prosecute trafficking in persons, and to protect its victims. The country's government has signed international anti-trafficking conventions and taken some aspects of widely-accepted international definitions of this crime into account when drafting its anti-trafficking legislation. However, Mexico's current legislation is based on a broad definition of trafficking in persons that is inconsistent with international norms which, in turn, has led to misidentification of traffickers and victims, as well as their re-victimization. Mexico's weak rule of law and corrupt institutions compound the issue. The present analysis demonstrates the imperative to modify the current anti-trafficking legislation in Mexico and provides some suggestions for this much-needed reform. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2018. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 29, 2018 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/correa-cabrera_trafficking_final_2.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Human Trafficking Shelf Number: 149605 |
Author: Chavez Villegas, Cirenia Title: Youth and Organised Crime in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico: An exploration of contributing factors Summary: This research explores why young men participate in organised crime in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. From an ecological perspective, decisions are the result of a combination of factors at the macro, micro, and individual levels. The research explores factors at each of these levels, particularly the role of unfulfilled aspirations, the family and community environments, as well as different dimensions of poverty. In doing so, it uses an original survey covering a sample of 180 delinquent young men aged 12 to 29, who were in prison for organised criminal activity, and a sample of 180 non-delinquents with the same age, social background, and geographical origin in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Twenty in-depth interviews were also carried out with a subsample of delinquents. To my knowledge, this is the first study to use a quasi-experimental approach to understand why young men in Mexico participate in organised crime that considers their aspirations and measures multidimensional poverty amongst a population that is commonly excluded from census data. The thesis draws on several theoretical frameworks from the fields of criminology and sociology, including anomie and attachment theories. The findings lend support to the importance of aspirations at the individual level. Opportunity constraints predict criminal participation and delinquents tend to place greater value on material items than their nondelinquent counterparts, which calls for the co-creation and management of aspirations of former delinquents and at-risk youth with the aid of counsellors. In the family environment, being raised in a single parent household was a significant predictor of participation in organised crime. As these households are often headed by women, greater support for working mothers is pressing, as work in the assembly plants in Juarez (the prime source of employment) is not accompanied with childcare. More involved fathers who constitute positive role models are necessary to mitigate the risks of criminal participation. In the community environment, regularly spending time in a gang significantly predicted organised crime participation. Although gangs constitute a gateway, they do not unequivocally lead to organised crime. This calls for an adequate assessment of gangs, a phenomenon that is still poorly understood in Mexico. At the macro level, the findings reveal that those who are more income deprived have a lower probability of having participated in crime, suggesting that participation reduces income poverty marginally. However, a higher proportion of delinquent participants are vulnerable due to deprivation in several social indicators and most delinquent participants are still multidimensionally poor, despite their participation in organised crime. This indicates that participating in crime does not constitute an effective or sustained pathway out of poverty, a message that should be communicated to at-risk youth. A more robust poverty and inequality reduction program accompanied by fiscal reform and higher minimum wages are also among the key policy recommendations. Details: Cambridge, UK: Queens' College, University of Cambridge, 2018. 266p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 10, 2018 at: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/273773/Chavez-2018-PhD.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Juvenile Delinquents Shelf Number: 150144 |
Author: Open Society Justice Initiative Title: Corruption that Kills: Why Mexico Needs an International Mechanism to Combat Impunity Summary: In 2017, Mexico experienced its deadliest year in two decades, with homicides exceeding 25,000. Despite the many crimes which have been committed in Mexico, however, criminal accountability still remains virtually absent. The extraordinary violence Mexico is experiencing, and the questions it raises about collusion between state actors and organized crime, demand a commensurate response. This report calls for an international mechanism-based inside the country, but comprised of national and international staff-which would have a mandate to independently investigate and prosecute atrocity crimes and the corrupt acts that enable them. This report follows the Open Society Justice Initiative's 2016 report, Undeniable Atrocities, which found reasonable basis to believe that Mexican federal forces and members of the Zetas cartel have perpetrated crimes against humanity. Corruption That Kills was produced by the Open Society Justice Initiative in partnership with eight Mexican organizations: the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, the Diocesan Center for Human Rights Fray Juan de Larios, Families United for the Search of Disappeared Persons, Piedras Negras/Coahuila, I(dh)eas Human Rights Strategic Litigationos, the Mexican Institute of Human Rights and Democracy, Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center, the Foundation for Justice and Rule of Law, and PODER. Details: New York: Open Society Foundation, 2018. 74p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2018 at: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/corruption-that-kills-en-20180502.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice Systems Shelf Number: 150193 |
Author: Rios, Viridiana Title: The Missing Reform: Strengthening the Rule of Law in Mexico Summary: The approval of the package of widely praised structural reforms in Mexico has not had the effect that observers and policy makers were expecting. In retrospect, the approval of the reforms proved to be an easy step. Turning structural reforms into reality, moving them from paper to implementation, was where the real work lay. This book explores a new hypothesis as to why the approval of Mexico's groundbreaking structural reforms has not been able to live up to expectations. We argue that the time in which Mexico's structural lags could be tempered by improving legislation and creating new laws has come to an end. To turn approved structural reforms into tangible benefits for all Mexicans, the country needs to transition to performing a much more complicated task: implement the rule of law. Making sure that rules apply to all and everybody in the same way, independently of income, power, or status, is the most imperative pending task of Mexico. Without the rule of law, approved reforms are, in the best scenario, good intentions that cannot materialize and, in the worst case, selective weapons for discretionary implementation with political purposes. This book is organized into two sections. The first section analyzes the concrete obstacles that Mexico faces to implement the rule of law. Each of these obstacles is described in a long chapter. The second section provides a series of short personal reflections from ten leading Mexican and U.S. intellectuals on concrete recommendations for strengthening the rule of law in Mexico. More than just policy analysis, each of these ten pieces was conceived as a personal exercise in which the author uses his or her main area of expertise to propose viable recommendations for implementing the rule of law in Mexico, while at the same time revealing some of the personal motivations that drove the authors to focus on their respective area of interest. Details: Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2018. 266p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 15, 2018 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/the_missing_reform_strengthening_the_rule_of_law_in_mexico_0.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice Systems Shelf Number: 150561 |
Author: La Rosa, Lucy Title: The New Generation: Mexico's Emerging Organized Crime Threat Summary: Over the past decade, more than 200,000 people have been murdered in Mexico, including the record 29,000 murders that occurred in 2017 alone. While there are complex underlying factors behind every individual homicide, a substantial portion of Mexico's recent violence is attributable to organized crime groups. In an effort to reduce the operational capabilities of these groups, the government of Mexico has responded to this crisis with a deliberate strategy to target top organized crime figures for arrest and even extradition. In January 2017, these efforts culminated in the downfall of famed drug trafficker, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who was extradited to the United States and is currently preparing to stand trial for various related crimes in New York. One of the unintended consequences of Guzman's downfall has been an increase in homicides to unprecedented levels. Following Guzman's removal as the purported head of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico's most powerful criminal organizations, splinter groups and rival organizations have competed to take over the lucrative drug trafficking routes he formerly controlled. One group that has been behind much of this violence is a relatively new organized crime syndicate known as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, CJNG), an offshoot of the Sinaloa Cartel that has managed to re-brand itself, consolidate splintered criminal networks, and emerge as one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in Mexico. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico, 2018. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief: Accessed June 20, 2018 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/180319-Policy_Brief-CJNG.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 150594 |
Author: Arredondo Sanchez Lira, Jaime Title: The Resurgence of Violent Crime in Tijuana Summary: This policy brief provides an assessment of the recent resurgence of violent crime in the Mexican border city of Tijuana in the state of Baja California. With an estimated 1.8 million inhabitants in 2017, Tijuana is the largest Mexican city on the U.S.-Mexico border. The city is home to roughly 49% of Baja California's population, while comprising only around 2% of the state's territory. Today one of Mexico's fastest growing cities, Tijuana reportedly grows at an annual rate of 35,000 people per year, or nearly 96 new inhabitants per day, drawing large numbers of immigrants from elsewhere in Mexico to join the city's robust economy. A longtime destination for cross-border tourism, Tijuana has long prided itself as the "world's most visited city." Today, nearly 190,000 people cross the border between Tijuana and neighboring San Diego on a daily basis for work, commerce, schooling, fine dining, family gatherings, and other recreational pursuits. Moreover, an estimated 200,000 U.S. citizens reside in the state of Baja California (roughly one in five of all U.S. citizens estimated to reside in Mexico), with many of them living in Tijuana. The city's thriving manufacturing sector makes Tijuana a vital part of the vibrant cross-border economic area known as the "Cali-Baja" region, particularly in areas such as electronics and medical devices; one study estimates that this region is responsible for roughly 40% of all audio-visual manufacturing in North America. Yet, dating back to the Prohibition-era of the 1920s, Tijuana also has long suffered a reputation as a city of vice. Over the last decade, that reputation has been further damaged by dramatic surges of violent crime, often attributable to drug-trafficking and organized crime groups. The city also has high levels of drug use that are shaped by its proximity to the United States. While methamphetamine is the main illicit drug used in the State of Baja California, the city has a higher concentration of heroin drug users compared to the national average, resulting in a concentrated epidemic of HIV and Hepatitis C virus among this high-risk population. In 2017, Tijuana had more homicides than any other city in Mexico, in a record year for national homicide figures. According to information from the Baja California Ministry of Public Safety, from 2016 to 2017 Tijuana saw the number of investigations on homicide cases rise from 872 to 1,618, an increase of roughly 86% in just one year. Preliminary figures from the Baja California State Secretary of Public Security put the total number of homicides in these cases at 1,780 homicide victims in Tijuana. 8 Preliminary data from Mexico's National Public Security system puts the total number of victims of homicide in the country at 29,168, a number that could increase to over 30,000 when final tallies are completed in the coming months.9 Based on these figures, the authors calculate that in 2017 one out of twenty murders in Mexico took place in Tijuana. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico, 2018. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief: Accessed June 20, 2018 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/180205_TJViolence.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 150597 |
Author: Calderon, Laura Title: An Analysis of Mayoral Assassinations in Mexico, 2000-17 Summary: In recent years, Mexico has seen elevated violence years, with roughly 300,000 people murdered since 2000 and over 28,000 registered homicides in 2017 alone. One special characteristic of this violence is the increased number of targeted killings against local authorities, perhaps most noticeably the more than 150 mayors, former mayors, and mayoral candidates that have been killed since 2004. This paper examines the problem of violence targeting mayors, former mayors, and mayoral candidates in order to provide a better understanding of the recent wave of violence against local officials in Mexico. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico, 2018. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series, 15(1): Accessed June 20, 2018 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/180117_CALDERON-WRKPPR_v3.0.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Assassinations Shelf Number: 150598 |
Author: Calderon, Laura Title: Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2017 Summary: Justice in Mexico, a research and public policy program based at the University of San Diego, released its 2018 special report on Drug Violence in Mexico, co-authored by Laura Calderon, Octavio Rodriguez Ferreira, and David A. Shirk. The report examines trends in violence and organized crime in Mexico through 2017. The study compiles the latest available data and analysis of trends to help separate the signals from the noise to help better understand the facets, implications, and possible remedies to the ongoing crisis of violence, corruption, and human rights violations associated with the war on drugs. Mexico experienced dramatic increases in crime and violence over the last decade. The number of intentional homicides documented by Mexico's National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Information (INEGI) declined significantly under both presidents Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000) and Vicente Fox (2000-2006), but rose dramatically after 2007, the first year in office for President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012). All told, throughout the Calderon administration, INEGI reported 121,669 homicides, an average of over 20,000 people per year, more than 55 people per day, or just over two people every hour. Over that period, no other country in the Western Hemisphere had seen such a large increase either in its homicide rate or in the absolute number of homicides. Yet, over 116,000 people have been murdered under Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (2012-2018), despite his campaign pledge that violence would decline dramatically within the first year of his administration. In fact, there were an average of 23,293 homicides per year during the first five years of Pena Nieto's term, nearly 4,000 more per year than during Calderon's first five years in office. As such, the annual average number of homicides under the Pena Nieto administration is now about 20% higher than during the Calderon administration, whose first two years saw much lower levels of homicide. In 2017, state-level increases in intentional homicide cases were found in all but 6 states. The top five states with the largest number of intentional homicide cases in 2017 were Guerrero (2,318), Baja California (2,092), Mexico State (2,041), Veracruz (1,641), and Chihuahua (1,369). In 2017, the state with the largest annual increase in total homicides was Baja California, with most of that increase concentrated in the city of Tijuana. However, the largest percentage increases in homicide cases were found in Nayarit (554% increase) and Baja California Sur (192% increase). At the state level, the largest numerical and percentage decrease in homicides was found in the state of Campeche, which saw 67 homicide cases in 2017, down 17 cases (20% less) compared to the previous year. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico, 2018. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 20, 2018 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/180411_DrugViolenceinMexico-12mb.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 150599 |
Author: Beittel, June S. Title: Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations Summary: The notorious drug trafficking kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is now imprisoned in the United States awaiting trial, following the Mexican government's decision to extradite him to the United States on January 19, 2017, the day before President Trump took office. Guzman is charged with operating a continuing criminal enterprise and conducting drug-related crimes as the purported leader of the Mexican criminal syndicate commonly known as the Sinaloa cartel. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) maintains that the Sinaloa cartel has the widest reach into U.S. cities of any transnational criminal organization. In November 2016, in its National Drug Threat Assessment, the DEA stated that Mexican drug trafficking groups are working to expand their presence, particularly in the heroin markets inside the United States. Over the years, Mexico"s criminal groups have trafficked heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and increasingly the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. Mexico's drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) have been in constant flux. By some accounts, in 2006, there were four dominant DTOs: the Tijuana/Arellano Felix organization (AFO), the Sinaloa cartel, the Juarez/Vicente Carillo Fuentes organization (CFO), and the Gulf cartel. Since then, the more stable large organizations have fractured. In recent years, the DEA has identified the following organizations as dominant: Sinaloa, Los Zetas, Tijuana/AFO, Juarez/CFO, Beltran Leyva, Gulf, and La Familia Michoacana. In some sense, these organizations might be viewed as the "traditional" DTOs, although the 7 organizations appear to have fragmented to at least 9 (or as many as 20) major organizations. New crime groups have emerged since the December 2012 inauguration of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has faced an increasingly complex crime situation. The major DTOs and new crime groups have furthered their expansion into such illicit activity as extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and oil syphoning, posing a governance challenge to President Pena Nieto as daunting as that faced by his predecessors. Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) initiated an aggressive campaign against Mexico's drug traffickers that was a defining policy of his government and one that the DTOs violently resisted. Operations to eliminate DTO leaders sparked organizational change, which led to significant instability among the groups and continued violence. Such violence appears to be rising again in Mexico. In January 2017, the country registered more homicides than in any January since the government began to release national crime data in the late 1980s. In a single weekend in April 2017, more than 35 died in what was assumed to be drug trafficking-related violence. Although the Mexican government no longer estimates organized crime-related homicides, some independent analysts have claimed that murders linked to organized crime may have exceeded 100,000 since 2006, when President Calderon began his campaign against the DTOs. Mexico's government reported that the annual number of all homicides in Mexico declined after Calderon left office in 2012 by about 16% in 2013 and 15% in 2014, only to rise in 2015 and 2016. In 2016, the Mexican government reported a 22% increase in all homicides to 22,932, almost reaching the high point of nearly 23,000 murders in 2011, Mexico's most violent year. The 115th Congress remains concerned about security conditions inside Mexico and the illicit drug trade. The Mexican DTOs are the major wholesalers of illegal drugs in the United States and are increasingly gaining control of U.S. retail-level distribution. This report examines how the organized crime landscape has been significantly altered by fragmentation and how the organizational shape-shifting continues Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2017. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: R41576: Accessed June 29, 2018 at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41576.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 150740 |
Author: Mexico Evalua Title: Seguridad y Justicia Penal en los estados: 25 indicadores de nuestra debilidad institucional Summary: The purpose of this document is to provide information that facilitates the evaluation of the work of the institutions that intervene in the Security System and Criminal Justice at the state level. Specifically, data on criminal incidence, preventive police, procurators' offices and centers of social readaptation. The idea is to have objective elements that help to make public policy decisions aimed to improve the performance of institutions government that affect public safety. Have information that allows us to know the operation of each link of the Security System and Criminal Justice and identify the parts that need more attention is essential to carry out actions more efficient and efficient. The foregoing is paramount in the case of the federated entities since these are the responsible for the prevention, prosecution and punishment of 93 percent of crimes reported in the country. Details: Marzo: Mexico Evalua, 2012. 125p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 16, 2018 at: https://www.mexicoevalua.org/2012/03/01/seguridad-y-justicia-penal-en-los-estados-25-indicadores-de-nuestra-debilidad-institucional/ Year: 2012 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice Administration Shelf Number: 150892 |
Author: Fitzpatrick, Derek R. Title: Greed and Grievance and Drug Cartels: Mexico's Commercial Insurgency Summary: After ten years of sending its military into domestic combat, Mexico's drug cartels are as powerful, profitable, and violent as they have ever been. Along with the deployment of Mexican troops, the US and Mexican governments have spent nearly $100 billion in government funds to counter this threat. The apparent lack of progress has driven many analysts and academics to reconsider both the logic of the violence in Mexico and the effectiveness of government responses. While some analysts have argued the cartels are insurgents, carving out territory for control, others contend these groups are purely criminal, and motivated only by profit. Still other analysts have offered an alternative approach, commercial insurgency, to understand and address these groups as both criminal and political actors. This monograph examines the potential for more effective understanding and approach to countering Mexican cartels by viewing the problem through the framework of commercial insurgency. This study is divided into four sections. The introductory section explores the current context and framing of the problem. The second section tracks the development of commercial insurgency theory and introduces the commercial insurgency framework. The third section examines the Los Zetas, as an example of commercial insurgency. The last section draws upon lessons learned and offers recommendations for US and Mexican government policy and strategy aimed at countering drug cartels and drug trafficking. The outcome of this study is analytical support for the thesis that the US and Mexican governments can develop a more comprehensive approach to understanding, and thus countering, Mexican cartels by incorporating concepts from commercial insurgency. Details: Fort Leavenworth, KS: US Army School for Advanced Military Studies, 2017. 59p. Source: Internet Resource:L Accessed July 30, 2018 at: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/1038984.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 150970 |
