OverviewThe Mexico Project analyses the range of issues that impact the bilateral relationship and Mexico's progress toward accountable, democratic government. These issues include but are not limited to: the increasing integration of the U.S. and Mexican economies, Mexico's continuing democratization process, border security, immigration policy, U.S.-Mexico counter-narcotic cooperation efforts, sustainable development in the border region, and the Mexican executive and legislative branches' capacity to govern.
Highlights and NewsOCTOBER 2008A series of riots in prisons across Mexico over the last two months points toward a crisis in the country's penitentiary system. Highlighting persistent problems related to overcrowding, faulty infrastructure, and internal corruption, the uprisings at facilities in the states of Sinaloa, Baja California, Nuevo León, Tabasco, Zacatecas, and Tamaulipas have left more than 60 prisoners dead, with dozens wounded. During the confrontations, inmates faced off with guards and police using arms smuggled into the facilities or by setting fire to mattresses and other combustible articles. Authorities responded to the September 13 riot at Tijuana's La Mesa prison, said to be 200 percent over capacity, by ceasing food and potable water deliveries to prisoners, who instead unleashed a fresh wave of violence within the women's section three days later. Military units were deployed to control unrest at the Topo Chico facility in Nuevo León in early October. At the overcrowded penitentiary in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, 16 were killed during a 12-hour confrontation with state and federal police as well as soldiers on October 20. Directors at La Mesa and the Reynosa prison, from which 17 inmates had escaped two weeks earlier, have been removed from their posts as officials grapple with the many problems afflicting the 439 local, state, and federal institutions composing the nation's penitentiary system. Law enforcement analysts attribute the increasing levels of violence within Mexican prisons to the government's crackdown on narco-traffickers, saying that the incarceration of hitmen and militants from rival drug gangs has led to fierce struggles over internal control within prison walls. Some prisoners incarcerated for lesser crimes protest the presence of the drug traffickers in shared facilities, while others complain about abuses by guards and express discontent regarding inadequate food services and sanitary conditions. To contain the spread of violence within correctional centers and to prevent its spread from prison to prison, some advocates argue that inmates convicted of drug trafficking should be separated from the regular prison population. One idea floated in late 2007 is the conversion of the Islas Marías penal colony, a remote facility located off Mexico's Pacific coast and originally established in 1905 to alleviate overcrowding of mainland prisons, into an exclusive penitentiary for those convicted of narcotrafficking. Separately, at the end of September, President Felipe Calderón proposed a series of changes to the Federal Penal Code, the General Health Act, and the Federal Code on Criminal Procedures to distinguish between criminals and addicts in the war on drugs, promoting health services for those arrested with small amounts of drugs for personal use while stiffening penalties for drug dealers and traffickers. Meanwhile, in late October government officials, academics and penal reform advocates concluded a three-day international conference in Mexico City during which they discussed the implementation of reforms to the penal system. Katherine E. Bliss
Mexico has agreed to deport Cubans who illegally enter the country in order to travel to and seek asylum in the United States. On October 20 Mexican foreign secretary Patricia Espinosa and Cuba's foreign minister Felipe Pérez Roque met in Mexico City to sign a memorandum of understanding under which Mexico will return to Cuba illegal migrants who arrive by boat or enter the country from Central America and then journey north. Referring to concerns over violence associated with smugglers who transport would-be migrants from Cuba through Mexico and to the United States, a declaration accompanying the agreement explained that the two countries will facilitate the legal flow of people between them as they work to protect the human rights of illegal migrants, who frequently suffer physical abuse, robbery and exploitation at the hands of the traffickers. Through a working group on migration and consular issues, the two countries will exchange information related to illegal migration, while the Mexican Navy and the Cuban agencies responsible for border protection will bolster cooperation related to inspecting maritime vessels suspected to be involved in migrant smuggling. The deportations are scheduled to start in late November. During his three-day visit, Pérez Roque met with Federal District Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, with National Action Party (PAN) congressional leadership, and with President Felipe Calderón, whom he invited to visit Cuba in 2009. Pérez Roque's meeting with Calderón represents the highest-level visit between the two countries since 2002, when former Mexican president Vicente Fox (2000—2006) visited the island. Mexico and Cuba have historically enjoyed close relations, which leaders have attributed to the neighbors' shared revolutionary heritage and adherence to the principle of non-intervention in other countries' internal affairs. However, Fox's decision to meet with political dissidents while in Cuba, and Mexico's subsequent votes at the UN Human Rights Commission in favor of resolutions calling for examination of human rights in Cuba, led to tensions, which culminated in Fox's recall of Mexico's ambassador to Cuba and expulsion of Cuba's ambassador to Mexico in 2004. The countries repaired their diplomatic ties later that year, but relations had remained lukewarm. The agreement with Cuba is the first migration accord that Mexico has signed as a recipient or transit country. In recent years, the number of Cubans traveling through Mexico to reach the United States has risen, as strengthened surveillance by the U.S. Coast Guard has made Cuban migrants' traditional water route to southern Florida more difficult. Since 1966 the U.S. Cuban Adjustment Act (CCA) has granted most Cubans who reach U.S. soil residency after one year. