By Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.com

   November 24, 2006

  From Mexico
   

Structural Reform 

By Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.com

       Increasingly, we are noting news items that point to the critical need of structural reforms in México. The last administration spoke of this, but met with little success of doing anything real about it. First, we must realize that most of the institutions in México were devised to work well for a one party "perfect dictatorship" that characterized the "old México". Today, I am addressing a set of reforms that is generally toward the bottom of the agenda list of the incoming administration; namely legal and law enforcement reform. And it is probably down on the list because that will prove to be the most difficult set of reforms to accomplish.

     Two "hot button" cases are in the forefront now in the local news: San Salvador Atenco and Oaxaca.

     Back in May, this column documented what was, in effect, a police run rape and pillage event in San Salvador Atenco, a small hard scrabble town north of the City of México. At the time, the top police official of the state of México (that controlled the police) commented that "These reports are phony reports of those that try to make the police look bad". But, believe me, the police don't need any help in making them look bad.

     In the middle of October, the Mexican Human Rights Commission issued their report on this incident. Note that this is the Mexican Federal government's report, by the commission who is an autonomous agency of the federal government. Unfortunately, they have no real enforcement powers though. The following is a brief summary of that report:

     Federal, State and local police caused 207 acts of cruel, inhuman treatment. 145 people arbitrarily arrested in their own homes. Five foreigners violently detained (who had nothing to do with the demonstrations) and were "irregularly" deported. Those arrested were tortured, received beatings, death threats and many were sexually assaulted. Twenty-six women reported sexual assaults.

     In one incident that was witnessed, a woman was reporting that she had been raped by police at the local police station. A supervisor saw the report, still being typed, and ripped it out and threw it away in front of the woman. A news picture showed a student from Chile, legally in México, almost falling out of a police wagon. It is quite obvious from the picture that she had either been raped or at least "power groped". They kept her quiet by illegal deportation.

     Many incidents of outright pillage of homes by police reported.

     The sad part is that there is no real legal process in México to prosecute any of the officials that are responsible for this travesty. Remember that elected officials here are practically "immune" to any prosecution while in office. The report also stated that the police were authorized to beat those that they captured. One assumes that an occasional rape or two is implicitly authorized also.

     Of course, if any of the victims would file formal complaints, they will probably be arrested on trumped up charges. And under the Mexican legal process, you are presumed guilty as charged; it is up to you to defend yourself. You can wait years in jail for your case to even come up. It is noteworthy that France, the inventor of the Mexican legal system (the Napoleonic code law), has ended this ridiculous quirk in their legal code.

      Also in the news is the Oaxaca mess. What started out to be a strike by the teachers in that state for higher wages quickly degenerated into actual civil war after the typical heavy handed police action to break up a demonstration, killing one and beating many. Then, a raft of radicals, dissidents and outright anarchists joined it. Violence begets violence. Their firm demand is that the sitting governor be removed. But it is only the federal Senate that can remove the governor if there is "proof" that the state government is "dysfunctional". The Senate committee voted against removal of the governor saying that it was, in fact, impossible; but did "suggest" that the governor resign. Fat chance on that. And the rioting, killings and destruction of government offices in the capitol, Oaxaca City, continues. If this is not a dysfunctional government, I don't know what is.

     Of course, what we have here is a system of law that exists to protect itself and the politicians that are responsible for it. And how are you going to get real reform passed by those same politicians that will remove the impunity that they enjoy?

     And as lawyer Juan de Dios Hernandez points out, "Despite the litany of clear-cut abuses and violations, there is no obligation on Mexican authorities to act . . . and no mechanism to enforce them".
     This reform belongs on top of the needed reforms list, Mr. Calderón.
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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