Author: C4ADS Title: Hooked: How Demand for a Protected Fish Lined the Pockets of Mexican Cartels and Sunk the Future of an Endangered Porpoise Species Summary: Once essential to the economy of the Gulf of California in Mexico, the totoaba fish has suffered a precipitous decline over the past century due to overfishing. The problem reached its zenith in the 1970s, resulting in a ban on totoaba fishing, and the species' receipt of the highest levels of protection under Mexican, U.S., and international law. After a few decades of comparative calm, the totoaba is under attack once again. Illegal fishermen hoping to amass a few kilograms of the totoaba's famed bladders - potentially earning them over a year's salary in a single night - are destabilizing the remaining totoaba population. But the totoaba's high value signals trouble for more than just the continued viability of the species; the nets used to catch them, called gillnets, are devastating marine life in the Gulf. One species in particular, the vaquita, the world's smallest porpoise species, has suffered disproportionately from the resurgence of totoaba poaching. A reclusive and shy animal, the vaquita have suffered substantial losses at the hands of totoaba poachers, declining from 567 individuals in 1997 to an estimated 26 by May 2017. With illegal totoaba fishing showing no signs of decreasing - some evidence suggests that totoaba fishermen have only become more brazen - and despite a gillnet ban, gillnet removal operations, and other programs, the vaquita face a dark future without an immediate and substantial change. Compounding the problem (and further imperiling the vaquita), organized criminal networks entered the totoaba trafficking scene in about 2013, attracted by the prospect of a little-known fish bladder worth as much as its weight in cocaine. Their entrance signaled the arrival of a period of volatility and insecurity in the region, as criminal bosses jockeyed to control the totoaba trade in seaside towns and cities, and criminal fishermen began to use their law-abiding counterparts as a smokescreen for illegal activity. Mexican authorities have struggled to address the problem, with little help from foreign governments who recognize totoaba trafficking as a conservation problem, but not a major criminal or security issue. In the meantime, organized criminal groups have solidified their hold on the totoaba trade in the Gulf, corrupting those officials who stand in their way (even those who proved resistant to the corrupting influence of narcotics traffickers), and frightening the local populations into silence. Without a concerted, international effort to loosen their grip and reverse the devastation wrought on the Gulf of California, the totoaba and the vaquita could both be lost. Organized criminal actors will then turn to some other high-value crime. Newly minted totoaba traffickers may join them, unwilling - and perhaps unable - to return to the unassuming, often difficult life of a legal fisherman. Hooked examines the totoaba trafficking supply chain, from the Gulf of California, through the United States, and into Chinese destination markets. The report is broken down into the following sections: - Fishing briefly examines the history of totoaba fishing and panga activity in the Gulf, and traces the origins of the current crisis. Recent gillnet retrieval data is used to shed light on fluctuations in illegal fishing activity, and the modus operandi of totoaba fishermen are described in detail. Finally, the recent involvement of organized criminal groups in totoaba fishing - and the resulting impact on regional stability and security - is revealed. - Trafficking follows the totoaba supply chain from the Gulf of California to Chinese destination markets, beginning with the methods used to move totoaba bladders from the shores of the Gulf to consolidation and processing points. Trafficking methods and routes between Mexico, the United States, and Asia are exposed, and various possible explanations are given for the recent decline in identifiable totoaba trafficking activity, despite little to no observed changes in illegal totoaba fishing - Destination first describes known and suspected trafficking methods between the Americas and Asia, as well as between Hong Kong and mainland China. The significant drop in totoaba prices and overt market activity since 2012 are assessed, and the still thriving online trade for totoaba bladders is analyzed. Finally, C4ADS identified a number of small-scale networks moving totoaba from the Gulf of California to Asia, occasionally passing through the United States on the way. C4ADS found that even in cases where networks could not be identified, common modus operandi associated with the illicit totoaba trade were highly suggestive of organized criminal activity, rather than opportunistic fishing by a small sub-set of local fishermen. A number of cases given slight coverage in the Mexican press, and almost no coverage beyond the Gulf of California area, cast light on the links between the totoaba trade and other crime types, and highlight the need to address totoaba trafficking as the organized crime it has become. The totoaba trafficking crisis has escalated to the point that Mexican authorities cannot fix the problem alone; additional support - from other governments, NGOs, and the international community - is desperately needed. Continuing to think of totoaba trafficking as only a conservation issue ignores the clear security implications it has and could have for Mexico and the United States, including the long-term destabilization of the Baja California region. Surely addressing the problem now, and perhaps saving the vaquita, is preferable to watching the biodiversity of the Gulf continue to decline, and in so doing, driving the further deterioration of the Gulf economy and allowing for the insidious expansion of Mexican organized crime's already substantial reach and power. Details: Washington, DC: C2ADS, 2017. 106p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 9, 2018 at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58831f2459cc684854aa3718/t/59f87ff764265fdd426b5528/1509457936410/Hooked.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Animal Poaching Shelf Number: 151091 |
Author: Munguia, Torres Title: What is behind homicide gender gaps in Mexico? A spatial semiparametric approach Summary: From 1990 to 2016, more than 425,000 homicides have occurred in Mexico. In 2016, the country recorded the worlds second largest number of conflict fatalities with more than 24,000 killings. Despite the growing attention for inquiring into specific causes of homicide victimization, research on the matter suffer from three important shortcomings: disregard for introducing a gender perspective, lack of a multilevel approach -use of information both at the victim and community levels- and the exclusive use of traditional linear models -failing to capture nonlinear relationships, as can be expected, in the linkage between age of a person and their likelihood of being victim of crime-. In order to contribute to the analysis of homicides in Mexico, the present study develops a semiparametric approach to investigate the determinants of gender bias in homicide victimization in Mexico. Homicide statistics from 2010 to 2014 and 2010 census data are used to construct a logistic model with sex of the victim as response variable and a set of potential categorical and continuous covariates. The main results suggest that gender differences in victimization can be explained by the mechanism of killing, interaction between age of the victim and the killing mechanism, social deprivation of the municipality of occurrence, share of the population living in female-headed households, share of the population living in indigenous-headed households, random effects and spatial effects. Details: Gottingen, Germany: Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research (IAI), Gottingen, 2018. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion Papers, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research (IAI), No. 236: Accessed August 10, 2018 at: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/178674/1/1023106922.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Statistics Shelf Number: 151109 |
Author: University of Texas School of Law. Human Rights Clinic Title: Summary: he Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, in cooperation with the Centro Diocesano para los Derechos Humanos Fray Juan de Larios from Coahuila, Mexico, has compiled a report based on analyzed witness testimonies from three U.S. federal trials. Between 2013 and 2016, Zeta members were put on trial in Austin, San Antonio, and Del Rio for crimes of homicide, conspiracy to import drugs and weapons, and money laundering. These trials brought new information to light and corroborated information that has already been documented about Zeta operations and human rights abuses. First-hand testimonies of ex-Zeta cartel members and victims provide a more comprehensive understanding of the dire situation in Coahuila and offer a glimpse into the Zeta structure, members, and nexus with state officials and institutions. After reviewing the witness testimonies, the Clinic has determined two major findings: (1) the Zeta cartel committed numerous human rights abuses in Coahuila with impunity; (2) public institutions and officials played a role, by actions or omissions, in the commission of these abuses. Testimonies describe the nature and degree of Zeta influence over state and municipal officials and institutions. The Zetas paid bribes and integrated police officers into their hierarchy to ensure the cartel would be able to continue their illicit operations without resistance. However, the Zetas did not only influence low level state or municipal police; witnesses described a level of Zeta control which extended to city police chiefs, state and federal prosecutors, state prisons, sectors of the federal police and the Mexican army, and state politicians. Multiple witnesses described bribery payments of millions of dollars to Humberto Moreira and Ruben Moreira, the former and current governors of Coahuila, in exchange for complete control of the state. According to the testimonies, the Zetas' influence over Coahuila government operations at all levels allowed them to conduct their business throughout the state with impunity and often with direct assistance from state officials and police officers. The report also documents the human rights abuses discussed in the witness testimonies, including the large-scale disappearances and killings in March and April of 2011, during what is known as the Piedras Negras and Allende Massacres. These crimes were perpetrated in response to information that three former Zeta operatives had begun to cooperate with U.S. authorities. In retaliation, the Zetas kidnapped, killed, and disappeared over 300 people who they believed to be associated with the former Zeta operatives. According to witnesses, this brutality was not unique to these massacres. The report documents a pattern of kidnappings, killings, torture and disappearance, targeting anyone whom the Zetas believed posed a threat to their illicit operations. In order to exercise control, Zetas also targeted innocent civilians who were completely unconnected to the cartel. Witnesses described the callous manner in which the Zetas stripped victims of their humanity, killed, and disposed of their bodies. The Zetas maintained a tight grip on Coahuila through violence and intimidation tactics such as death threats and through the forced recruitment of Coahuila residents, including the recruitment of minors. It is also clear from the testimonies that witnesses were being threatened even when members of the Zetas were already in custody in the United States. The testimonies also highlight the transnational nature of drug trafficking and the violence associated with this. In particular, witnesses discussed how weapons purchased in the United States were imported to Mexico and drugs produced in Mexico were trafficked into the U.S. Zeta operations extend to various cities in the United States, including San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Eagle Pass, Chicago and Atlanta, as well as to other states, such as New Mexico, California, and Oklahoma. The Zetas supported this transnational operation through a large network of businesses, which they used to launder money and fuel their operations in the trafficking of people, guns, and drugs. The Zetas owned ranches, race tracks, and breeding facilities in the U.S. and Mexico as a part of an elaborate horse racing scheme. Aside from owning properties connected to the horse racing scheme, the Zetas also exploited numerous businesses in Mexico, such as stores, casinos, restaurants, gyms, and carwashes. These enterprises were used as safe houses, as meeting points for drug and money trafficking operations, or instruments of the money laundering operations. Witnesses explained how the Zetas paid bribes and contributed to the campaigns of governors and political candidates to secure the free continuation of their illegal operations. These bribes also ensured that Zeta-owned companies received government contracts and building permits. Further, as has been made clear from the three analyzed trials, the U.S. government possesses valuable information regarding killings, disappearances, threats, and other violations perpetrated by the Zetas. Witness testimonies and the investigations carried out for these trials include key information, such as the location where disappearances and murders occurred. This indicates that the U.S. government may currently have undisclosed information that could lead to the clarification of murders and disappearances perpetrated in Mexico. However, witnesses made clear that the Mexican state has not conducted investigations into these murders, even when the U.S. government has directly shared vital information. Mexican State officials have willfully refused to pursue justice despite having knowledge of countless human rights abuses carried out by members of the Zeta cartel. Both the Zetas and the State are responsible for the violence in Coahuila. At best, the State turned a blind eye to the widespread corruption and grave human rights abuses committed by the Zetas in Coahuila, and at worst, directly participated in the perpetration of these abuses. Details: Austin: University of Texas School of law, 2017. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 31, 2018 at: https://law.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2017/11/2017-HRC-coahuilareport-EN.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Cartels Shelf Number: 151321 |
Author: International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) Title: Mexico Coahuila: ongoing crimes against humanity Communication to the International Criminal Court Summary: This report, along with a series of confidential annexes, will be submitted on July 6th as a communication to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) under Article 15 of the ICC Statute. It details a number of crimes committed against the civilian population in the State of Coahuila de Zaragoza, Mexico, including murder, illegal imprisonment, enforced disappearance, torture and sexual violence. The crimes detailed herein are limited to a certain number of representative cases occurring between 2009 and 2016. However, these cases are non-exhaustive and indicative of broader patterns of abuse, both in the state of Coahuila and in other regions in Mexico, pushing this situation past a matter of organised crime and into the field of crimes against humanity. The present communication to the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC is presented by the FIDH, Familias Unidas en Busqueda y Localizacion de Personas Desaparecidas, Fuerzas Unidas por Nuestros Desaparecidos en Mexico, and Centro Diocesano para los Derechos Humanos Fray Juan de Larios, in partnership with Red Todos los Derechos Para Todas y Todos (which gathers more tan 80 non governmental organizations in Mexico), la Comision Mexicana de Defensa y Promocin de los Derechos Humanos (PDH), I(dh)eas Litigio Estrategico en Derechos Humanos, la Fundacion Para La Justicia y el Estado Democratico de Derecho, el Centro de Derechos Humanos Juan Gerardi, la Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Humanos, las Asociadas por lo Justo, el Instituto Mexicano de Derechos Humanos and Democracia, Fundar Centro de Analisis e Investigacin, Casa del Migrante de Saltillo, Pastoral Penitenciaria de Saltillo Pastoral Social de la Diocesis de Saltillo. Mexico ratified the Rome Statute on October 28, 2005. Accordingly, the ICC has subject matter jurisdiction and temporal jurisdiction over the crimes committed in Mexican territory or by Mexican nationals from January 1, 2006 forward, according to Article 2 (2) and Article 126 (2) of the Rome Statute. Our organisations respectfully request the OTP to consider this Communication according to its obligations under Article 15 of the ICC Statute by opening a preliminary examination into the situation in Mexico, with a view towards a future investigation, as there is a reasonable basis to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC have been committed. Details: Paris: FIDC, 2017. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 31, 2018 at: https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/angmexico_coahuila_ongoing_crimes_against_humanity_fidh-final_a_revisar-1.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Disappearances Shelf Number: 151511 |
Author: Baysan, Caren Title: Economic and Non-Economic Factors in Violence: Evidence from Organized Crime, Suicides and Climate in Mexico Summary: Organized intergroup violence is almost universally modeled as a calculated act motivated by economic factors. In contrast, it is generally assumed that non-economic factors, such as an individual's emotional state, play a role in many types of interpersonal violence, such as "crimes of passion." We ask whether economic or non-economic factors better explain the well-established relationship between temperature and violence in a unique context where intergroup killings by drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs) and "normal" interpersonal homicides are separately documented. A constellation of evidence, including the limited influence of a cash transfer program as well as comparison with both non-violent DTO crime and suicides, indicate that economic factors only partially explain the observed relationship between temperature and violence. We argue that non-economic psychological and physiological factors that are affected by temperature, modeled here as a "taste for violence," likely play an important role in causing both interpersonal and intergroup violence. Details: Massachusetts: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2018. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 8, 2018 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w24897 Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Organizations Shelf Number: 151464 |
Author: Dell, Melissa Title: The Violent Consequences of Trade-Induced Worker Displacement in Mexico Summary: Mexican manufacturing job loss induced by competition with China increases cocaine trafficking and violence, particularly in municipalities with transnational criminal organizations. When it becomes more lucrative to traffic drugs because changes in local labor markets lower the opportunity cost of criminal employment, criminal organizations plausibly fight to gain control. The evidence supports a Becker-style model in which the elasticity between legitimate and criminal employment is particularly high where criminal organizations lower illicit job search costs, where the drug trade implies higher pecuniary returns to violent crime, and where unemployment disproportionately affects low-skilled men. Details: S.L., 2018. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 8, 2018 at: https://scholar.harvard.edu/dell/publications/violent-consequences-trade-induced-worker-displacement-mexico Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Cocaine Shelf Number: 151446 |
Author: Comision Mexicana de Defensa y Promocion de los Derechos Humanos Title: Violaciones graves a derechos humanos en la guerra contra las drogas en Mexico (Human rights violations in the context of the war on drugs in Mexico) Summary: Prohibition policies regarding drugs have failed in their goal of achieving a "drug-free world" and have forced the drug market to remain illegal. This has triggered an illicit market, exclusively controlled by organized crime cartels, who have created links to other criminal markets and use violence as a primary form of regulation. In December 2006, former President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa (2006-2012) launched an open confrontation strategy against organized crime locally known as guerra contra el narcotrafico and known internationally as the war on drugs. This policy set de facto military control over the country's public security through the deployment of thousands of troops throughout the national territory and the replacement of multiple civil government leaders of public security institutions at all levels by active and retired military elements. An example of this is the fact that elements of the military and federal, state and municipal police forces systematically transfer arrested civilians to military or exclusive control facilities, where without any monitoring of civil authorities, detainees suffer ill treatment, torture and even enforced disappearance. It has also been documented how in joint operations with civilian authorities, military elements dress in civilian clothing. The press and mass media have systematically spread the federal government's vision, where people who are killed as a result of the strategy against organized crime are not civilians but "fallen criminals", without any prior investigation and despite the fact that in many cases it was subsequently proven that they did not belong to any group or organized crime and posed no "threat" to society. Additionally, the violent confrontation of civil public security and armed forces against organized crime groups has increased. The cartels' territorial division was disbanded, the fight for drug distribution routes intensified and large cartels were fragmented into smaller groups that fought for territorial control, diversifying their criminal activity. Likewise, there has been indiscriminate use of lethal force and an unjustifiable extension of State powers, through the adoption of laws and figures, such as arraigo (pre-charge judicial detention) and protected witnesses, which operate to the detriment of judicial rights and guarantees. In 2012 the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto began. The discourse of war promoted by the Calderon administration was replaced by one of institutional strengthening and building a full rule of law. However, the security strategy has not changed significantly. As a result of the inertia of these strategies, Mexico has accumulated alarming numbers of dead, enforced disappeared and displaced persons, and as a result of the widespread violence there has been an increase in corruption and impunity. Details: Del. Cuauhtemoc, Mexico: PDH, 2016?. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 18, 2018 at: https://www.pdh.org/publicaciones-pdf/pdh-violaciones-graves-a-ddhh-en-la-guerra-contra-las-drogas-en-mexico.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 151591 |