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that more than 11,000 Cuban migrants reached the United States from Mexico in 2007. Katherine E. Bliss
SEPTEMBER 2008Following a month dominated by news of high-profile murders in states across Mexico, on September 30 President Felipe Calderón presented a broad security bill to Congress in an effort to intensify the country's war on crime. The bill is designed to reduce police corruption and facilitate communication among law enforcement agencies. It is one of a series of measures the Calderón administration has taken to improve the apprehension, prosecution and conviction of criminals in Mexico, where drug traffickers have escalated attacks against public officials and rival groups in recent months. On August 21 the government unveiled the Acuerdo Nacional por la Seguridad, la Justicia y la Legalidad, which outlines roles for federal, state, and local government agencies, the police, and civil society in promoting a Mexican culture of law. But although the government also has dispatched several thousand police and soldiers to hotspots to fight the drug traffickers, citizens remain worried over kidnappings, carjackings and violent assaults. Thousands participated in marches across Mexico on August 30, calling for authorities to fulfill promises to hold biannual assessments of the national effort to combat delinquency and to remove officials who do not produce results. Following an assessment of accomplishments during the Acuerdo's first month, on September 19 the Consejo Nacional por la Seguridad approved plans for a national strategy against kidnapping. As debate on the proposed security legislation moves forward, civil society groups continue to press for enhanced participation in the fight against delinquency. The August 30 march was the second to focus on security issues in recent years. In 2004 civil society groups organized demonstrations to highlight security concerns in Mexico, with then-President Vicente Fox agreeing to ten measures to fight crime and violence in the country. But many who joined the event on August 30 said that the government had not done enough to control crime in Mexico since the 2004 agreements. Shortly after the marches France announced that it was finalizing an agreement to provide Mexico with police training and information exchange in order to improve the security situation in the country. And organizers of the marches reported that meetings with President Calderón have advanced plans to establish a state-funded but autonomous entity that will facilitate civil society participation in the fight against delinquency. Citizen participation, bilateral agreements, and plans for regional technical cooperation through the Mérida Initiative may contribute to a more comprehensive cure for Mexico's current violence epidemic. With 80 percent of those recently polled reporting that they or someone they know has been a victim of crime over the past year, expectations are high. Katherine E. Bliss
On August 28, Mexico's Supreme Court upheld a Federal District abortion law that allows women to have an abortion for any reason during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The court's eight to three decision comes more than a year after Mexico City's legislature passed the original law on April 24, 2007. After the law was initially passed, the federal attorney general's office and Mexico's human rights commission filed a formal objection, citing that the prohibition of the death penalty in the constitution extended to the rights of unborn children. In accordance with the Federal District Law, the procedure currently is provided to women free of charge at city hospitals and clinics, while private hospitals are required to offer the service but may charge a fee. However, doctors with ethical or religious objections are not required to perform the procedure. Since the Mexico City legislature, dominated by the Leftist Partido de la Revolución Democratica (PRD), passed the original law, 14 public hospitals have performed 12,500 free abortions, mainly to poor women. Because the service is available to all Mexican women and not just Federal District residents, women from different states are traveling to the capital for the service. The original law was a landmark decision in this heavily Catholic country as well as in Latin America as a whole. Now, apart from Cuba, Guyana, and Puerto Rico, Mexico City is the largest entity in the region to allow abortion on demand in the first trimester. The Supreme Court's ruling is final. Implementation of the law, even before the court's ruling, has not been without problems, however. Some 85 percent of gynecologists in public hospitals have refused to provide the service, leaving only 35 doctors who offer the procedure in public facilities. Women seeking the procedure have complained about crowded public hospitals and hostile doctors. Wealthier patients, citing distrust in the public health system, still prefer private clinics, places where clandestine abortions for those who could pay have occurred for years. Nevertheless, the ruling may set a precedent, allowing state legislatures to follow the Federal District's example. While all states currently allow abortion in the case of rape, only Yucatán has further exceptions, allowing women living in poverty to access the service. Because the fate of abortion laws lies at the state and not federal level in penal law, the ruling could affect the status of women's rights across the country as other legislatures follow Mexico City's example. Cassia Roth
