U.S. Shifts Mexico Drug Fight
Military Aid Plummets as Washington Turns Focus to Bolstering Legal System
nicholas.casey@wsj.com
MEXICO CITY—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets her Mexican counterparts at a security summit in Washington Tuesday to discuss the next phase in
the drug war: how to train the judges and prosecutors that will be trying suspected drug lords.
The Merida Initiative, the U.S.'s $1.9 billion assistance program to Mexico, began mostly as a means to buy military hardware like Black Hawk
helicopters for Mexico. But over the past two years, it has entered a new phase, in which purchases for the Mexican military are taking a back seat to
measures to mend the branches of Mexico's civilian government.
The former director of Colorado's penitentiary system has trained more than 5,000 Mexican prison officials in recent years. Mexican jurists are
running mock trials with visiting American judges to prepare for a transition to oral hearings that will replace Mexico's enigmatic closed-door
meetings where sentences are handed down.
"Different things have come to the fore at different times, but strengthening the rule of law in Mexico is the area that's crucial right now," says
Roberta Jacobson, the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.
Officials in both countries increasingly believe the root of Mexico's problem lies in creating an honest police force, professional judges and
a prison system comparable with that in the U.S
The challenges are harder to measure but will take center stage at the so-called High-Level Consultative Group on Tuesday, where Mrs. Clinton will be
joined by Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, Attorney General Eric Holder and top officials from Mexican President Felipe Calderón's cabinet.
The two sides will also discuss topics ranging from border security to seizing assets of drug cartel members in the U.S.
"Our efforts to confront transnational crime on both sides of the border benefited from a clear understanding that we had to multitask," says Mexican
Ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhán.
While Mexico has had success at catching criminals, it's had less luck in putting them behind bars—the country has a meager 2% conviction rate for
most crimes. A new test came just last week with the capture of Jorge "El Coss" Costilla, the alleged boss of Mexico's powerful Gulf Cartel. He is the
23rd in Mexico's "37 Most Wanted" list to have either been killed or captured under Mr. Calderón; after six years of fighting, the original heads of
Mexico's drug gangs are mostly gone.
That reality is being reflected in how U.S. aid is being spent in Mexico. Assistance to the Mexican military has nearly collapsed, with
counternarcotics and security aid falling from a height of around $529 million in 2010 to $67.5 million planned for next year.
Meanwhile money meant for strengthening institutions from law schools to prisons doubled in the last year, to $201.8 this year from $105 million in
2011.
Training Mexico to handle its own struggle could be more cost-effective for the U.S.—total aid this year to Mexico is at $330 million, less than half
its number 2010—in large part because training police and prosecutors is less expensive than financing a military with big purchases like helicopters.
One example both sides are touting has to do with Mexico's courts, which are undergoing a radical overhaul. Unlike the U.S., most trials in Mexico
take place in closed proceedings where judges aren't present nor even meet the defendant. Attorneys and witnesses gather in a cubicle where a clerk
takes notes and prepares a file, later sent to the judge for a decision. There are no juries.
In 2008, Mexico's congress approved a change to have trials be conducted orally—with attorneys arguing in an open courtroom before a judge—with a
complete rollout by 2016. The overhaul is hoped to boost conviction rates and guarantee fair trials.
Since the new system will be similar to the way trials are conducted in the U.S., the government has sent legal experts to train their Mexican
counterparts in everything from witness protection to plea bargaining. So far more than 7,500 Mexican judicial personnel have received U.S. training
at the federal level, and more than 19,000 at the state level.
A delegation from the U.S. Supreme Court met with Mexican judges in taking oral testimony, a first in Mexico. Members of the U.S. Bar Association are
training lawyers.
"There was a skepticism that Mexican judges had coming into this, for this new role, but now they have enthusiasm," says John Feeley, principal deputy
assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere. "Judges are going to be the linchpin in this."
Another key area is the Mexican police. Experts believe most drug-related crime in Mexico is never reported because the populace mistrusts the police.
Such problems were on full view last month when members of the Federal Police wounded two U.S. government employees after opening fire on their car in
the hills outside of Mexico City. The police say they mistook the car for that of fugitive kidnappers they were looking for.
The U.S. is trying to avoid incidents like that in the future by taking a hand in training the police themselves.
A Mexican police academy in the central state of San Luis Potosí is now partially staffed by American law enforcement agents who have trained more
than 4,500 federal police. Mr. Feeley says the program is being expanded to develop similar academies that will work with state and local police in
other Mexican states. Spanish-speaking U.S. agents from border states now work with the Mexicans and the U.S. even hired the former director of
Colorado's state penitentiary system to give classes to Mexican corrections officers.
Still, both the U.S. and Mexico agree that no amount of training will solve crime problems if corruption remains in institutions such as the police
and judiciary.
Despite the collaboration, one reality can't be avoided when the leaders meet Tuesday: Mexico still has a long way to go in this second phase of the
drug war.
Eric L. Olson, a Mexico expert at Washington think-tank the Wilson Center went to an oral trial in Morelos, one of the first adopters of the new
system, and says the hearings reached an awkward moment where a judge was scolding the attorneys for wanting to read from sheets rather than argue
properly.
Mr. Olson says the proceedings were a step in the right direction, even if there are missteps. Still, he says: "Both sides have always had difficulty
defining what the criteria for success are," he says. "That has not happened yet."DavidE - 10-1-2012 at 10:31 AM
Drugs are but one component of the problem. Drug money is stupendous but gangs are also relying on kidnapping, extortion, and area franchise fees for
burglars and robbers.
I have a stupendous lack of sympathy for young Mexican men and women who decide to join a violent gang, and even less for greedy, selfish, swine in
the USA who could care less who their contributions kill in Mexico. Both factions are utterly corrupt and contemptible.bacquito - 10-1-2012 at 02:47 PM
My opinion is that Mexico has changed alot in recent years. It wants to be recognized as a progressive county free of corruption. It knows that many
countries-including the USA think that Mexico police and the judicial system are corrupt.Mexico wants to change this is image and I believe this will
happen..
Thanks for the report iflyfish.Bajajorge - 10-6-2012 at 09:16 AM
The PRI is coming back into power. Hang on to your burros. Mordida and big time corruption can't be far behind. Sad to say.toneart - 10-6-2012 at 01:47 PM
I don't understand why there is a market for Mexican Marijuana. The pot that is grown in California and British Columbia is so much more plentiful,
powerful and accessible. Who is the customer for Mexican cartel Marijuana? DENNIS - 10-6-2012 at 02:15 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by toneart
Who is the customer for Mexican cartel Marijuana?
Street trash who will patronize gang-bangers.DavidE - 10-6-2012 at 06:25 PM
You can spot 'em driving all the way across town to save a nickel a gallon on gasoline. Cheap drugs at any cost. Mexican pot outsells US pot by maybe
50 to 1 in tonnage. Not a word spoken on the street about the evils of financing death in México. They're too busy yapping about the evils of Wall
Street and the CIA.WideAngleWandering - 10-7-2012 at 02:03 PM
Mexican brick weed is cheap. Good California weed is pricey. What that has to do with Wall Street or the CIA, I dunno. It's a matter of personal
finance.