Author: Fernandez Davalos, David Title: Violencia y terror. Hallazgos sobre fosas clandestinas en Mexico. ( Violence and terror Findings about clandestine graves in Mexico) Summary: The discovery of clandestine graves in Mexico has become a recurring fact during the last ten years, within a context of violence and violations human rights that has spread throughout the country. The appearance of one or several clandestine graves represents in itself a practice where various crimes and / or violations against people who have been smuggled in a clandestine manner, starting clearly with the right to life. Also, its possible relationship with serious violations of human rights and other individual and collective rights that are compromised shows the importance of understanding this phenomenon from different angles With this in mind, the Human Rights Program of the Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City and the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, A.C. In 2015, they undertook the task of carrying out a research with the aim of knowing a little more about the magnitude of said problem, which seemed to be increasingly present in public opinion, as well as its implications in social terms. To achieve the above, we set ourselves the goal of generating a database and a mapping of clandestine graves reported by the media between the years 2007 to 2014, to later contrast the information with the official data achieved through transparency mechanisms. The relevance of the objective of this report is to point out that the finding of clandestine graves reflects, on the one hand, the differentiated patterns of violence in the states and municipalities of the country and, on the other, the low institutional capacity and political will of the different levels of government to find, register and identify the bodies of the people whose rights were absolutely denied. In the same way, behind each clandestine grave are the stories of victims direct and indirect that have been affected by the violence generated by different state and non-state agents throughout these last ten years. Indication of the magnitude of this problem is one more step, among others, to know better the complex reality in which we are immersed; generate information on the context that facilitates access to justice and the reduction of impunity through the determination of responsibilities; produce inputs for the design of prevention policies; contribute to the access to truth, and create new ways of memory with a view to the non-repetition of the atrocious acts involved in the burial clandestine. First, readers will find a section on methodology adopted for obtaining and processing the information sources used for our analysis, as well as the scope and limits of the research carried out. After that, a section with the results of the analysis of said sources about the clandestine graves registered and reported in the national territory in a period of certain time. In the latter it is indicated what data are with the that is counted with respect to the appearance of clandestine graves; It will be detailed how this problem has evolved at the national level; the observable peaks of violence; the states that concentrate the greatest number of graves, bodies and / or remains, and how These data are compared with the official figures available. Once the results of the quantitative analysis and the contrast of figures have been reported, The second section of the report addresses the issue of clandestine graves from two different approaches, with the aim of understanding the implications of this form of violence in the country. First a section is presented that summarizes briefly the discussion that took place in a seminar organized in the Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City, where some axes were delineated that can serve as a proposal to understand the problem of clandestine graves from various academic disciplines. The following section details how the discovery of clandestine graves relates to serious human rights violations - extrajudicial executions, summary or arbitrary, torture and other cruel treatment or punishment, and disappearance forced, taking into account that various international bodies have already shown your concern about these practices in the country. Details: Del. Cuauhtemoc: Comision Mexicana de Defensa y Promocion de los Derechos Humanos, 2018? 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 18, 2018 at: http://www.pdh.org/publicaciones-pdf/violencia-y-terror-hallazgos-sobre-fosas-clandestinas-en-mexico.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Clandestine Graves Shelf Number: 151579 |
Author: Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law Title: Regulating Mexico's Private Security Sector Summary: Throughout the past decade, Mexico's increasing violence and insecurity levels have transformed the security force landscape. The country's public security forces have expanded and professionalized, while a growing private security sector has stepped in to fill the remaining gaps. Today there are more than 4,000 registered private security companies and hundreds of thousands of private security personnel operating across the country. These companies' services aim to deter crime, but they also simultaneously create a series of regulatory challenges. The growth in Mexico's private security sector takes place amid a larger regional trend. Across Latin America, private security companies employ nearly 4 million people, corner a total market value of US$30 billion, and are expanding at a 9 percent annual rate. In fact, in Mexico and throughout Latin America there are estimated to be more private security employees than police officers. This public-private divide raises questions for federal and state governments' monopoly on the use of force and shines a light on the types of regulations and auditing necessary to effectively monitor companies that contribute to public safety. The following report is a joint research effort by the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin and the Unit of Planning, Forecasting, and Private Security (Unidad de Planeacion, Prospectiva y Seguridad Privada) within Mexico's National Security Commission (Comision Nacional de Seguridad, CNS) to map out Mexico's private security sector and federal and state regulatory frameworks. The report uses legislative and data analysis to highlight where private security companies operate, the federal and state regulatory structures, and the challenge of informality. It concludes by highlighting areas where policy changes may improve upon existing regulations Details: Austin, TX: The Center, 2018. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 19, 2018 at: http://www.strausscenter.org/images/pdf/MSI/MSI-CNS_Report_06.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Private Security Shelf Number: 151588 |
Author: Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs Title: The Impact of Securitization on Central American Migrants Summary: Mexico is a country of origin, transit, and destination for various migratory flows. Since 2011, Mexican governmental agencies, civil society groups, and international organizations have reported an increase in the number of migrants traveling to the United States from Central America, especially from the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. A combination of factors, including high rates of violence, lack of access to basic services, and the impunity with which criminal organizations operate in the Northern Triangle countries contributes to increased outward migration to Mexico and the United States. This report evaluates Mexico's migratory policies as well as the legal mandates of government bodies whose agents regularly interact with Central American migrants. It documents advances such as the decriminalization of irregular migration and the enactment of laws that protect certain high-risk groups. It also covers backsliding, such as when migratory officials and police officers fail to comply with Mexico's migratory laws. Additionally, the report describes the abuse of authority, corruption, and high rates of impunity within the Mexican federal agencies tasked with implementing migration policy. For over a decade, Mexico's government has increasingly viewed migration policy as a national security issue. This report will examine how Mexico adopted this lens and how a national security approach affects migrants traveling through the country. Increased levels of militarization along Mexico's southern border have coincided with elevated rates of detention and deportations for irregular migrants. These policies-including the most recent Southern Border Plan of 2014-have pushed migrants away from populated areas with heavier law enforcement presences, increasing their exposure to environmental and criminal risks. This report demonstrates how restrictive migration policies affect the risks that migrants encounter during their journeys through Mexico. It draws on data obtained from transparency requests, publicly available reports, and an original Migrant Risk Database. Finally, this report makes several recommendations to various Mexican agencies and organizations involved in migration policy. These recommendations aim to improve security for migrants transiting through Mexico. They also seek to enhance institutional effectiveness in agencies that deal with migrants. They generally represent short-term steps that could be implemented by the next Mexican presidential administration to improve protections for migrants and the country's overall migratory policy. However, for significant progress, Mexico will need to better address systemic issues that endanger migrants, including corruption, rule of law and access to justice, and the control of transnational criminal organizations. Details: Austin, TX: The University of Texas at Austin, 2018. 71p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Research Project Report no. 199: Accessed September 19, 2018 at: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/65643 Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Immigration Shelf Number: 151589 |
Author: Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs Title: Organized Crime and Central American Migration in Mexico Summary: The following report was researched and written in response to a request by the Mexican Federal Police for an evaluation of the interactions between organized crime and Central American migrants transiting through Mexico. Given that protecting migrants and combating organized criminal groups both fall within the Federal Police's mandate, this evaluation also outlines how protecting migrants can help deprive organized criminal groups of a lucrative funding source. Part 1 of this report provides background information on Central American migration to and through Mexico, including current migratory trends, their causes, and high-risk groups. Part 2 examines Mexico's federal legal and institutional frameworks for addressing migration. Part 3 focuses on the interactions between organized crime and migrants and concludes with an evaluation of current crime prevention policies. Finally, the report concludes in Part 4 with the laws and policies that govern the interactions between Federal Police forces and migrants and outlines international best practices for guiding these interactions. Details: Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin, 2018. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Research Project Report, No. 198: Accessed September 19, 2018 at: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/65515 Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Immigrants Shelf Number: 151590 |
Author: Arriola Vega, Luis Alfredo Title: Policy Adrift: Mexico's Southern Border Program Summary: Programa Frontera Sur (PFS) is the latest in a series of public policy initiatives dealing with one of three aspects (or more commonly, all of them) pertaining to Mexico's southern border: migration matters, border issues, and security concerns. While these three areas are not always and necessarily connected, the significance of the border in U.S. foreign policy strategy and the progressive escalation of a securitization agenda at the southern border have increasingly brought them together, for the most part. Viewed from a historical perspective, PFS shares some of the same features that characterized prior attempts to regulate matters at the border and to manage migration. Despite the fact that PFS was conceived as an instrument of state policy intended to foster development and reinforce border security while mitigating migrants' vulnerability, the program's results so far raise deep concerns as to whether it has complied with its stated spirit. Meant at first as a comprehensive initiative, PFS ended up being merely a program to contain in-transit, undocumented migrants (El Colegio de la Frontera Norte 2015), from a security standpoint. PFS took effect at the same time as - and, in fact, has been a response to - a perceived "crisis." The number of unauthorized Central Americans who pass through Mexico on their way to the United States has slowly but steadily increased in recent years. Statistics on the number of people apprehended by Mexico's National Migration Institute (INM by its acronym in Spanish) provide an approximate measure of this trend. While the number apprehended in 2013 was 79,908, in 2014, it had risen to 118,446; the following year, it climbed to 177,949, showing a twofold increase over 2013 (Unidad de Politica Migratoria Secretaria de Gobernacion 2013, 2014, 2015). In addition to this increased flow, a growing number of individuals and entire families are fleeing from violence in their home countries, making them potential asylum applicants. While the phenomenon is not new per se, the fact that more claims for refugee status are being filed in Mexico is a relatively recent development. Furthermore, there is a substantial increase in the number of minors (accompanied and unaccompanied ) that join the exodus (Carlson and Gallagher 2015). Adolescents, in particular, comprise a significant amount of those seeking asylum as they have become direct targets of gangs' recruitment attempts or directly threatened by these criminal groups. This paper attempts to shed light on the performance and legacy of PFS as a policy instrument meant to deter unauthorized migration to the United States, a common concern of both the United States and Mexico. Research focuses mainly on developments that have taken place along the beginning of the two main migrant routes at Mexico's southern border region; primary field information came from Tapachula (Chiapas) and Tenosique (Tabasco). One route starts at the Ciudad Hidalgo (Chiapas)/Tecun Uman (San Marcos) border crossing and extends all the way to central Mexico via Oaxaca. The other follows the Gulf coastline and begins at the port of entry known as El Ceibo and nearby locations at the Tabasco (Mexico)/Peten (Guatemala) borderline, passes through Veracruz, and on to Tamaulipas. The data gathering process included, on the one hand, interviews with two migrants' rights advocates, a former consular member of the Guatemalan government, a migrant shelter volunteer, a state officer in Chiapas, and an ex-employee from a government-run shelter for minors. Attempts to talk with INM personnel and the former head of the PFS proved unsuccessful.4 On the other hand, the research involved obtaining information from secondary sources, including reports by NGO and advocacy groups, the media, and official government documents. The study addressed a number of different questions. Did PFS contemplate a working strategy to reconcile its dual objective of implementing both protective measures for migrants and enforcement policies? To what extent does PFS embody seemingly conflicting public policy aims? Is Mexico turning into a "migration manager" for its northern neighbor, as suggested by one source (Rietig and Dominguez 2014)? Will Mexico be able to implement an autonomous policy regarding immigration and transmigration, independently from U.S. interests? What are the programs achievements, and what was its overall performance? What have been some of its intended and unintended consequences? In light of the program's assessment, what changes are needed for Mexico's migration policy as a whole? What are appropriate policy recommendations for achieving an orderly and prosperous southern border with a particular focus on public policy toward Central Americans? What are specific suggestions for all governmental parties involved - the United States, Mexico, and migrants' countries of origin? What feedback do civil society actors require to better deal with PFS' outcomes? Details: Houston: Mexico Center, Rice University, Baker Institute for Public Policy, 2017. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed October 3, 2018 at: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/fa7ac127/MEX-pub-FronteraSur-062317.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Asylum Seekers Shelf Number: 151773 |
Author: Chinchilla, Fernando A. Title: Violence as an Epidemic: Examining Organized Crime-Related Homicides in the U.S.-Mexico Border from a Public Health Perspective Summary: Can collective violence along the U.S.-Mexico border - the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas, plus Texas - be considered an "epidemic"? This paper answers this question by applying a public health approach to organized crime-related homicides, an extreme and coordinated form of economic violence with deep social meaning, from 2005 to 2013. Researchers have increasingly described violence as a public health issue, and though "epidemic" has traditionally referred to communicable diseases, it has also expanded to include non-communicable conditions such as behavioral health issues. Thus, we propose that the issue of violence should be methodologically examined through a public health approach -describing, monitoring, and tracking violence and its patterns and trends by collecting all types of data; identifying risk factors that trigger violence; designing and evaluating prevention policies; and disseminating and executing prevention policies. In studying the issue through epidemiological tools such as homogeneity, incidence, predisposition, enabling and disabling factors, precipitating factors, and reinforcing factors, we conclude that the Mexican side of the border is experiencing a violence epidemic. This reality calls for a move to a more comprehensive preventive approach on this issue on both sides of the border. By redefining collective violence as health issue, researchers and policymakers will be able to promote integrative leadership, identify best practices from learn-as-we-go approaches, and create policy evaluations for each agency meant to intervene on this issue. Details: Houston: Mexico Center, Rice University, Baker Institute for Public Policy, 2015. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 3, 2018 at: https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/92477/MC-pub-ViolencePublicHealth-090315.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Collective Violence Shelf Number: 151774 |
Author: David, Jimena Title: 5013 homicidios en la CDMX. Analisis espacial para la reduccion de la violencia letal Summary: Having the highest number of police per inhabitants has not prevented the increase in violence in Mexico City. With everything and its rate of 9.6 police officers per 100 thousand inhabitants, the capital of the country had an increase in its rate of intentional homicides of 63.5% between 2012 and 2018, going from 8.74 homicides per 100 thousand inhabitants to 12.31. Details: Los Morales Polanco. Deleg. Miguel Hidalgo CP 11510, CDMX: Mexico Evalua.org. 2018. 125p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 13, 2018 at: https://www.mexicoevalua.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/5013HomicidiosCDMX.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Statistics Shelf Number: 152934 |
Author: Esparza, David Perez Title: Mayoral Homicide in Mexico: A Situational Analysis on the Victims, Perpetrators,and Locations of Attacks Summary: This essay seeks to identify the key factors that explain why local officials-specifically mayors, former mayors, mayors-elect, and mayoral candidates-are being killed in Mexico. Second, it aims to provide a set of policy alternatives to tackle this important threat to Mexican democracy, particularly in the context of the 2018 electoral process. To accomplish this goal, the paper uses the routine activity theory (RAT) crime triangle methodology to examine who are the targeted officials (the victims), who are the attackers (the offenders), and where the attacks have occurred (the place). Since official records are nonexistent on the subject, open source intelligence (OSINT) techniques are used to create a database that includes all attacks against local officials, from the first case recorded in Mexico on July 8, 2004, to March 1, 2018, when the researchers ended their data gathering process. The paper presents 178 documented deadly attacks (i.e., homicides) against local officials. Additionally, the paper examines a number of specific variables that appear to increase the risk of attack. As the cases are not distributed homogenously either spatially or temporally, the authors discuss the role crime concentration plays in these attacks. In particular, the paper focuses on studying municipios (i.e., cities) with "repeat victimizations,"-in other words, places where two or more mayors have been killed. Evidence-based approaches to the problem are proposed for a useful understanding of these high-profile attacks. An informed examination of previous cases can help to implement successful interventions for mitigating future attacks. Details: Austin, TX: James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University, 2018. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2018 at: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/27285204/mex-pub-mexmayors-053118.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Triangle Shelf Number: 153041 |
Author: Beittel, June S. Title: Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations Summary: Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) pose the greatest crime threat to the United States, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA's) National Drug Threat Assessment published in October 2017. These organizations have for years been identified for their strong links to drug trafficking, money laundering, and other violent crimes. These criminal groups have trafficked heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and, increasingly, the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. U.S. overdoses due to opioid consumption sharply increased to a record level in 2016, following the Mexican criminal syndicates expanded control of the heroin and synthetic opioids market. The major DTOs and new crime groups have furthered their expansion into such illicit activity as extortion, kidnapping, and oil theft that costs the government's oil company more than a billion dollars a year. Mexico's DTOs have also been in constant flux. Early in his term, former Mexican President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) initiated an aggressive campaign against Mexico's drug traffickers that was a defining policy of his government and one that the DTOs violently resisted. By some accounts, in 2006, there were four dominant DTOs: the Tijuana/Arellano Felix organization (AFO), the Sinaloa cartel, the Juarez/Vicente Carillo Fuentes organization (CFO), and the Gulf cartel. Government operations to eliminate DTO leadership sparked organizational changes, which led to significant instability among the groups and continued violence. In recent years, larger and more stable organizations have fractured, leaving the DEA and other analysts to identify seven organizations as predominant: Sinaloa, Los Zetas, Tijuana/AFO, Juarez/CFO, Beltran Leyva, Gulf, and La Familia Michoacana. In some sense, these organizations include the "traditional" DTOs, although the 7 organizations appear to have fragmented further to at least 9 (or as many as 20) major organizations. A new transnational criminal organization, Cartel Jalisco-New Generation, which split from Sinaloa in 2010, has sought to become dominant with brutally violent techniques. During the term of President Enrique Peea Nieto that will end in 2018, the government has faced an increasingly complex crime situation that saw violence spike. In 2017, Mexico reached its highest number of total intentional homicides in a year, exceeding, by some counts, 29,000 murders. In the 2017-2018 election period that opened in September 2017 and ran through June 12, 2018, 114 candidates and politicians were killed allegedly by crime bosses and others in an effort to intimidate public office holders, according to a security consultancy that tracks these homicides. On July 1, 2018, Andres Manuel Lopez Obredor won the election for President by as much as 30 points over the next contender. He leads a new party, Morena, but has served as Mayor of Mexico City and comes from a leftist ideological viewpoint. Lopez Obredor campaigned on fighting corruption and finding new ways to combat crime and manage the illicit drug trade. U.S. foreign assistance for Mexico in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141) totaled $152.6 million, with more than $100 million of that funding focused on rule of law and counternarcotics efforts. The 115th Congress pursued oversight of security conditions inside of Mexico and monitored the Mexican criminal organizations not only because they are the major wholesalers of illegal drugs in the United States but also to appraise their growing control of U.S. retail-level distribution. This report examines how the organized crime landscape in Mexico has been altered by fragmentation of criminal groups and how the organizational shape-shifting continues. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2018. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: R41576: Accessed )ctober 22, 2018 at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41576.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 153043 |