JULY 2008Mexico will focus world attention on the public health goal of ensuring universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support by 2010 as it hosts the 17th International AIDS Conference, also known as AIDS 2008. Between August 3 and August 8, more than 21,000 scientists, advocates, and policymakers from around the world will gather at Centro Banamex in Mexico City to review progress toward ensuring access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care services and to discuss strategies for reducing discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. This year's meeting will be the first of 17 international AIDS conferences to be held in Latin America, and regional experts will gather to share research and plan education and outreach. Prior to the meetings, ministers of health and education convened for the first time to focus on ways to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS in Latin America and the Caribbean and agreed to a declaration of commitment to the incorporation of sexual education into national HIV/AIDS prevention activities. Although inadequately funded and weak health systems in the region make surveillance a challenge, adult HIV-prevalence rates are generally low compared to those in the hardest-hit African countries. Historically, the Caribbean has had the highest prevalence, with rates above 1 percent in several Caribbean countries; in Haiti, adult prevalence stands at 3.8 percent, the highest rate in the hemisphere. Overall, the Americas are making progress in reaching patients who need access to treatment options. The recently released UNAIDS 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic notes that among low- and middle-income countries, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, and Cuba are close to achieving universal access to antiretroviral treatment. While UNAIDS estimates that the regional epidemic is stabilizing, the concentration of HIV infections among sex workers, men who have sex with men, prisoners, and injecting drug users signals the importance of enhanced outreach and education to at-risk populations, a key theme at the conference. In Central America, rising rates of syphilis suggest that bolstering surveillance for a wide range of sexually transmitted infections may be an important way to confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Among the issues participants at AIDS 2008 will discuss is the extent to which addressing HIV/AIDS can also help strengthen health system performance and reduce social inequality. Katherine E. Bliss
JUNE 2008
On June 17, President Felipe Calderón of Mexico signed legislation designed to overhaul Mexico's justice system. Among the most significant changes, defendants will be presumed innocent until proven guilty and criminal cases will be conducted in oral trials, similar to U.S. trials. This will replace the current system where criminal cases are processed through written briefs, judges decide verdicts behind closed doors, and suspects can be held on presumption of guilt. Another change according to the new law will allow local and state police to conduct organized crime investigations. Previously, this was a task only for federal police. In addition, authorities will be given the power to seize property where crimes have been committed and hold organized crime suspects for up to 80 days without filing charges. The reforms were approved by Mexico's Congress earlier this year; however, a provision to permit warrantless searches was removed before legislation was signed. The reforms are expected to be carried out over the next eight years and will cost approximately $2 billion. Mexico will use the time and money to train lawyers, judges, and law enforcement on the police and criminal procedure reforms as well as restructure courtrooms across the country in preparation for oral trials. The legislation marks an important step toward improving transparency and efficiency in Mexico's legal system and will bring it more in line with modern standards of jurisprudence. Still, human rights groups have raised concerns about holding suspects for up to 80 days without charges, a situation that they worry could lead to abuse. Abusive treatment of jailed suspects, however, already exists in practice in many parts of the country. The reforms also represent a political victory for Calderón, who successfully passed the legislation through an opposition-controlled Congress. Attempts at similar legislation failed in the two preceding administrations. Calderón expects the legal reforms to aid in his war on drugs by giving local and state authorities the power to investigate organized crime. Drug-related violence has resulted in more than 3,500 deaths in Mexico since January 2007. Catherine Rebecca Dooley
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