With the election
campaign for our next president in full swing, recent events are calling
attention to the badly needed reform of the rule of law in México. As it is,
only one candidate has even mentioned the subject in his platform.
Bringing this up is the case of respected journalist, Lydia Cacho, who
published a book detailing organized pedophilia in México. It should also be
noted that México is now on the bottom of the "tier two" group in the world
listing by the US State Department covering the sex slavery trade. In the list
of tier three (the worst rating) countries are Cuba, China and Venezuela.
México is just short of that with an estimate of 20,000 children victims in
the sex slavery racket. This is children, my friends, and does not consider
women trapped into the sex slavery. Additionally, it is an international
business.
In Cacho's book, she tells of the case of a man in the US, now awaiting
extradition to México accused of running a pedophilia ring in a gulf coast
state. The accused is also a known close acquaintance of an important
manufacturer in a central state of México, widely known for his power, and
also mentioned in Cacho’s book. The manufacturer is a close friend with the
governor of that state. What happened next was revealed in a tape of an
illegal telephone tap conversation between the two. Leaked telephone
conversations and videos of corrupt practices have become common in Mexico.
Like the others, the taped conversation was leaked to the Mexican press.
In the tape the manufacturer is heard asking the governor to "teach Cacho
a lesson". Subsequently, police from the central state were dispatched to the
gulf state wherein Cacho was arrested, placed in a squad car and driven 1,000
miles to the central state where she was (temporarily) imprisoned.
Reputedly, it had also been arranged to have Cacho raped in jail
immediately upon her internment. Fortunately, that last part of the revenge
plot failed because of a tip off. These charges are criminal offenses under
Mexican law. And while libel requires untruthful accusations, defamation in
México does not seem to require an untruth element. First the governor denied
that the taped conversation was real. Then he took the position that he "was
misinterpreted". A nice piece of spin.
How does the Mexican legal system work? First, Cacho is presumed to be guilty
and has to prove her innocence. Backward from the civilized world in which
innocence is presumed. The governor seems to have broken a number of laws
including crossing state lines without an extradition process to make the
arrest. But elected politicians in México are immune from any prosecution as
long as they hold office. Even conducting an investigation of a politician is
very difficult if not impossible.
There was a case of a sitting politician involved in "Pemexgate" a political
scandal who was finally extradited from the US and returned to México. As a
sitting representative in congress, he was immune. And he has been able to
continue in one office or another ever since. In congress, each party has a
number of "proportional" seats that are assigned directly by the parties based
on their proportion of the total seats. The voters have nothing to do with
this and those "proportional" members are beholding only to the party, not the
people. So, what we have is a political class that is in fact totally immune
from the rule of law. We also have a wealthy class who can simply purchase the
law.
In the Cacho tape case, the manufacturer offered two bottles of fine
liquor to the governor for helping out. Few think this was the end of the
payment for "favors".
Cacho’s libel charge against her were dropped, but the defamation charge
is still pending. She is free on bail, but nothing has been done about the
pedophilia operation that she wrote about. The sex continues.
But what can be expected of a legal system that conducts secret trials
and places the responsibility of proving innocence on the accused? A system
that does not accept oral testimony in court. We have a saying here that if
you steal a ride on the metro, you have a better chance of going to jail than
if you steal a million dollars. It is only in a few northern states that open
trials with oral testimony have been started at the local level.
We were also promised by the present administration that the infamous
"dirty war" of the 60's would finally be investigated and the perpetrators
would be punished to the "full extent of the law". What a joke! Even with
leaked evidence and documentation against still living members of the
government of that time floating about, nothing has yet to happen. Not only
does this evidence describe the "disappearances" of many and the total
annihilation of entire villages; the evidence describes organized rapes of
family members of "suspects" that were forced to watch in order to get
"confessions". But no convictions are even expected.
This is to say nothing of the decade old sex related slayings of about
400 young women in Juárez that remain unsolved. The latest on this is that
while activists list over 4,000 missing women in that time period, the local
authorities say that only less than 50 are actually missing. If you believe
it.
By the way, another prominent investigative reporter (Isabel Arvide) has
just been convicted of libel for revealing dope gang ties to a former governor
of a northern state. Lucky for her, the one-year jail sentence was suspended.
She did have to pay a fine of $19,000 USD, but she is free.
The sad part about all of this is that even after we have a new
president, he will certainly face a congress in which no one party holds a
true majority. And regardless of what this new president might want to do
about the condition of the rule of law in México, those in power will protect
themselves big time.
As a writer in the Dallas Morning News said, "Unfortunately, corruption
seems to be in the Mexican DNA."
To those readers who note that few names are used here, I can only reply
that my Mama didn't raise fools.
_____________________________________
Richard N. Baldwin T., a HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/)
contributing columnist, lives in Tlalnepantla, Edo de México. E-mail at:
R1041643422@aol.com
By
Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.com