Author: Mugellini, Giulia, ed. Title: Measuring and analyzing crime against the private sector: International experiences and the Mexican practice Summary: Crime is a crucial issue for businesses because it hampers their activities and threatens their profits by reducing and diverting their resources. It impacts on trade and investment decisions and may lead businesses to adopt non-optimal operating strategies. Given that businesses are at the core of the economy, crime against them may seriously limit societies' economic growth. The recent financial crisis makes it mandatory for both businesses and societies to allocate more wisely their resources and to understand how to minimize the losses as a consequence of crime. For this reason, studying the level and impact of crime against the private sector could provide crucial information in order to know how and where to allocate resources to prevent it, and therefore to reduce the costs of crime. Despite this need, research on crime against the private sector has been neglected in comparison to the study of crime against individuals. In 1993 (p. 39), Hibberd and Shapland noticed that "until the last few years there has been almost a complete dearth of in-depth investigation into crime committed against businesses and their employees". Broadhurst et al. (2011) further highlighted that while a vast literature addresses street crime and white-collar crime, little is known about businesses as victims of crime. A proper theoretical dissertation on crimes against businesses may have been somehow limited by the fact that scholars have tended to focus more on white collar crime and especially on crimes committed by corporations (Felson and Clarke, 1997). These two crime categories only partially overlap, while presenting different patterns, causes and effects. White collar crime is usually perpetrated by white-collar employees, or by enterprises themselves, who abuse their legitimate role for their personal and/or corporate gain, at the expense of other companies, of the customers, of the public sector, and even of the environment (Croall, 2001, Sjogren and Skogh, 2004, Salinger, 2005, Pontell, 2007). Crimes against businesses consist in any kind of offences targeted on private enterprises (including their employees) and on their activities. In this case, the company is not the offender but the victim. The dearth of knowledge in relation to crime against businesses has been also related to the fact that it has been considered for a long time to be a "victimless event". It was thought that businesses were better able to react to the event and face the losses better than households (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2004). For these reasons it attracted less attention than other types of crime. Its invisibility and complexity makes it not only difficult to detect but also difficult to investigate and measure. The most important sources of empirical information on crime and criminal justice still present several shortcomings in dealing with crimes against businesses. Some of these types of crime are not even dealt with by administrative statistics, or not enough details are collected for distinguishing between crime against businesses and crime against individuals (Burrow and Hopkins, 2005; Wagstaff et al., 2006). This led to the development of disparate studies carried out at local level, financed by business associations and most often not methodologically sound. Only in most recent years some large scale studies were developed in this field, even if a proper theoretical and methodological debate is still lacking at international level. This publication aims at providing both theoretical and methodological contributions to the study of crimes against businesses, supported by empirical examples and data from a wide range of studies. It deals with the several facets of this problem in order to depict each of them and to pave the way for future research. It considers various experiences at international level while focusing, in particular, on the Mexican business victimization survey as the most recent best practice in this field. The first chapter provides a conceptual definition of crimes against businesses and classifies them according to their victims and perpetrators. It reviews the main studies on this issue and it then demonstrates that victimization surveys are promising instruments for measuring these crimes, by evaluating their methodology and analyzing their outcomes. The second and third chapters analyse a specific subtype of crime against businesses, i.e. those offences perpetrated either by generic criminal groups or by specific Mafia-type organisations. The chapters describe the features of this issue by analyzing the situation of two countries, England and Wales and Italy. The results of the last Commercial Victimization Survey in England and Wales (2012) are analysed, as well as those of different Italian studies aimed at identifying and estimating the costs of Mafia-type organised crimes against the private sector. The fourth chapter depicts another important category of crimes against businesses: those committed by employees. Often undetected and dangerous for the companies' reputation, these offences are among the most frequent and most costly for the business community. The chapter analyses the results of the first victimization survey specifically carried out on employee offences: the Swiss Business Crime Survey (2010). The fifth chapter focuses on the most recent large-scale survey carried out at national level on the victimization of the private sector, the Mexican National Crime Business Survey (ENVE) (2012). It describes the reasons that drove to the conduction of such investigation and it analyses its methodological challenges as well as its main results. The sixth and last chapter analyses the existing experiences in the development of public policies aimed at preventing and limiting the economic impact of crime on enterprises. It demonstrates the importance of providing business stakeholders and policy makers with reliable data on crime against the private sector in order to prevent and contrast it more efficiently. Details: Mxico : INEGI, 2013. 254p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2018 at: http://internet.contenidos.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/Productos/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/estudios/economico/Measuring/UNODOC_v6web2.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mexico Keywords: Business Crime Shelf Number: 153053 |
Author: Hale, Gary J. Title: The Victimology of Extortions in Mexico Summary: Extortion has become the most favored activity among traditional organized crime elements in Mexico, motivated by several factors that contribute to the longevity of the practice. Chief among these is the enormous money-making opportunities these groups can seize by forcing people into situations in which they would gladly forfeit their assets in exchange for the freedom to continue their daily business and personal activities. Most of the other factors that make extortion a popular crime are related to the fact that extortionists are typically granted immunity from prosecution. Immunity is derived from various phenomena, including: - Subjugation of police forces: some extortionists or cartels have superior weaponry and strength in numbers compared to police forces, causing the latter to acquiesce to the former. - Collusion by corrupt police forces: some police officers simply decide to join the extortionists in return for payment-in-kind for their participation. - The intimidation, hurt, harm, or killing of victims and witnesses, which leads to a lack of social accountability for the extortionists, emboldening them to continue committing the crime. - The lack of successful prosecutions of extortion cases brought to the criminal justice system, a significant motivator that will remain in place until such time as substantial and lasting criminal justice reform is enacted in Mexico. This analysis addresses the criminal extortion practices occurring in Mexico, with emphasis given to activities along the northern border states, particularly the Mexican state of Tamaulipas and along the trade corridor between Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. This analysis also uses the import of used cars from the United States to Mexico as one useful case study. Details: Houston, TX: James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University, 2016. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 23, 2018 at: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/f2b6edba/DRUG-pub-Hale_Victimology-102616.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico Keywords: Extortion Shelf Number: 153061 |
Author: Ashby, Paul Title: NAFTA-land Security: The Merida Initiative, Transnational Threats, and U.S. Security Projection in Mexico Summary: This thesis explores recent U.S. bilateral aid to Mexico through the Merida Initiative (MI), a $2.3 billion assistance commitment on the part of the United States (U.S.) officially justified as helping Mexico build its capacity to take on violent drug cartels and thereby improve security in both countries. There has been a good amount of engaging work on the MI. However this extant literature has not undertaken detailed policy analysis of the aid programme, leading to conclusions that it is a fresh approach to the Mexican counternarcotics (CN) challenge, or that CN is a 'fig leaf' for the U.S. to pursue other 'real' goals. This is a core gap in the literature this project seeks to fill. Through policy analysis, I make an empirically supported argument that Merida is a component of a far more ambitious policy agenda to regionalise security with Mexico more generally. This involves stabilising Mexico itself, not least in response to serious drug-related violence. However the U.S. also aims to improve its own security by giving greater 'depth' to its borders, and seeks protect the political economy of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) from variegated security threats. In this way, recent U.S. policy in Mexico is both derivative of its wider grand strategic traditions in stabilising key political economies in line with its interests, and representative of some distinct developments stemming from the deeply integrated U.S.-Mexican economy as part of NAFTA. To assure U.S. interests accrued to it through the increasingly holistic North American economy, the U.S. has used the MI as the main vehicle in the construction of a nascent 'NAFTA-land Security' framework. Details: Canterbury, UK: University of Kent, 2015. 322p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed October 24, 2018 at: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/48367/ Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 153069 |
Author: Ochoa, Rolando Title: Out of Harm's Way: Understanding Kidnapping in Mexico Summary: This dissertation analyses the survival strategies that wealthy people in Mexico City have designed and implemented to protect themselves from kidnapping with special focus on household employment relationships. This particular crime has demonstrated a particular evolution in the last 20 years that deserves analysis. Once a political crime, it became an economic crime that at first only targeted wealthy individuals and then over time began targeting working class victims. Based on extensive qualitative fieldwork in Mexico City which included a year in the field, 78 interviews with employers, employees, kidnapping victims and members of the police forces and justice system and the creation of a news reports database this thesis presents a detailed history of the evolution of kidnapping in the period 1968-2009. This is followed by an in depth analysis of the strategies elites use to protect themselves from this crime. Special attention is focused on the hiring process of household employees, namely drivers, as evidence suggests that most kidnappings are organized or facilitated in some way by a close collaborator of the victim. The hiring process is approached as a problem of trust. Signaling theory is the main framework used for the solving of this problem, as well as some ideas found in transaction cost economics, namely vertical integration. The results point towards strategic behavior from the actors involved that seeks to minimize the risk of being kidnapped for the employer. Signaling helps us uncover the specific mechanisms by which employer establish their prospective employees' trustworthiness. The use of informal social networks made up of strong ties is one of the most salient mechanisms used to guarantee honest employees and this, together with a composite set of properties is signaled throughout. This thesis contributes to the literature on crime in Latin America as well as to the sociological literature on signaling, a branch of analytical sociology. Details: Oxford, 2018. 267p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 24, 2018 at: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:4b015aba-23ca-45e8-b2a1-70de89cd0c19 Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 153064 |
Author: Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights Title: Gross Human Rights Abuses: The Legal and Illegal Gun Trade to Mexico Summary: Mexico faces an acute crisis of human rights violations and violent crimes, most of which are committed with firearms. The country is experiencing the highest homicide rate in its recorded history, with two out of every three homicides committed with firearms. Most guns recovered and traced at crime scenes in Mexico -70%- come from the United States. And after more than a decade of military deployment to fight crime, new military equipment and firearms, and U.S. military training for thousands of soldiers as part of the Merida Initiative, human rights violations by state forces remain much higher than before the Initiative began, with nearly complete impunity. It is time to make a decisive and substantial change of course. The change of leadership in Mexico provides a critical opportunity to heed the voices and analysis that have called for ending policies of warfare and instead focusing on development, fighting poverty, and community investment. In December 2006, then-president of Mexico Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) implemented a security strategy, known as "the war on drugs," which, among other things, included militarizing public security. This strategy continued in full force under President Enrique Pena Nieto (2012-2018). This strategy has provoked escalated violence in the country, where organized criminal groups, police officials at all levels of government, and soldiers have committed serious crimes, including murders, forced disappearances, and torture. In that context, criminal organizations and state agencies have committed crimes against humanity. The violence in Mexico has led to severe and growing consequences, including massive displacement and forced migration, psychic trauma, broken justice, economic losses, and damage to freedom of expression and journalism. Waging war and trading in its weapons have made these problems worse. From December 2006 through June 2018, at least 37,435 people are known to have been forcibly disappeared in Mexico and 121,035 murdered with firearms - with 16,898 gun homicides in 2017 alone. The large majority of these serious crimes remain in impunity - with no judicial investigation or sentencing and no reparations to victims. Recent official data from Mexico and the United States shows that the legal export of weapons and explosives from the United States to Mexico is at its highest in years, reaching nearly $122 million between 2015 and 2017, according to trade records of the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 12 times the amount of those exports in 2002-2004. This growth coincides with an increase in Mexico's own production of weapons for military use. In June 2018, twelve members of the u.s. Congress stated in a letter to the U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense that "The use of Mexican military forces in the war on drugs has resulted in a dramatic increase in human rights violations, including torture, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial executions." They called for "a full and public evaluation of the Merida Initiative, U.S. security aid and arms sales to Mexico." Other members of Congress have also requested a General Accounting Office report on the Merida Initiative. It is well past time to change the course of security strategies in Mexico and cease depending on the acquisition of weapons to achieve reductions in violence. The election of a new government in Mexico provides opportunities for both the United States and Mexico to focus on stopping the sources of violence, including the gun trade, money laundering, lack of economic equity, and on ending support for government entities that are implicated in human rights violations and collusion with organized crime. The data shows that the United States plays a primary role as the principal source of arms flowing legally to Mexico, while other studies suggest the same about the illegal flow of weapons. Details: Mexico City: PDF, 2018. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 8, 2018 at: http://www.pdh.org/publicaciones-pdf/pdh-the-legal-and-illegal-gun-trade-to-mexico.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Gun Trafficking Shelf Number: 153369 |
Author: Rodriguez-Sanchez, Jose I. Title: Understanding the Problems and Obstacles of Corruption in Mexico Summary: Corruption is a complex social, political and institutional problem that is difficult to define. This brief describes the challenges involved in defining, understanding and measuring corruption and evaluates the case study of Mexico, where corruption has increased in recent years, to illustrate these complexities. Details: Houston, TX: Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, 2018. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 17, 2018 at: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/dae461e7/bi-brief-091318-mex-corruption.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Corruption Shelf Number: 153879 |
Author: Sabet, Daniel Title: Co-Production and Oversight: Citizens and Their Police Summary: This Working Paper is the product of a joint project on civic engagement and public security in Mexico coordinated by the Mexico Institute and the University of San Diego's Justice in Mexico Project. This analysis looks at two important roles that citizens can play to help respond to Mexicos security challenges. The first is through the co-production of public security. The second role for citizens examined here is oversight of public officials and law enforcement agencies. Details: San Diego, CA: Wilson Center: Mexico Institute, 2014. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 18, 2018 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/sabet_co-production_oversight_0.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico Keywords: Citizen Oversight Shelf Number: 154031 |
Author: Payan, Tony Title: The Coproduction of Public Safety and Organized Crime in Mexico Summary: During some of the most violent years of the so-called War on Drugs in Mexico between 2008 and 2012, a major public debate surrounded the role of the government and civil society in the coproduction of public safety. Although President Felipe Caldern defined the problem of public safety primarily as a problem of institutions, he called on citizens to get involved in the creation and implementation of strategies for the production of safety (Caldern 2009, 18). This approach to the issue of public safety not only became a programmatic aspect of the Caldern administration, but also shaped public discourse and eventually policy through a series of government actions. In 2008, Caldern summoned the National Public Safety Council, which included a number of prominent citizen advisors, to analyze public safety issues and create strategies to tackle surging violence. In 2009, Caldern called for unprecedented public dialogues with citizens, including academics, community leaders, and residents from all over the country. Starting with the Salvrcar massacre, a January 2010 shootout at a party in Ciudad Jurez in which 15 people were killed, the Mexican government sought to finance various programs for the recovery of public spaces and social development through citizen-led initiatives such as Todos Somos Jurez, or We are all Jurez (Presidency of the Republic 2012). By then, the government already had promoted programs like hotlines for citizens to anonymously communicate useful information and intelligence to law enforcement. In short, in the face of soaring crime rates the government asked citizens to help ensure public safety. In spite of such efforts, most public policy analyses of recent crime trends in Mexico have so far failed to frame government-citizen cooperation in the production of public safety as an issue of the coproduction of public goods. This is puzzling, given that many of Calderns efforts went to the heart of the issue of the coproduction of a public goodpublic safety - based on a partnership between government and citizens. This failure is largely due to a gap in the Mexican literature on the coproduction of public goods. This paper examines Mexicos efforts to engage citizens in the coproduction of public safety. Moreover, it analyzes the obstacles that citizens encounter in Mexico in trying to collaborate on the production of public safety in the context of organized crime. Details: Houston, TX: Rice University, 2015. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 18, 2018 at: https://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/92478 Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Coproduction of Public Safety Shelf Number: 154030 |
Author: Payan, Tony Title: Mexico's Security Challenges are Jeopardizing its Future Summary: Mexicos public safety and security were severely challenged between 2007 and 2012, a period marked by a dramatic rise in the number of homicides and other violent crimes. The situation was widely considered to be the result of President Felipe Calderon Hinojosas frontal assault on organized crime, which included the deployment of federal police and the military throughout the country. The administration argued that its crackdown paradoxically resulted in greater violence in the short-term because criminals responded by lashing out against the government, tightening their grip on society by expanding the scope of their criminal activities, and - eventually - fighting each other for control of their illegal but highly profitable enterprises. The logic behind the strategy, as outlined by Joaquin Villalobos in De los Zetas al cartel de la Habana, was to target cartel leaders through military force, which destabilized the organizations, causing them to fragment into smaller groups. The approach came as the powerful cartels challenged the viability of the Mexican state and ultimately controlled the countrys criminal activity. The second part of the plan was to strengthen law enforcement and the judicial system, which could in time successfully arrest and prosecute members of the smaller gangs. However, the result of the strategy - including the deaths of tens of thousands of people - horrified the public and eventually cost Calderons National Action Party (PAN) the presidency in 2012. Enrique Pena Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) took office at the end of 2012 with two major goals in mind: 1) a reduction of overall violence, though not necessarily of crime in general, and 2) a singular focus on pushing through structural reforms, such as those affecting the energy industry, the administration of justice, and elections. To accomplish his first objective, he eliminated the Ministry for Public Safety - the agency behind Calderons strategy - and ended the governments military campaign against organized crime. Penas approach did reduce crime for a time, but the incidence of homicides and other crimes gradually crawled back up to record levels: Statistics suggest that 2017 may be the most violent year on record since the Mexican Revolution (c. 1910-1920), and that violent crime levels may exceed those of the Calderon administration. Today, the central question is whether, by letting up on the fight against organized crime, Pena is in a situation that jeopardizes the success of the structural reforms that are the legacy of his presidency. Details: Houston, TX: Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, 2017. 5p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 18, 2018 at: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/files/12479/ Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Cartel Leaders Shelf Number: 154209 |
