An Uphill Battle Against Police Corruption in Mexico

Mexican public safety chief, Genaro Garcia Luna, is finding out right now just how difficult it is to “reverse a legacy of police corruption that has tainted whole departments, shattered people's faith in law enforcement and compromised one of society's most basic institutions.” This according to an LA Times report this morning focused on the Mexican police reform initiative, which, among other things, includes better screening and training for potential law enforcement agents. The new police model emphasizes “technical sophistication and trustworthiness,” says the LAT’s Ken Ellingwood, while treating police work as “a professional career, not a fallback job.” Rigorous background checks are for the first time being conducted on new recruits--frequently including polygraph tests and investigations of credit/bank accounts. “It will be a long, uphill struggle to create a law enforcement system that can confront crime and gain the trust of ordinary Mexicans,” says the paper. According to one more pessimistic U.S. law enforcement official “If you don't have a safe environment to conduct investigations, then it's going to be extremely difficult to capture the narcos. If you have state police that are corrupt and constantly feeding your movements, investigative movements, to the bad guys, you're not going to get anywhere.” In the words of Guillermo Zepeda, a citizen security expert at Mexico City’s Center for Research and Development, there continues to be “a disorganized police fighting against organized crime.”

As it currently stands, more than 13,800 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon declared a war on the drug cartels three years ago. Under the current plan being implemented by Garcia Luna, the federal police force in Mexico has grown to 32,264 officers, up from about 25,000 a year ago. For its part, the U.S. continues to support the professionalization of Mexican security forces by lending Mexico police instructors as part of the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative aid package. But the more difficult challenge still lies at the state and city level, where the vast majority of police in Mexico are employed (more than 370,000 officers). According to the LAT, in the last two years, the federal government has relied on budget incentives to slowly “prod” local departments to vet officer candidates and boost salaries—frequently as low as $90 per week.

Around the region this morning:

· In the Miami Herald this morning, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA) co-author an opinion saying it’s time for the United States to end the Cuba travel ban. “Legislation to abolish restrictions on travel to Cuba has been introduced in both chambers of Congress,” the two write. “And on Thursday the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing examining the rationale for the travel ban.” They go on: “This ban has prevented contact between Cubans and ordinary Americans, who serve as ambassadors for the democratic values we hold dear. Such contact would help break Havana's chokehold on information about the outside world. And it would contribute to improving the image of the United States, particularly in Latin America, where the U.S. embargo on Cuba remains a centerpiece of anti-Washington grievances.” At the Huffington Post, Steve Clemons, publisher of The Washington Note, comments on the Lugar/Berman op-ed: “The Lugar-Berman piece reflects a sensible bipartisan realism about the fact that five decades of an embargo have dramatically hurt US interests and have only perpetuated a dysfunctional status quo in US-Cuba relations.” And, also on Cuba this morning, a new International Republican Institute poll finds that 4 out of 5 Cubans are currently unhappy with the direction of their country.

· An interesting migration piece from Reuters says an increasing number of African immigrants are arriving in Latin America as European countries tighten border controls. The mode of passage is most frequently the stowage of commercial cargo ships, heading for places like Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, and Brazil. In Brazil, in fact, Africans are now the largest refugee group making up 65 percent of all asylum seekers.

· For the latest on Colombia-Venezuela border tensions, I recommend Boz’s round-up this morning which touches on two other issues of interest as well: 1. The presence of Venezuelan military advisers around the region (particularly in Paraguay where their presence is being questioned by the opposition) and 2. Continued U.S.-Ecuador military cooperation after Manta. Also, the AP writes that Venezuelan military officials contend that Colombia wrongly detained four Venezuelans accused of crossing illegally into Colombian territory last week. The four were sent home by the Colombian government over the weekend.

· The Latin America Working Group highlights a Dear Colleague Letter on U.S. Colombia assistance currently circulating in the House. The letters four primary authors are Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts), Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois), Donald Payne (D-New Jersey) and Mike Honda (D-California). As the LAWG writes: “Echoing what we have been saying for a long time, [the letter] demands a cut in military aid and an increase in support for victims and those who are working for peace and justice in Colombia. It also calls for an end to harmful and ineffective aerial fumigations, investing instead in drug treatment in the United States.”

· Finally this morning, a quick recap of some new poll numbers in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Chile. An IVAD survey in Venezuela shows public security continues to be far and away the most pressing concern for Venezuelans (80.2%) while 80.6% also argue that Venezuela should be spending less of its money abroad. Ahead of Dec. 6 Bolivian elections, most recent survey numbers still show President Evo Morales sailing to an easy victory with 52% support. His nearest rival remains former Cochabamba mayor, Manfred Reyes Villa who is currently polling at just 22% support. As AFP reports this morning, the President’s MAS party now has its eyes set on trying to also secure an absolute majority in the Senate. And in Chile, conservative business mogul, Sebastian Pinera continues to lead Concertacion’s Eduardo Frei and independent Marco Enriquez Ominami with 37.8% of the expected vote. Frei is in a distant second with 27% and the young Ominami is at just over 22%. In a likely second round, however, Pinera’s lead narrows to just a couple of percentage points over either or his potential rivals.