Author: Meyer, Maureen Title: Mexico's National Anti-Corruption System: A Historic Opportunity in the Fight Against Corruption Summary: Widespread corruption will be a key issue as Mexicans head to the polls this July in what will be the countrys biggest elections ever, with voters casting ballots for a new president, a new federal Congress, nine governors, and representatives for nearly 2,800 political positions at the state and local level. At least 14 former or current governors are currently under investigation for corruption, some of them for colluding with the organized crime groups that are largely responsible for Mexico's rising violence. In 2017, Mexico placed last among OECD countries in Transparency Internationals Corruption Perceptions Index, with an overall ranking of 135 out of 180 countries, putting it in the company of Honduras, Paraguay, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and others. Although all of the presidential candidates have made comments about how they will combat corruption, a nascent structure for doing so already exists. A landmark anti-corruption reform package that created a National Anti-Corruption System (Sistema Nacional Anticorrupcin, SNA) and laid the foundation for a tougher and more comprehensive approach to combating corruption entered into force in July 2016. The implementation of the system will be an important element of Mexicos transition from the federal Attorney Generals Office (Procuradura General de la Repblica, PGR) to a new, autonomous National Prosecutors Office (Fiscala General de la Repblica), which will be separate from the executive branch and better equipped to carry out serious and impartial investigations into government misconduct. While President Enrique Pea Nietos administration has not demonstrated the political will needed to make this system effective (having attempted to block several important anti-corruption probes from moving forward), the next Mexican government will be able to build upon this existing framework. The degree to which this happens, as well as the extent to which the incoming federal government commits to effectively implementing the new Fiscala General and to supporting anti-corruption efforts at the state level, will be clear indicators of whether Mexico will at last be able to turn the tide on the rising number of corruption and criminal collusion cases that have shaken the country in recent years. Details: Washington, DC: WOLA, 2018. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 14, 2019 at: https://www.wola.org/analysis/wola-report-mexico-national-anti-corruption-system/ Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Anti-Corruption Shelf Number: 154197 |
Author: Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia (Mexico) Title: Estadisticas Judiciales en el Marco del Nuevo Sistema de Justicia Penal en Mexico (Judicial Statistics in the Framework of the New Criminal Justice System in Mexico) Summary: Introduction The criminal justice process is a subject of public relevance. Through this, interests are safeguarded and guarantees are preserved constitutional rights of the victims as well as of the accused and accused of some crime. Hence the need to strengthen institutions and actors involved in the process of procuring and imparting justice in order to have an equitable, efficient and effective system. The constitutional reform in matters of criminal justice and public security of the year 2008 sought to replace the system of traditional trials, characterized by depositing the review of the process in a single court, for a model of oral accusatory court in which they are separate the investigation, prosecution and resolution functions of the wrongful act. The central intention was to consolidate a justice system effective to fully respond to the purpose of preventing, pursuing and punish the crime, as well as to administer justice expeditiously that was oriented to the clarification of the facts, to the repair of harm to victims, to decrease impunity and to protect innocent. As a result, it is expected to build an environment that increase the confidence of the citizens in the institutions. According to the National Survey of Victimization and Perception on Public Safety, 93.7% of the total of crimes that occurred in the country in 2015 they were not reported or did not result in an investigation by the authority; among the main reasons they mentioned the victims not to denounce were the distrust in authorities and considering a waste of time to go with the Public ministry. With the constitutional amendments it is expected to guarantee the rights of the victim and the accused when introducing new forms of operation of the judicial process, such as the possibility of resolving conflicts through agreements between those directly involved in the criminal act, through the mechanisms of opportunity, mediation and conciliation, without this meaning a violation of the principle of legality. The implementation of the new criminal justice system (NSJP) has brought important challenges for the justice and security system public, due to the number of actors involved and the magnitude of Transformations of an organizational, cultural and normative nature which implies the implementation of the reform; to which the investment is added of economic resources so that this new system operates in all the Mexican territory. In this context, this publication seeks to provide through the analysis of statistical information an overview of the results that the implementation of the NSJP has had, as well as the challenges that still exist of generating timely information that helped to strengthen its consolidation process and to evaluate its performance. The document is composed of five chapters. In the first one addresses the importance of generating statistical information on the new system for the creation of public policies that evaluate their developing. The following chapter describes the challenges and advances in the implementation of the new system based on the analysis of some indicators developed by the Technical Secretariat of the Board of Coordination for the Implementation of the Criminal System (SETEC). Section three presents statistical information about the process of procurement and delivery of justice in Mexico with the aim of compare some results of the NSJP in relation to the system of traditional judgments. The fourth chapter explores in a general way the situation of the victims that are susceptible to resorting to any institution of attention to victims, as well as the institutional capacities created for their effective attention. The fifth section presents an analysis on the perception and confidence towards system operators to measure the impact of the NSJP from the citizen's perspective. In the final considerations the generation challenges are described and analysis of statistics on the subject, for timely monitoring of institutional changes in order that the main operators create an efficient, expeditious justice system equitable with the content of the reform. With this publication, made in collaboration with SETEC, the Institute contributes to the dissemination of statistics and products related to the issues of law enforcement and justice agreement with the powers granted in the Law of the National System of Statistical and Geographic Information (LSNIEG). Details: Juarez, Mexico: 2017. 155p. Source: Internet Resource (in Spanish): Accessed January 16, 2019 at: http://www.cdeunodc.inegi.org.mx/unodc/articulos/doc/20.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice Reform Shelf Number: 154205 |
Author: Espinosa, Cesar A. Martinez Title: Technology and Public Safety: Could the Use of Body Worn Cameras Increase Citizen Trust in Mexico's Police Forces? Summary: The potential benefits of introducing body cameras in Mexico are considerable. By helping build trust, accountability and transparency, body cameras can contribute to making Mexicos law enforcement more effective at promoting public security and more efficient at moving cases to trial. 2016 will be a critical year for the country, as it moves to fully bring a new criminal justice system into force. Carefully crafted trials of body cameras have the potential to accelerate lagging police reform efforts and contribute to the integrity of the new accusatory system by helping improve the quality of criminal investigations. This paper begins with an overview of the policing context in Mexico, which is distinguished by a profoundly fractured relationship between law enforcement and the public. It then considers how body cameras, the latest technological innovation in policing, are being used to help bridge the police/citizen divide and provides an overview of international studies on the use of the devices to date. The paper concludes with considerations regarding the use of body cameras and Mexico, noting that six key issues merit attention in designing policies for their use in the country. Details: Austin, Texas: Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law, 2015. 11p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 17. 2019 at: https://www.strausscenter.org/images/Courses_Scholars/MSI_Working_Paper_English.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Accountability Shelf Number: 154245 |
Author: Duhalt, Adrian Title: Looting Fuel Pipelines in Mexico Summary: While Pemex was the sole player in Mexico's oil and gas industry, gasoline theft seemed to be something of a minor problem, a localized activity controlled by a few gangs. Fuel theft, however, has grown over time - partly due to a hands-off approach embraced by Mexican authorities for years, if not decades - and has reportedly attracted the attention of more sophisticated criminal organizations seeking to diversify their illegal activities. Over the last few years, factors such as increased demand for stolen fuels, a weak rule of law, and the lack of economic opportunities in local communities have played a crucial role in reshaping the configuration of the now widespread black market in stolen fuels. Illegal trade in fuels is booming, further incentivizing new entrants into this black market. The extent of fuel theft is now so great that it is becoming a serious financial burden for Pemex and, more broadly, may pose a challenge to the implementation of policies aimed at the liberalization of the gasoline market in Mexico. Details: Houston, Texas: Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, 2017. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 18, 2019 at: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/96f1e489/BI-Brief-062317-MEX_FuelTheft.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Organizations Shelf Number: 154235 |
Author: Institute for Economics and Peace Title: Evolucion y Perspectiva de los Factores que Hacen Posible La Paz (Evolution and Perspective of the Factors that Make Peace Possible) Summary: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Mexico 2018 Peace Index (IPM), prepared by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), provides an integral measure of peace levels in Mexico. The IPM is based on the methodology of the Global Peace Index, the most recognized measure of peace in the world, and has been prepared by the IEP every year since 2007. This is the fifth annual edition of the IPM and it presents the main trends, models and factors that drive peace in Mexico; also, the most important public policy opportunities for the authorities of the three levels of government stand out. The report analyzes the dynamics of violence in Mexico, as well as the weaknesses and strengths of the attitudes, institutions and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies, known as Positive Peace, necessary to substantially reduce the rates of violence in Mexico. Likewise, the considerable economic impact of the violence on the Mexican economy and the need to increase the level of investment in its containment are quantified. Finally, quantitatively sound evidence is provided to help develop public policies aimed at creating a more peaceful society. This research will be useful for policymakers, researchers, business leaders, civil society organizations and, in general, anyone interested in the task of building peace in Mexico. After two years of escalating violence, Mexico's homicide rate in 2017 reached record highs: 24 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, or more than 29,000 victims. This level of violence surpasses the high point observed in 2011. The increase in the homicide rate in 2017 was accompanied by a substantial increase in the rate of violence with firearms, which rose 36%, and 28 of the 32 states of Mexico report increasing rates of crimes committed with firearms. The report concludes that not only violence is increasing at the hands of organized crime groups, but also common crime and interpersonal violence. Leaderships within the cartels have been broken by neutralizing 107 of the 122 most influential leaders by mid-2017. This led to the fracture of the cartels, which increased competition among them. In this context, it can be assumed that many of its members have resorted to common criminal activity as the risk of belonging to a cartel increases; this contributes to the growth of common crime. Violence is also increasing in other areas of society. A fact that is striking is that domestic violence increased 32% during the three years prior to December 2017. Due to the seriousness of the violence, only seven states managed to improve their level of peace in 2017. Once again, Yucatn was the most peaceful state in Mexico, followed by Tlaxcala, Campeche, Coahuila and Chiapas. All these states, except Coahuila, improved their level of peace. Although four of the five states with the best performance registered improvements in their peace levels, the opposite happened with the less peaceful ones, since four of the five states located in the last sites deteriorated in 2017. All five experienced an increase in their rates of homicide. In 2017, Baja California Sur was classified as the least peaceful state in Mexico for the first time, followed by Guerrero, Baja California, Colima and Zacatecas. Three of these states are located on major drug trafficking routes, on the Pacific coast, while Zacatecas is located just next to them. The report also contains a strong political message, concluding that the population's concern about impunity and their confidence in judges increases and decreases along with the increase and reduction of violence. Details: Mexico City, Mexico: Institute of Economics and Peace, 2018. 94p. Source: Internet Resource (in Spanish): Accessed January 18, 2019 at: http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2018/04/Mexico-Peace-Index-2018-Spanish.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Cartels Shelf Number: 154269 |
Author: Institute for Economics and Peace Title: Como Registramos los Homicidios en Mexico? (How do We Register Homicides in Mexico?) Summary: Executive Summary The Homicide Data Index (HDI) 2018 is a first attempt to systematically evaluate the quality and comprehensiveness of homicide data at the state in Mexico. Based on the standards established in the Bogota Protocol on Quality of Homicide Data in Latin America and the Caribbean, the index evaluates the data produced by each one of the 32 states of Mexico in relation to several metrics of quality and integrality. As the index as this first report are designed to be a tool to identify opportunities for improvement in the systems of public safety information at the state level. Two years ago, the Mexico Peace Index (IPM) carried out annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), reported that the state of peace in Mexico was returning to the levels prior to the war on drugs. Reforms to justice and vigilance police established years ago seemed to give good results and the violence is decreasing. To the it seems, the country was on its way towards recovery. But nevertheless, in 2017 there was a serious increase in violence, with national homicide rate that increased 25%, exceeding its point maximum of 2011. With the war against the drugs now in their twelfth year, Mexico urgently needs a viable and effective plan to end the crisis of violence. But nevertheless, it is still difficult to obtain and analyze information precise about the various events of violence and what is needed to know to stop this crisis. The quality of the data is increasingly important to as the world depends to a greater extent on information. In the last 25 years, the development of evidence-based public policy has won worldwide momentum, since the systems of modern information allow us to better evaluate the policies and programs, identify risks and unforeseen consequences, as well as establish connections between the application of policies public and the desired results. However, the effectiveness of public policies based on evidence depends to a large extent on the quality of said evidence. Good quality data enrich andwork of analysts, be they policemen, sociologists or policy makers. The data of poor quality exacerbate deficiencies in existing systems. In the case of Mexico, the data sets on homicides do not meet the standards established in the Protocol of Bogota, the regional framework to determine quality of the data on homicides used as a basis for the index. The protocol establishes criteria technicians and provides a reference framework for the government and the institutions that produce data officers about homicides. This report, a first step to implement the protocol in Mexico, presents the results of an evaluation of the data produced by security systems public at the state level. Even though Mexico has some mechanisms to facilitate transparency and analysis based on evidence, this report highlights areas significant improvements at the level state as federal. The IDH is designed to provide a reference for state governments, provide a accountability tool for civil society and, ultimately instance, improve the development of more effective public policies, based on evidence. The quality and accuracy of homicide data varies from one state to another as a result of the system of federalized government. While the federal database about crimes requires that all states send basic numbers, data at the state level are an opportunity to collect and analyze information specific about local challenges. The results of this report evidences the need for an improvement significant throughout the country: no state obtained a score higher than 6.5 out of 10 in the index. To improve, most states can make simple changes to the information that they collect and publish. On average, the states they collect nine of the 23 information details necessary to obtain high-quality data on the homicides. Also, 17 states reported that they only collect three of the required indicators for the federal database on crimes in Mexico. Some simple records, such as the precise location of the criminal event, they can achieve an improvement significant in the usefulness of the data. The HDI is composed of five categories that group 43 indicators based on the Protocol of Bogota It is likely that the categories of transparency and detail of the information are easier areas to improve, especially with the use of some simple tools for registration in the databases. The improvements in the category definition probably require changes in the regulations, policies or statutes. However, incoming administrations have an opportunity policy of making significant improvements in their public security systems. Improvements in data quality and convergence between sources will require a careful analysis of the possible failures of information systems. Few States demonstrate a high level of comprehensiveness of the data, even when meeting the standards established for some indicators, some states can lack others. These disparities in quality suggest the absence of a robust system to identify and Record all associated details with a homicide case. Furthermore, if well the gap has been reducing, the discrepancies between number of victims counted from of death certificates and the number of victims registered in the criminal investigations suggest that all are not being investigated the homicides. The discrepancies with the data of the systems of Health can be a sign of impunity, corruption or both. However, deficiencies in the registration and investigation of each of the deaths also may result from lack of capacity: without enough highly trained policemen, forensic investigators and data analysts, who they do not have the tools and technology they require, state governments can be seen overrun by the homicide epidemic. Additionally, the prevalence of disappearances and clandestine graves in Mexico only complicates the problem. The evaluation of the quality of the data on homicides exposes the existence of flaws in the system that need to be identified and addressed. The Bogota Protocol recommends that governments establish an agency to develop and review the methodologies of data collection and verification of victim-by-victim cases in all state agencies. A committee formed adequately, including leaders and experts from civil society and the academic sector, can help identify specific failures in the systems at the state level and propose local solutions to challenges of each state. The governments of Mexico can benefit not only by making references crossed between the victims that are in the records of health systems and folders research, but also when comparing them against records of the prosecutor's offices, to begin to address the high rates of impunity facing the country. Ultimately, develop an infrastructure of modern information is a step towards professionalization of security systems public of Mexico. The principles and benefits of a good data management can be exploited by the police departments, the processes judicial bodies, health systems and institutions of human rights, including agencies responsible for care of cases of missing persons. A better understanding of criminal phenomena, particularly of homicides, could even favor the design of social policy at the local level, attending and preventing more effectively the factors that cause. High quality data benefits both to the institutions that produce as a society in general. If of the application of law and public security, the data on homicides improve the capacity of the police and judicial officials to investigate and process cases. Collaboration with researchers should support the development of techniques effective, while the publication of information complete and accurate public generates trust between the population. Finally, the institutions are strengthened and they acquire legitimacy in the eyes of citizens when they are transparent and responsible. In this meaning, the current transition in Mexico opens the possibility of developing better capabilities institutions and build an information system robust that serves as a basis for a six-year term of peace. Details: Mexico, City: Institute for Economics and Peace, 2018. 36p. Source: Internet Resource (in Spanish): Accessed January 18, 2019 at: http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Indice-de-Datos-sobre-Homicidios-2018.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Bogota Protocol Shelf Number: 154268 |
Author: Le Cour Grandmaison, Romain Title: No More Opium for the Masses: From the U.S. Fentanyl Boom to the Mexican Opium Crisis: Opportunitiee Amidst Violence? Summary: This report examines the effects of the upsurge in U.S. fentanyl use on opium producing areas in Mexico. By using available quantitative data on Mexican opium production as well as qualitative field research from opium producing communities in Nayarit and Guerrero, this paper offers valuable insights into Mexico's illicit drug trade. In particular, this paper demonstrates the extent to which certain villages in the Golden Triangle, but also in Guerrero, Nayarit, and Oaxaca rely on opium production for survival. The authors estimate that the opium economy channeled around 19 billion pesos ($1 billion dollars) to some of the poorest communities in Mexico in 2017. This is a vast amount, nearly three times the total legal agricultural output of the entire state of Guerrero. Up to around 2017, opium growers in Mexico were earning around 20,000 pesos ($1,050 dollars) a kilo of raw opium, and families could bring in up to 200,000 pesos ($10,500 dollars) per year. With the upsurge in fentanyl use, the demand for Mexican heroin has fallen sharply, by an estimated 7 billion pesos ($364 million dollars). This has had an immediate knock-on for opium producers. Farmers are now being paid around 6000 to 8000 pesos ($315 - 415 dollars) per kilo of raw opium. These losses have caused farmers' profits to disappear, village economies to dry up; and out-migration to increase. These findings have important implications for public security in Mexico, as well as major ramifications for international counter-drug efforts. Criminal groups in Mexico are nothing if not supple and adaptable to change. If current trends continue in the coming years, such groups may continue to dominate poppy-growing regions through other industries including illegal logging, illegal mining or the production of synthetic drugs. While legalization and crop substitution have been touted as possible alternatives, these should not be conceived of as silver bullets. However, if properly researched and managed, both policies could be introduced relatively cheaply and effectively. Initially at least, they would loosen the grip of organized crime groups on the regions and tie farmers to licit international markets. Combined with other broader security policies, they could integrate these marginalized areas into the country for good. Resolving this crisis requires further in-depth, policy-focused research in Mexico. It is urgent to design policies that are based on solid, updated knowledge about local dynamics of violence in the country. Any political response must be based on further research and diagnosis, conducted in the most critical opium producing regions of the country. Mexican government officials and international aid agencies should work to strengthen programs to promote long-term crop-substitution and economic development opportunities. Such policies are urgently needed to encourage local agricultural producers to focus on legitimate, locally sustainable crops and alternative industries. Recent proposals to legalize opium for the pharmaceutical industry should be considered seriously. Yet, legalization would only solve a one part of the issue, since Mexican demand for legal opioids is massively lower than the country's current illegal production. Hence, the solution must be articulated both at the national and international level, in order to tackle supply and demand simultaneously. Details: s.l.: Noria Research, Washington, DC: Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center. 2019. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 14, 2019 at: https://www.noria-research.com/app/uploads/2019/02/NORIA_OPIUM_MEXICO_CRISIS_PRO-1.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Mexico Keywords: Fentanyl Shelf Number: 154601 |
Author: Dudley, Steven Title: Mexico's Role in the Deadly Rise of Fentanyl Summary: Since surging into the market in 2013, fentanyl has become the most lethal category of opioid in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that more than 47,000 people died from an opioid overdose in 2017 in the United States-28,000 of those deaths were due to synthetic opioids, which the CDC says is largely the result of the uptick in abuse of fentanyl. This investigation sought to better situate Mexico's role in the fentanyl trade. Chinese companies produce the vast majority of fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, and fentanyl precursors, but Mexico is becoming a major transit and production point for the drug and its analogues as well, and Mexican traffickers appear to be playing a role in its distribution in the United States. To investigate Mexico's role, we found we had to look at the entire distribution chain. InSight Crime employed two researchers in Mexico, two in the United States, and two in Colombia who combed all the databases, scoured through judicial documents, filed freedom of information requests, and executed dozens of interviews in Mexico and the United States with law enforcement, prosecutors, health specialists, and others. The result is a nuanced picture but one with troubling implications for the future of drug trafficking and drug consumption. While seemingly dominated by two large criminal groups in Mexico, the fentanyl trade requires vast networks of smaller subcontractors who specialize in importing, producing, and transporting synthetic drugs. Both large and small organizations appear to be taking advantage of the surge in popularity of the drug, which is increasingly laced into other substances such as cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana-very often without the end-user knowing it. To be sure, rising seizures of counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl illustrate that the market is maturing in other ways as well. Fentanyl's potency also opens the door to entrepreneurs who bypass Mexico altogether, obtaining their supplies directly from China and selling them on the dark web. There is little public understanding of the prevalence of this part of the trade and even less of its medium- and long-term implications. The low barrier of entry into this market and its high returns make for a frightening future in which synthetic drugs of all types could proliferate. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2019. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 15, 2019 at: https://www.insightcrime.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Fentanyl-Report-InSight-Crime-19-02-11.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Overdose Shelf Number: 154620 |
Author: Baier, Jessica Title: Education, Corruption and Violent Crime in Mexico 1930 - 1990 Summary: Introduction Nowadays, when Mexico appears in the headlines of the world's newspapers, the reason is most probably another discovery of decapitated bodies, the extended number of kidnappings or gun battles between military forces and drug cartels. Over the last decade, the "drug war" was raging in Mexico and the country has gained the unsavory reputation of being extraordinarily violent. Especially the disappearance of 43 Mexican students from police custody in September 2014 has caught worldwide attention and it has raised many questions about the connections between the Mexican government, the police force and the drug cartels. To many, the sudden outbreak of violence after almost a century of steadily falling crime rates, political stability and sustained economic growth came as a shock. Mexico had experienced an impressive decline in violent crime rates: from 60 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 1930, to less than 10 in 2000 while the US reduced the murder rate in the same period from 9 to 6 (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2015). On the other hand, there are also voices claiming that the drug war has been a long time coming. Watt (in Busch 2012) argues that the recent crisis in Mexico is a consequence of a long-standing entanglement of drug cartels and political and economic elites that has been growing since the beginning of the 20th century. When the ruling political party changed for the first time in 70 years in 2000, these arrangements between government and narcos were no longer tolerated and violence escalated. Drug cartels turned to violence to defend their business and territory against rival organizations and the police, since they were no longer able to simply buy protection from the law. According to this argumentation, corruption and a weak rule of law were present already during the 20th century and they were the main driving forces behind violent crime. Other scholars however have claimed that the high inequality in Latin America is the cause of high violent crime rates. Is this the case in Mexico? What role do human capital and institutions play? The purpose of this paper is to examine if there is empirical evidence for the entanglement between government and violence during the 20th century and at the same time revise the impact of other structural factors on crime rates. In Mexico, the most common form of government involvement in illegal activity is through corruption (Piccato 2013): During the 20th century, "everyone knew that policemen, prosecutors and judges could be bought" (Piccato 2013, p. 112). When criminals are able to bribe police officials and consequently walk free, the overall probability of punishment is very low and consequently makes criminal activities more attractive. Especially in a money-spinning illegal business such as drug trafficking, most delinquents have the financial capacity to buy protection from the law. Since no direct corruption measures are available for 20th century Mexico, I will use a proxy that has been shown to be highly correlated with corruption: the size of the public sector. Especially in partially democratized countries, bigger public sectors are traditionally associated with a higher incidence of corruption, since the greater involvement of the government in the society introduces more possibilities of rent-seeking behavior. Mexico in the 20th century represents a partially democratized country, since the country is ruled by a one-party system for over 70 years, meaning that Mexico has not yet transitioned to a fully functioning democracy. Goel and Nelson (1996), Montinola and Jackman (2002) and Kotera and Okada (2012) show that (in partially democratic countries), government size increases corruption significantly. Using the newly constructed data set covering the years from 1930 to 1990, I will estimate a fixed effects model with Driscoll-Kraay cross-sectional dependence robust standard errors to check if government activity does have a significant impact on violent crime, measured by homicide rates. To avoid omitted variable bias, I will control for a variety of structural, cultural and demographic factors that have been predicted to explain violent crime rates in different theories of crime. Traditionally, economists base their research on the economic theory of crime developed by Becker in 1968, according to which criminals react to incentives provided by their social, political and economic environment. The higher the expected revenue generated by a crime and the lower the opportunity costs, the higher the probability that a given individual engages in non-legal activity. This implies that lower earning opportunities, less education and unemployment would increase crime incidence, whereas higher severity and probability of punishment reduces it. As mentioned before, the presence of corruption lowers the probability of punishment, and consequently leads to higher crime rates according to this theory. Education and economic growth have been shown to be highly effective in reducing crime rates in cross-national studies; I will check if I can find evidence for this effect in Mexico as well. Sociological theories cite cultural factors such as the machismo culture, ethnic fractionalization, urbanization or youth bulges as being responsible for high crime rates. I will control for all these factors in the regression analysis and check their significance in the Mexican case. The motivation behind understanding the underlying dynamics of crime is evident, since personal security is an important component of well-being (van Zanden et al. 2014). The detrimental impact of crime and violence on society has been well documented and seems to be especially high in the Latin American region (see for example Prillaman 2003/ van Zanden et al. 2014 for an overview). The negative consequences of crime and violence start with the intangible personal costs like the constant fear and strain experienced when living in an unsecure environment, followed by the grief and pain experienced after the loss of a family member or friend. On a macroeconomic level, high crime rates cause measurable direct costs: the expenses on prevention and deterrence like police work, correction and prosecution as well as the medical treatment of the victims (Anderson 1999). However, the costs of crime are not limited to these direct costs, since crime also has a detrimental effect even on the (legal) economic sector. Uncertainty and inefficiency created by high crime rates deter investment activity, tourism and reduce the competitiveness of local businesses, reducing overall economic activity (Detotto and Otranto 2010). Londono and Guerrero (1999, p. 26) estimate that in the time from 1980 until 1995, the social costs of only the violent crimes were as high as 12.3 % of GDP in Mexico. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: Section 2 gives a short historical background in order to set the stage for the analysis of homicide data. When analyzing crime incidence in Mexico, it is crucial to understand the presence of drug trafficking and its relationship to the Mexican government. In Section 3 I will review the general theories of crime and its implications for the Mexican case. I will also have a look at the results of previous studies on crime in Mexico. In Section 4 I shortly discuss the methodology used to measure violent crime and I reconstruct the development of homicide rates during the 20th century in Mexico. Section 5 introduces the methodology employed for the empirical analysis and the results are presented. Lastly, section 6 offers some concluding remarks. Details: Tubingen, Germany: University of Tubingen, 2015. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 9, 2019 at: http://www.ehes.org/ehes2015/papers/Baier.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Corruption Shelf Number: 154747 |
Author: Bucheli, Jose R. Title: Return migration and violence Summary: There is reason to suspect that return migrants can reduce social violence in migrant-prone regions of the world. Taking into account that recent research shows positive effects of return migration, we consider that returners may reduce violence by contributing to social renewal and economic growth in their home communities. We estimate the direct effects of return migration in the context of Mexico, a traditionally migrant country that has suffered record levels of violence in the past decade. Using data on homicide rates from 2,456 municipalities for the 2011-2013 period and an instrumental variable bivariate Tobit maximum likelihood approach, we find that higher rates of return migration lead to a decline in local homicide rates. We also show, with a censored quantile instrumental variable (CQIV) model, that municipalities in the bottom quartile of the homicide rate distribution benefit the most from return migration. Our work has important implications for crime reduction policies in developing countries, and specifically in Mexico, where social violence has wreaked havoc on society in recent years Details: Unpublished paper, 2018. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 26, 2019 at: http://www.jrbucheli.com/uploads/1/0/4/8/104882217/return_migration_and_violence.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Homicides Shelf Number: 155169 |
Author: Felbab-Brown, Vanda Title: AMLO's Security Policy: Creative Ideas, Tough Reality Summary: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY -- - Improving public safety, especially reducing Mexico's soaring murder rate, is the toughest challenge of Mexico's new president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as AMLO). - In November 2018, AMLO unveiled his National Peace and Security Plan 2018-2024, describing it as predominantly focused on the roots of insecurity, as opposed to confronting drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). The plan combines anti-corruption measures; economic policies; enhanced human rights protections; ethics reforms; public health, including treatment for drug use and exploration of drug legalization; transitional justice and amnesty for some criminals; and broader peace-building, to include traditional anti-crime measures such as prison reform and security sector reform, plus a new law enforcement force, the National Guard. - Various elements of his announced new security strategy-such as the formation of the National Guard - remain questionable and unclear and are unlikely to reduce violence quickly. - AMLO's proffered security strategy will likely create friction with the United States. Jointly countering fentanyl smuggling, however, could provide one venue of U.S.- Mexico cooperation. Corruption and Mexico's justice system - Combatting corruption is a foundational element of AMLO's security policy, and his administration has adopted a wide set of anti-corruption measures, including highly controversial and questionable ones. - However, AMLO has yet to appoint a dedicated anti-corruption prosecutor, make appointments to the National Anti-Corruption System, and support the 2016 National Anti-Corruption System reform. - AMLO has not broken with politically powerful and immensely corrupt unions, proposing instead to reverse reforms and lay off 70 percent of non-unionized federal workers. - It remains unclear whether AMLO will empower Mexico's civil society-crucial for reducing corruption-or continually define it as his antagonist. - AMLO's administration has not yet focused sufficiently on implementing the judicial reform by properly implementing the new prosecutorial system. - The administration has emphasized minimizing salary differences between public ministries, federal judges, prosecutors, and police officials. The weakness of prosecutors and their lack of cooperation with law enforcement and judges have been key stumbling blocks, keeping prosecution rates abysmally low. However, minimizing salary differences is inadequate. - Deleteriously, AMLO has refused to allow the independent selection of an autonomous attorney general. Focus on brutal crimes instead of drug trafficking groups and rejection of high-value targeting - The AMLO administration suspended focus on DTOs, drug trafficking, and high-value targeting of DTO leaders. Instead, it prioritizes "brutal crimes." But that strategy ignores the fact that key perpetrators of homicides, extortion, and robberies are DTOs. - Large law enforcement deployments to Tijuana and efforts to combat fuel theft have been interpreted by DTOs as direct confrontation. Instead, AMLO should prioritize targeting the most violent criminal groups, while deterring new outbreaks of violence. - The target should be the middle operational layer of a criminal group, seeking to disable the vast majority of the middle layer in one sweep, in order to reduce the group's regeneration capacity. - The Mexican government remains challenged in implementing such a policy by the continual lack of strategic and tactical intelligence in an ever more fragmented, mult-ipolar, and opaque criminal market, and by the continual corruption of Mexico's law enforcement apparatus. The National Guard -- - AMLO has not stopped using the Mexican military for domestic law enforcement. However, he has created a new structure combining military forces with Federal Police forces-The National Guard. - To be completed in three years, the National Guard is to be 150,000-strong. Sent initially to 17 areas with high homicide rates, the first contingent of 50,000 is to start functioning by April 2019. The head of the National Guard is a civilian, but much of the leadership is military.... Details: Washington, DC: Foreign Policy at Brookings Institute, 2019. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 27, 2019 at: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FP_20190325_mexico_anti-crime.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Justice Policy Shelf Number: 155191 |
Author: Felbab-Brown, Vanda Title: Mexico's Out-of-Control Criminal Market Summary: This paper explores the trends, characteristics, and changes in the Mexican criminal market, in response to internal changes, government policies, and external factors. It explores the nature of violence and criminality, the behavior of criminal groups, and the effects of government responses. Over the past two decades, criminal violence in Mexico has become highly intense, diversified, and popularized, while the deterrence capacity of Mexican law enforcement remains critically low. The outcome is an ever more complex, multi-polar, and out-of-control criminal market that generates deleterious effects on Mexican society and makes it highly challenging for the Mexican state to respond effectively. Successive Mexican administrations have failed to sustainably reduce homicides and other violent crimes. Critically, the Mexican government has failed to rebalance power in the triangular relationship between the state, criminal groups, and society, while the Mexican population has soured on the anti-cartel project. Since 2000, Mexico has experienced extraordinarily high drug- and crime-related violence, with the murder rate in 2017 and again in 2018 breaking previous records. The fragmentation of Mexican criminal groups is both a purposeful and inadvertent effect of high-value targeting, which is a problematic strategy because criminal groups can replace fallen leaders more easily than insurgent or terrorist groups. The policy also disrupts leadership succession, giving rise to intense internal competition and increasingly younger leaders who lack leadership skills and feel the need to prove themselves through violence. Focusing on the middle layer of criminal groups prevents such an easy and violent regeneration of the leadership. But the Mexican government remains deeply challenged in middle-layer targeting due to a lack of tactical and strategic intelligence arising from corruption among Mexican law enforcement and political pressures that makes it difficult to invest the necessary time to conduct thorough investigations. In the absence of more effective state presence and rule of law, the fragmentation of Mexican criminal groups turned a multi-polar criminal market of 2006 into an ever more complex multi-polar criminal market. Criminal groups lack clarity about the balance of power among them, tempting them to take over one another's territory and engage in internecine warfare. The Mexican crime market's proclivity toward violence is exacerbated by the government's inability to weed out the most violent criminal groups and send a strong message that they will be prioritized in targeting. The message has not yet sunk in that violence and aggressiveness do not pay. For example, the destruction of the Zetas has been followed by the empowerment of the equally aggressive Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). Like the Zetas, the Jalisco group centers its rule on brutality, brazenness, and aggressiveness. Like the Zetas and unlike the Sinaloa Cartel, the CJNG does not invest in and provide socio- economic goods and governance in order to build up political capital. Equally, the internal re-balancing among criminal groups has failed to weed out the most violent groups and the policy measures of the Mexican governments have failed to reduce the criminal groups' proclivity toward aggression and violence. The emergence of the CJNG has engulfed Mexico and other supply-chain countries, such as Colombia,in its war with the Sinaloa Cartel. The war between the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG provides space for local criminal upstarts, compounds instability by shifting local alliances, and sets off new splintering within the two large cartels and among their local proxies. To the extent that violence has abated in particular locales, the de-escalation has primarily reflected a "narco-peace," with one criminal group able to establish control over a particular territory and its corruption networks. It is thus vulnerable to criminal groups' actions as well as to high-value targeting of top drug traffickers. In places such as Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, and Monterrey, local law enforcement and anti-crime socio-economic policies helped in various degrees to reduce violence. When the narco-peace was undermined, the policies proved insufficient. At other times, the reduction of violence that accompanied a local narco-peace gave rise to policy complacency and diminished resources. Socio-economic policies to combat crime have spread resources too thinly across Mexico to be effective. Violence in Mexico has become diversified over the past decade, with drug trafficking groups becoming involved in widespread extortion of legal businesses, kidnapping, illegal logging, illegal fishing, and smuggling of migrants. That is partially a consequence of the fragmentation, as smaller groups are compelled to branch out into a variety of criminal enterprises. But for larger groups, extortion of large segments of society is not merely a source of money, but also of authority. Violence and criminality have also become "popularized," both in terms of the sheer number of actors and also the types of actors involved, such as "anti-crime" militias. Widespread criminality increases the coercive credibility of individual criminals and small groups, while hiding their identities. Low effective prosecution rates and widespread impunity tempt many individuals who would otherwise be law-abiding citizens to participate in crime. Anti-crime militias that have emerged in Mexico have rarely reduced violence in a sustained way. Often, they engage in various forms of criminality, including homicides, extortion, and human rights abuses against local residents, and they undermine the authority of the state. Government responses to the militias-including acquiescence, arrests, and efforts to roll them into state paramilitary forces-have not had a significant impact. In fact, the strength and emergence of militia groups in places such as Michoacan and Guerrero reflect a long-standing absence of the government, underdevelopment, militarization, and abuse of political power. In places such as Guerrero, criminality and militia formation has become intertwined with the U.S. opioid epidemic that has stimulated the expansion of poppy cultivation in Mexico. The over-prescription of opioids in the United States created a major addiction epidemic, with users turning to illegal alternatives when they were eventually cut off from prescription drugs. Predictably, poppy cultivation shot up in Mexico, reaching some 30,000 hectares in 2017. Areas of poppy cultivation are hotly contested among Mexican drug trafficking groups, with their infighting intensely exacerbating the insecurity of poor and marginalized poppy farmers. Efforts to eradicate poppy cultivation have often failed to sustainably reduce illicit crop cultivation and complicated policies to pacify these areas, often thrusting poppy farmers deeper into the hands of criminal groups that sponsor and protect the cultivation. Eradication is easier than providing poppy farmers with alternative livelihoods. Combined with the Trump administration's demands for eradication, the Enrique Peea Nieto administration, and Mexico historically, showed little interest in seriously pursuing a different path. Poppy eradication in Mexico does not shrink the supply of illegal opioids destined for the U.S. market, since farmers replant poppies after eradication and can always shift areas of production. The rise of fentanyl abuse in the United States, however, has suppressed opium prices in Mexico. Drug trafficking organizations and dealers prefer to traffic and sell fentanyl, mostly supplied to the United States from China, because of its bulk-potency-profit ratio. The CJNG became a pioneer in fentanyl smuggling through Mexico into the United States, but the Sinaloa Cartel rapidly developed its own fentanyl supply chain. Although the drug is deadly, the Sinaloa Cartel's means of distribution remain non- violent in the United States. Fentanyl enters the United States from Mexico through legal ports of entry. In the short term, fentanyl has not altered the dynamics of Mexico's criminal market, but in the long term, fentanyl can significantly upend global drug markets and the prioritization of drug control in U.S. agendas with other countries. If many users switch to synthetic drugs, the United States may lose interest in promoting eradication of drug crops. Such a switch would also weaken the power of criminal and insurgent groups who sponsor illicit crop cultivation. Even if they switch to the production of synthetic drugs, they will only have the capacity to sponsor the livelihoods of many fewer people, thus diminishing their political capital with local populations and making it less costly for the government to conduct counter-narcotics operations. Mexico's violence can decline in two ways. First, a criminal group can temporarily win enough turf and establish enough deterrence capacity to create a narco-peace, as has been the case so far. Alternatively, violence can decline when the state at last systematically builds up enough deterrence capacity against the criminals and realigns local populations with the state, from which they are now often alienated. Mexico must strive to achieve this objective. Details: Washington, DC: Foreign Policy at Brookings Institute, 2019. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 27, 2019 at: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FP_20190322_mexico_crime-2.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Cartels Shelf Number: 155192 |
Author: Magaloni, Beatriz Title: Torture as a Method of Criminal Prosecution: Democratization, Criminal Justice Reform, and the Mexican Drug War Summary: A criminal trial is likely the most significant interaction a citizen will ever have with the state; its conduct and adherence to norms of fairness bear directly on the quality of government, extent of democratic consolidation, and human rights. While theories of repression tend to focus on the political incentives to transgress against human rights, we examine a case in which the institutionalization of such violations follows an organizational logic rather than the political logic of regime survival or consolidation. We exploit a survey of the Mexican prison population and the implementation of reforms of the justice system to assess how reforms to criminal procedure reduce torture. We demonstrate that democratization produced a temporary decline in torture which then increased with the onset of the Drug War and militarization of security. Our results show that democracy alone is insufficient to restrain torture unless it is accompanied by institutionalized protections. Details: Stanford, CA: Stanford University, 2019. 100p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 17, 2019 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3344814 Year: 2019 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Prosecution Shelf Number: 155444 |
Author: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Title: Evaluacin Final Independiente. Proyecto: "Promocion de la cooperacion entre Mexico y Centroamerica para prevenir y combatir el trafico ilcito de migrantes" ( Promotion of cooperation between Mexico and Central America to prevent and combat th Summary: Project description Given the high intra- and extra-regional mobility of Mexico and Central America, the illicit trafficking of migrants has become one of the most common criminal manifestations due to the growing number of people who resort to the services of traffickers to illegally enter the country. United States of America. For decades, facilitation for the crossing of the northern border was tolerated and even considered a "social service". However, according to the UNODC Report entitled "Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment Report", the smuggling of migrants is currently dominated by organized criminal groups who violate violence and terror against migrants in transit. The general objective of the project Promotion of cooperation between Mexico and Central America to prevent and combat the smuggling of migrants is to articulate coordinated and effective responses to prevent and combat the smuggling of migrants, one of the most profitable clandestine businesses in the region. and offer the participating authorities the political and technical elements necessary for the construction of solid, sustainable and reliable protection schemes for migrants smuggled. The technical assistance provided by UNODC will consist mainly of the facilitation of meetings between Mexican and Central American officials to promote their professionalization and international cooperation, within the framework of a shared responsibility towards the security of migratory movements along the Central American corridor and Mexico. Details: Vienna: UNODC, 2017. 90p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 27, 2019 at: https://www.unodc.org/documents/evaluation/Independent_Project_Evaluations/2017/MEXX89_Final_Evaluation_Report_January_2017.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Human Smuggling Shelf Number: 155587 |
Author: Amnesty International Title: Invisible Victims: Migrants on the Move in Mexico Summary: every year, tens of thousands of people travel through mexico without legal permission as irregular migrants. most are central Americans on their way to the Us border, hoping for a new life far from the grinding poverty they have left behind. their journey is one of the most dangerous in the world. Criminal gangs target the main routes used by irregular migrants. Kidnapping, extortion, ill-treatment and sexual violence by these gangs are widespread. Some migrants disappear without trace, abducted and killed, or robbed, assaulted and thrown off speeding trains. Many of the cases detailed in this report highlight the involvement of the authorities at some level in many abuses against migrants. Far too often, officials provide criminal gangs with cover or simply fail to intervene to prevent a crime being committed. the lack of access to protection and justice makes migrants, and particularly migrant women and children, easy targets for criminal gangs and corrupt public officials. Excluded from mainstream society and effectively denied the protection of the law, irregular migrants remain largely invisible, their voices rarely heard. Migrants in mexico are facing a major human rights crisis fuelled by widespread impunity for those responsible for abuses. The federal and state authorities have consistently failed to investigate abuses against migrants promptly and effectively, despite their international obligations to do so. This amnesty international report ends with a series of recommendations calling on the authorities at all levels to improve protection and access to justice for migrants and to end impunity for those who carry out abuses against them. Details: London: AI, 2010. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 1, 2019 at: https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/36000/amr410142010eng.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico Keywords: Human Rights Abuses Shelf Number: 155593 |
Author: Calderon, Laura Title: Organized Crime and Violence in Mexico. Analysis Through 2018 Summary: Justice in Mexico, a research-based program at the University of San Diego, released its 2019 report on Organized Crime and Violence in Mexico, co-authored by Laura Calderon, Kimberly Heinle, Octavio Rodriguez Ferreira, and David A. Shirk. This report analyzes the latest available data to broadly assess the current state of violence, organized crime, and human rights in Mexico. The tenth edition in a series is published under a new title to reflect the gradual shift that has occurred to the restructuring illicit drug trade and the rise of new organized crime groups. In 2018, Mexico saw record violence with 28,816 homicide cases and 33,341 victims reported by the Mexican National Security System (Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Publica, SNSP). This reflects the continued augmentation in violent crime in Mexico for more than a decade with a notable increase in the last few years. The homicide rate has dramatically escalated from 16.9 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015 as reported to UNODC to 27.3 per 100,000 in 2018 based on SNSP figures. In this and past reports, the authors attribute much of the violence, between a third to a half, to the presence of organized crime groups, particularly drug trafficking organizations. According to the report, violence has become more pervasive throughout the country but remains highly concentrated in a few specific areas, especially in the major drug trafficking zones located in the northwest and the Pacific Coast. The top ten most violent municipalities in Mexico accounted for 33.6% of all homicides in Mexico in 2018, with 24.7% concentrated in the top five: Tijuana (2,246), Ciudad Juarez (1,004), Acapulco (839), Cancun-Benito Juarez (537), Culiacan (500). Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico, Department of Political Science & International Relations, University of San Diego, 2019. 71p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 2, 2019 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Organized-Crime-and-Violence-in-Mexico-2019.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 155611 |
Author: Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Title: What works to prevent violence among youth? A white paper on youth violence, crime prevention, and the Mexican context Summary: What works in preventing and reducing violence among youth? This report draws on the global evidence base of evaluations of existing interventions designed to reduce or prevent violence and identifies those with the greatest evidence of effectiveness. We find six types of interventions for which there is strong evidence of effectiveness in preventing at-risk individuals and offenders from engaging in criminal and violent behavior-cognitive behavioral therapy, multidimensional therapy, drug courts and drug addiction treatment, focused deterrence, controls on the sale and abuse of alcohol, and hot spots policing. A much broader range of interventions have shown less conclusive proof of effectiveness-either because they have not been rigorously evaluated or because evaluations have yielded mixed results. In these cases, we identify the mechanisms that may lie behind potential success and explore how these might be extracted to promote innovative pilots in the Mexican context. The goal of the report is to provide a framework for increasing the use of evidence-informed policy in youth violence prevention efforts across Mexico, with a focus on state and local levels. Where the existing evidence base is strong, there is a basis for adopting programs that have proven successful elsewhere. We also identify a category of interventions that have been adopted widely in Mexico but for which there is little clear evidence base (and in some cases, evidence that these interventions may be ineffective), and recommend that these be scaled down. Finally, we identify a set of challenges in the Mexican context for which there are no clear "off-the-shelf" solutions, and for these we try to identify promising opportunities for innovation. This report draws on an extensive literature review of over 264 studies. Throughout, we draw on evidence produced by studies that met a high bar for methodological standards: using randomized experimental or quasi-experimental methods with appropriately designed comparison groups. Randomized evaluations (often called randomized controlled trials, or RCTs), offer the highest quality of evidence because they provide us a clear basis for making causal claims about the impact of a program or intervention (that in the absence of randomization, we might worry was in fact a result of selection bias or other characteristics that were in some way linked to participation in the program). We have given the greatest weight to RCT evidence where it exists. Setting the evidence bar this high means that the range of interventions and programs that we are able to identify as having a strong evidence base is relatively narrow. To ensure that we can offer relevant and broad-ranging policy advice, we therefore try to isolate the key elements of effective programming and the potential principles behind effective strategies to guide refinement of new interventions and innovations that may provide a basis for future evaluations. Details: Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development (USAID), 2018. 144p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 7, 2019 at: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/sites/default/files/documents/White%20Paper%20JPAL_Ingles_Final.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: At-Risk Youth Shelf Number: 155669 |
Author: Campos, Juan C. Title: State Incoordination and Political Assassinations in Mexico: Why does the Mexican Government Fail to Protect Mayors from Drug-Trafficking Organizations? Summary: Does state incoordination increase the number of political assassinations in new democracies? In this paper, I answer this question by observing the relationship between political assassinations by drug-trafficking organizations and the lack of party coordination across the state and federal levels of government in Mexico. Despite large bodies of research on political violence, few studies to date have examined this link (Rios, 2015; Duran-Martinez 2015). Specifically, using data compiled by Justice in Mexico, I expect to find that if the two levels of government are not ruled by the same political party between 2005 and 2017, this signals that Mexico's security institutions lack coordination, so the state's ability to protect mayors from assassinations will decline. This is because rule by a single party facilitates cooperation across all levels of government. Such cooperation is necessary to allocate resources properly while combating cartels and stifling their operations, including political assassinations. However, states whose political parties differ from the federal government's party affiliation are - for political reasons - less likely to witness coordination and therefore incapable of protecting mayors from being assassinated. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico, Department of Political Science & International Relations, University of San Diego, 2018. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: JUSTICE IN MEXICO, WORKING PAPER SERIES, Volume 15, Number 2: Accessed May 9, 2019 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/181010_Working-Paper_CAMPOS_JUAN.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 155728 |
Author: Cortes, Nancy G. Title: The Drug War and the Resurgence of Mexico's Heroin Summary: Heroin, the main driver of drug abuse concerns in the 1960s and 1970s, is once again recapturing the government's attention. Since 2007, both consumption and availability of heroin seem to follow an upward trend. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), past year heroin users increased by 82.6 percent between 2007 and 2013. Furthermore, data on U.S. drug heroin seizures shows a 375 percent increase between 2007 and 2012. The recent increase in heroin consumption is often associated with the consumption of opioid prescription drugs and the government's efforts to make prescription drugs more difficult to use or obtain. However, another factor that must be taken into consideration is the change in drug supply networks seen in recent years, particularly the ongoing evolution of Mexican drug trafficking networks triggered by the implementation of counterdrug strategies. Throughout his term, former Mexican President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) made combatting drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) the top priority of his administration. As the government cracked down on large DTOs, violence in Mexico began to dramatically increase in 2008 and peaked in 2011. The implementation of counter-drug strategies, such as the removal of kingpins, led to the fracturing of large DTOs and the proliferation of smaller criminal organizations. Coinciding with the war on drugs was a significant decline in the availability of cocaine, a trend that according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) began in 2006.3 Moreover, between 2006 and 2010, cocaine consumption in the United States decreased by approximately 45 percent. The substantial decline of cocaine supply and consumption could be interpreted as a major accomplishment of the war on drugs, but the increase in heroin consumption calls into question its overall success. In this light, the success of the war on drugs appears inconclusive. This paper examines the factors that contributed to the increase in heroin consumption in the United States by focusing on the role played by foreign drug supply networks. Based on a careful review of recent events and the available data on heroin and cocaine trafficking, I argue that the breaking down of cartels that resulted from the war on drugs led to the weakening of cocaine supply networks and the proliferation of smaller criminal organizations that are more adept to participate in the heroin trade. The paper is organized as follows. First, the association between heroin and opioid prescription drugs is briefly discussed. Second, evidence supporting an increase in heroin availability and consumption following the decline in cocaine availability and the implementation of counter-drug measures in 2006 is presented. Third, the restructuring of the Mexican drug trade comprised by fragmentation, decentralization, and diversification is discussed. Fourth, the structure of the U.S. heroin market is outlined. Fifth, the traffic of Mexican heroin is examined from cultivation through distribution. Sixth, an analysis of the trends and available evidence is provided. Lastly, the paper concludes. Details: San Diego: Justice in Mexico, Department of Political Science & International Relations, University of San Diego, 2015. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: JUSTICE IN MEXICO WORKING PAPER SERIES Volume 14, Number 2: Accessed May 9, 2019 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/151206_CORTES_NANCY_DrugeWarMexicosHeroinTrade_FINAL.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Mexico Keywords: Cartels Shelf Number: 155731 |
Author: Hinoposa, Gina Title: Turning the Tide on Impunity: Protection and Access to Justice for Journalists and Human Rights Defenders in Mexico Summary: KEY FINDINGS - Protection measures provided through Mexico's Mechanism to Protect Human Rights Defenders and Journalists are often insufficient. The Mechanism has been unable to develop risk analysis protocols that effectively identify the different needs of female, rural, indigenous, and other particularly vulnerable journalists and defenders when it comes to receiving protections. Protection measures are often unreliable, are not adequately implemented, and do not take into account realities on the ground in different parts of the country. In some cases, they have been unable to provide sufficient protection: six Mechanism beneficiaries have been murdered since August 2017. - The Mechanism suffers from a serious lack of adequate staffing and budget levels. There are only 35 Mechanism personnel overseeing the protection of 831 journalists and human rights defenders. Despite this context, Mexico's 2019 budget cut funds to the Ministry of the Interior"s Human Rights Unit-which finances the Mechanism's staff salaries-by over USD$610,500, meaning additional staff will likely not be hired in 2019. Moreover, while the Mechanism spent approximately $13.6 million on the implementation of protection measures in 2018, Mexico's Congress only allocated up to $10.9 million for protection measures in the 2019 budget. - The Mechanism has made progress in developing strategies that go beyond providing immediate protection to journalists and human rights defenders. Experiences in the state of Chihuahua could serve as a model for developing comprehensive prevention strategies that are more comprehensive and more attuned to local contexts. Since 2016, Mechanism officials have been working alongside Chihuahua's state government, national and international human rights bodies, and local civil society groups to develop a Contingency Plan focused on addressing the root causes of violence against journalists and human rights defenders in that state. - Mexican authorities are frequently identified as the perpetrators behind crimes against journalists and human rights defenders. Public officials were determined to be the likely aggressors in 39 percent of cases the Mechanism has overseen. Similarly, "abuse of authority" was the second-most common crime reported by prosecutor's offices that provided us with statistics on these crimes, pointing to how frequently public officials and security forces are involved in attacks. This helps to explain why many investigations into crimes against journalists and human rights defenders lack credibility and impartiality, particularly at the state level. - The Mexican government's failure to properly investigate and sanction crimes against journalists and human rights defenders has left these groups open to attack. Between 2012 and June 2018, only three percent of investigations opened by the state prosecutor's offices analyzed by WOLA and PBI made it to the courts. Of the 1,077 cases investigated by the federal-level Special Prosecutor's Office for Crimes against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) during that period, less than 12 percent were taken to court. Only five FEADLE cases-less than one percent-resulted in convictions. Aside from its overall poor track record in prosecuting cases, FEADLE rarely takes advantage of its power to take investigations out of the hands of state prosecutor's offices when state authorities are not handling the cases with due diligence. - FEADLE's capacity to fulfill its mandate has been severely limited by a lack of human and financial resources. The agency's budget has been reduced by 54 percent since 2014, from over USD$2 million to around $942,000. The office only has 22 prosecutors and 15 investigative police officers on staff. - Many prosecutor's offices in Mexico do not maintain quality criminal statistics that could aid in criminal analysis and strengthen prosecutorial oversight. Without systematized databases with reliable statistics on crimes against journalists and human rights defenders, prosecutors are unable to draw patterns and connections between cases, or identify any common modus operandi used to target victims. Some offices do not track the status and results of their investigations, such as the outcome of cases that are tried in court. This makes it difficult for authorities to identify and rectify gaps in their investigative practices and processes, and makes clear that prosecutors in these offices are not being evaluated based on their performance. - Some law enforcement institutions often devote valuable time and resources toward discrediting and criminalizing the work of journalists and human rights defenders, rather than guaranteeing their protection. There is a clear pattern of Mexican authorities misusing criminal legislation to criminalize activists and media workers. In Chihuahua state, for example, we found that over the period reviewed for this report, the number of cases in which authorities deemed journalists to be the alleged aggressors was more than double the number of cases opened into crimes committed against them. - The U.S. government continues to provide significant funds to support the Protection Mechanism and to strengthen investigations into crimes against journalists and human rights defenders. In September 2017, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) initiated a USD$7.1 million project called ProVoces. ProVoces consultants have provided trainings, mentorship, and technical assistance to the Mexican agencies charged with addressing violence against journalists and defenders and aims to strengthen coordination between prosecutor's offices, federal and state-level protection mechanisms, and civil society organizations. Details: Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America, 2019. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 10, 2019 at: https://www.wola.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ENGLISH-WOLA-PBI-2019.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Investigation Shelf Number: 155747 |
Author: Utar, Hale Title: Firms and Labor in Times of Violence: Evidence from the Mexican Drug War Summary: Violence in Mexico has reached unprecedented levels in recent times. After the government began a crackdown on drug cartels, nation-wide homicides almost tripled between 2006 and 2010. Using rich longitudinal plant-level data, this paper studies the impact of violent conflict on firms, exploiting this period of heightened violence in Mexico commonly referred to as the Mexican Drug War. The empirical strategy uses spatiotemporal variation in violence across Mexican cities and an instrumental variable strategy that relies on the triggers of the Drug War against potential endogeneity of the violence surge. It controls for observable and unobservable differences across cities and firms as well as for product-specific business cycles. The results show significant negative impact of the surge in violence on plants' output, product scope, employment and capacity utilization. Violence acts as a negative blue-collar labor supply shock, leading to significant increase in skill-intensity within firms. It also deters domestic, but not international, trade. The effect of the violence shock on firms is very heterogeneous, the output effect of violence increases with reliance on local demand, local sourcing and the employment effect of violence is stronger on plants with higher share of intensity of female employment and lower-wage. The results reveal significant distortive effects of the Mexican Drug War on domestic industrial development in Mexico and suggest that the Drug War accounted for the majority of the aggregate decline in manufacturing employment over 2007-2010. Details: Munich: CESifo Working Group, 2018. 75p. Source: Internet Resource: CESifo Working Paper No. 7345: Accessed May 14, 2019 at: http://www.cesifo-group.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp7345.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Cartels Shelf Number: 155835 |
Author: Munoz, Luis Alberto Title: Mxico - Nios y nias con madres y padres encarcelados por delitos de drogas menores no violentos (Mexico - Children with mothers and fathers imprisoned for non-violent minor drug offenses) Summary: Problem Statement Throughout Latin America, drug policies have become tougher. In Mexico, particularly, This topic is extremely relevant. Since 2006, a policy to combat drug trafficking that has left thousands dead and disappeared (Aristegui, 2012). In addition, this policy has had various impacts on penal and penitentiary policy: criminalization of consumption (under legal figures such as "possession with intent to marketing "), mass arrests and convictions, violations of due process, restriction of pre-release benefits, among others. Therefore, this policy increased the number of people deprived of liberty for drug offenses. In this sense, it is estimated that, between December 2006 and December 2014, the population held in federal prisons for crimes against health increased 1,200% (WOLA, 2015). At the same time, there is a lack of public policies to deal with the damage caused by this war. has stopped: from assassinations of people outside the conflict in the clashes against the organized crime, even the helplessness of families that have lost a member this battle, whether by death, disappearance or, as far as this study is concerned, the deprivation of liberty (Pardo, 2016). The increase of persons deprived of liberty for drug offenses is very high, which is why wondering how many of those people are fathers or mothers? and, consequently, how many girls, boys and adolescents with imprisoned parents (NNAPES, from now on) 1 there are these crimes? What impact does deprivation of liberty for drug offenses have on NNAPES? of its significant adult referents ?, what has the State done to reduce or cancel this impact and restore the rights of the NNAPES? These questions served as the basis for the realization of this investigation. Background In Mexico, few investigations show the situation of the NNAPES, even less, when It is about NNAPES who do not live together with their parents in custody. Example of it is that, following up on an investigation prepared according to the Day of General Debate of the Committee on the Rights of the Child that, in 2011, addressed the situation of the NNAPES, the Commission of Human Rights of the City of Mexico issued the General Pronouncement: Rights of children and girls, sons and daughters of parents in prison (2013), which focuses on the boys and girls who are born and They grow up in prison with their mothers. Subsequently, the Mexican civil association Office for the Defense of Children's Rights, Together with the National Institute of Criminal Sciences, he published the book Invisible Prisoners: Sons and Daughters of women in seclusion (Griesbach et al., 2015). This study is based on interviews conducted focus groups of women incarcerated in the Women's Social Rehabilitation Center of Santa Martha Acatitla (Mexico City) who live with their sons and daughters; In addition, the staff was interviewed in charge of their care in said institution. This study focuses on the obligations Details: Church World Service, 2018. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2019 at: http://www.cwslac.org/nnapes-pdd/docs/PDD-Mexico.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Mexico Keywords: Children of Prisoners Shelf Number: 155868 |
Author: Gomez-Ramirez, Oralia Title: "We are Trans Women" " On-Street Sex Work and Transgender Politics in Mexico City Summary: This dissertation is a feminist ethnography about on-street sex work and transgender politics in contemporary Mexico. It focuses on the socioeconomic and symbolic tensions existing between trans activists and trans vendors, mostly of sexual services, in Mexico City. It is based on ethnographic research consisting of participant-observation, formal interviews, informal conversations, and travel companionships with low-income female-gendered transpeople and self-identified trans activists in places of work, homes, social gatherings, and activist events about sexual diversity. The fieldwork for this study was conducted between 2010 and 2011, with shorter research periods spanning 2009 to 2014. The research also draws on bill proposals and official stenographic transcripts of socio-legal discussions held in Mexico City's Legislative Assembly between 2001 and 2013. This study shows that, while not all transpeople are sex workers, a sizeable number of low-income trans women work as sexual labourers on the streets of Mexico City. Trans women have gained increasing visibility in on-street sex trade areas. Impoverished transpeople suffer the symbolic and material expressions of a generalized disrespect and disregard affecting on-street sex workers and low-income female-gendered transpeople. A sexual labour framework is thus critical to understand the ways in which social class and informal on-street vending shape the circumstances, livelihoods, and aspirations of low-income trans women. Their daily realities are shaped but not subsumed or exhausted by gender expressions and subjectivities or sexgender systems alone. A class and labour lens, in addition to a gender lens, is necessary to shed light on the often-overlooked dimensions of socioeconomic standing and employment background that frame the lives of trans activists and trans sex workers. This project applies an intersecting critical trans and sexual labour analysis to understand the socioeconomic concerns and livelihoods of female-gendered transpeople. It contributes to the ethnographies of Mexico by underscoring regional and class diversity in the experiences and circumstances facing Mexicans. Lastly, this work helps refine feminist anthropology by demonstrating the utility of classic concepts to understand shifting intersecting realities and, more broadly, by refusing to conflate trans and sex work issues in Mexico with those found in other contexts. Details: Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia, 2017. 400p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 17, 2019 at: https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0360783 Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Prostitutes Shelf Number: 155898 |
Author: Calderon, Laura Title: Organized Crime and Violence in Baja California Sur Summary: During the last decade, Mexico has witnessed elevated levels of violence, reaching a total of almost 300,000 victims of intentional homicide from 2000 to 2017. Violence, however, is now affecting areas that it did not reach before, turning vacation paradises into hotly contested areas of control for organized crime groups in recent years. Such has been the case of Manzanillo, Cancun, Acapulco, and most recently, the case of Baja California Sur cities, Los Cabos and La Paz, as the state's homicide levels increased by almost 300% in 2017. There is a significant need for objective analysis on the recent surge of violence in these areas in order to properly assess the risks posed both to locals and visitors. This brief examination of recent violence is focused on the western coastal state of Baja California Sur, where the resort cities of La Paz and Los Cabos are located. Overall, this analysis discovered that much of the violence in Baja California Sur is linked to organized crime groups fighting for control of key drug trafficking areas and subsequently reviews the recent efforts by Mexican authorities in addressing the problem. Details: San Diego, California: Justice in Mexico, 2018. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 5, 2019 at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/180216_CALDERON-WP-BCS_v1.1.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 156191 |
Author: Phillips, Brian J. Title: Narco-Messages: Competition and Public Communication by Criminal Groups Summary: Criminal groups often avoid the limelight, shunning publicity. However, in some instances they overtly communicate, such as through banners or signs. We explain the competition dynamics behind public criminal communication, and provide theory and evidence of the conditions under which it emerges. Relying on a new data set of approximately 1,800 banners publicly deployed by Mexican criminal groups from 2007 to 2010, we identify the conditions behind such messaging. The findings suggest that criminal groups "go public" in the presence of interorganizational contestation, violence from authorities, antagonism toward the local media, local demand for drugs, and local drug production. Some of these factors are only associated with communication toward particular audiences rivals, the state, or the public. Interestingly, we find that the correlates of criminal propaganda are sometimes distinct from those of criminal violence, suggesting that these phenomena are explained by separate dynamics. Details: Unpublished paper, 2019. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 6, 2019 at: https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/vrios/files/phillipsrios2019.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Mexico Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 156245 |
Author: Rios Contreras, Viridiana Title: Criminal Groups Speak Out: Information Provision and Competition Among Mexico's Drug Cartels Summary: We question the assumption that criminal organizations avoid the limelight, shunning publicity, and instead provide theory and evidence of the conditions under which violent criminal groups publicly communicate to wide audiences. Relying on a data set of approximately 1,800 banners publicly deployed by Mexican drug cartels from 2008 to 2010, we identify the conditions under which criminal groups decide to communicate overtly with the government, their rivals, and/or citizens. We show that criminal groups "go public" when they face interorganizational contestation, when there is competition over information with the local media, and when there is local demand for drugs. Furthermore, we find that the correlates of criminal public communication are distinct from those of criminal violence, suggesting that these phenomena are explained by separate dynamics. Our paper contributes to developing a more solid understanding of political communication among illegal actors and the informal rules dominating their markets. Details: Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 2017. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 8, 2019 at: https://scholar.harvard.edu/vrios/publications/criminal-groups-speak-out-information-provision-and-competition-among-mexico%E2%80%99s Year: 2017 Country: Mexico Keywords: Criminal Groups Shelf Number: 156257 |
Author: Institute for Economics and Peace Title: Indice de Datos Sobre Homicidios (Data Index About Homicides) Summary: The Homicide Data Index (HDI) 2018 is a first attempt to systematically assess the quality and integrality of homicide data at the level State in Mexico. Based on the standards established in the Bogota Protocol on Quality of the Homicide Data in Latin America and the Caribbean, the index evaluates the data produced by each one of the 32 states of Mexico in relation to several metrics of quality and integrality. As the index like this first report are designed to be a tool to identify opportunities for improvement in the systems of Public safety information at the state level. Two years ago, the Mexico Peace Index (IPM) carried out annually by the Institute for the Economy and Peace (IEP), reported that the state of peace in Mexico was returning to the levels prior to the war on drugs. Reforms to justice and vigilance police established years ago they seemed to give good results and the Violence is diminishing. To the it seems the country was on its way Towards recovery. But nevertheless, in 2017 there was a serious increase in violence, with a national homicide rate that increased 25%, exceeding its point maximum of 2011. With the war against drugs now in its twelfth year, Mexico urgently need a viable and effective plan to End the crisis of violence. But nevertheless, it is still difficult to obtain and analyze information precise about the various events of violence and what That knowledge is required to stop this crisis. Data quality is increasingly important to as the world depends more on information. In the last 25 years, the development of evidence-based public policies has won global momentum, since the systems of modern information allow us to better evaluate the policies and programs, identify risks and unforeseen consequences as well as set connections between policy enforcement public and the desired results. However, the effectiveness of evidence-based public policies depends largely on the quality of said evidence. Good quality data enriches the analysts' work, be they police officers, sociologists or policy makers. The poor quality data exacerbate deficiencies in existing systems. In the case of Mexico, data sets on homicides do not meet standards international established in the Protocol of Bogota, the regional framework for determining quality of the homicide data used as the basis for the index The protocol establishes criteria technicians and provides a frame of reference for the government and the institutions that produce data Homicide officers. This report, a first step to implement the protocol in Mexico, presents the results of an evaluation of data produced by security systems Statewide public. Even though Mexico has some mechanisms to facilitate the transparency and analysis based on evidence, this report highlights areas significant improvement both at the level State as federal.The HDI is designed to provide a reference for state governments, provide a accountability tool for civil society and ultimately instance, improve the development of more effective, evidence-based public policies. The quality and accuracy of homicide data varies from one state to another as a result of the system of federalized government While the federal database on crimes requires that all states send basic numbers, statewide data is an opportunity to collect and analyze information Specific about local challenges. The results of This report evidences the need for improvement significant across the country: no state got a rating higher than 6.5 out of 10 in the index. To improve, most states can make simple changes to the information that collect and publish On average, the states collect nine of the 23 details of information necessary to obtain high quality data on the homicides Also, 17 states reported that only collect three of the required indicators for the federal database on crimes in Mexico. Some simple records, such as precise location of the criminal event, they can achieve an improvement significant in the usefulness of the data. The HDI is composed of five categories that group 43 indicators based on the Protocol of Bogota It is likely that the categories of transparency and detail of the information are the areas easier to improve, especially with the use of some simple tools for registration in the databases. The improvements in the category definition probably require changes in regulations, policies or statutes. However, the incoming administrations have a chance policy of making significant improvements in their public security systems. Improvements in data quality and convergence between sources will require careful analysis of the possible failures of information systems. Few states demonstrate a high level of integrality of the data, even when meeting the standards set for some indicators, some states may lacking others These disparities in quality suggest the absence of a robust system to identify and record all associated details with a homicide case. Furthermore, if ok the gap has been reducing the discrepancies between the number of victims counted from of death certificates and the number of victims registered in the criminal investigations suggest that everyone is not being investigated the homicides Discrepancies with the data of the systems of Health can be a sign of impunity, corruption or both. However, deficiencies in the registry and investigation of each of the deaths also they can be a result of lack of capacity: without enough highly trained cops, forensic investigators and data analysts, which neither do they have the tools and technology that they require, state governments can be seen overtaken by the homicide epidemic. Additionally, the prevalence of disappearances and clandestine graves in Mexico only complicates the trouble. The evaluation of data quality on homicides exposes the existence of failures in the system that need to be identified and addressed. The Bogota Protocol recommends that governments establish an agency to develop and review the data collection methodologies and victim-victim case verification in all state agencies. A formed committee properly, including leaders and experts from civil society and the academic sector, can help identify specific system failures at the state level and propose local solutions to challenges of each state. The governments of Mexico they can benefit not only by making references crusades among the victims found in the health system records and folders research but also when comparing them against Prosecutor's records, to begin addressing the high rates of impunity facing the country. Ultimately, develop an infrastructure of modern information is a step towards professionalization of security systems Public of Mexico. The principles and benefits of a good data management can be leveraged by the police departments, the processes judicial, health systems and institutions of human rights, including care agencies of cases of missing persons. A better understanding of criminal phenomena, particularly of homicides, could even favor the design of social policy at the local level, attending and preventing more effectively the factors that cause. High quality data benefits both to the institutions that They produce like society in general. If of law enforcement and public safety, the Homicide data improves the ability of the police and judicial officials to investigate and process cases. The collaboration with researchers must support the development of techniques effective while publishing information complete and accurate public builds trust between the population. Finally, the institutions are strengthened and acquire legitimacy in the eyes of citizens when they are transparent and responsible. In this meaning, the current transition in Mexico opens the possibility of developing better capabilities institutional and build an information system robust to serve as a basis for a peace administration. Details: S.L.: Institute for Economics and Peace, 2018. 36p. Source: Internet Resource (in Spanish): Accessed August 21, 2019 at: http://economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Indice-de-Datos-sobre-Homicidios-2018.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Homicides Shelf Number: 157035 |
Author: Grajales, Ana Title: Anatomy of Urban Corruption: A Review of Official Corruption Complaints from a Mexican City Summary: The people who partake in corruption have an incentive to hide their illicit behavior. This represents a strategic challenge to law enforcement officials across Latin American cities. A related concern is that formal claims submitted to a city's anti-corruption agency are seldom analyzed in a systematic manner. We respond to these challenges by examining a unique (and anonymized) dataset containing 445 claims collected by an urban district government in central Mexico. First, we propose a novel typology of urban corruption, which can later be applied to analyze corruption-related claims elsewhere. As a next step, we apply this typology to study the claims submitted to the district government in question. Large agencies and the agencies responsible for regulating the construction sector are found to be most vulnerable to corruption. The district as a whole also comes across as lacking in transparency and as struggling with bribery and kickback schemes. Details: Houston, Texas: Baker Institute for Public Policy, 2018. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 1, 2019 at: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/anatomy-urban-corruption-review-official-corruption-complaints-mexican-city/ Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Bribery Shelf Number: 157083 |
Author: Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia (Mexico) Title: Encuesta Nacional de Victimizacion de Empresas (ENVE) 2018: Principales Resultados (National Survey of Victimization of Companies 2018: Main Results) Summary: The National Survey of Victimization of Companies (ENVE) is part of the projects promoted by the National Subsystem of Government Information, Public Security and Impartition of Justice (SNIGSPIJ), coordinated by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). With the ENVE 2018, the topics addressed in the previous edition of the survey are continued. Details: Aguascalientes City, Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Estadica y Geografia, 2019. 43p. Source: Internet Resource (in Spanish): Accessed September 3, 2019 at: https://www.inegi.org.mx/programas/enve/2018/ Year: 2018 Country: Mexico Keywords: Crime Statistics Shelf Number: 158115 |