VZCZCXRO3115
RR RUEHCD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHGD #0250/01 1891754
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081754Z JUL 09
FM AMCONSUL GUADALAJARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1459
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 2639
RUEHGD/AMCONSUL GUADALAJARA 5527

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GUADALAJARA 000250 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MX PREL PGOV PHUM SNAR EAID
SUBJECT: GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT:  "JUSTICE" AND REFORM IN 
JALISCO 
 
REF: A. A) 08 MEXICO 001889 
     ¶B. B) 07 MEXICO 006196 
     ¶C. C) 07 GUADALAJARA 000226 
     ¶D. D) 07 GUADALAJARA 000351 
 
GUADALAJAR 00000250  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. Summary:  Jalisco state incarceration and court case 
statistics along with concern over current practices expressed 
by the Jalisco State Human Rights Commission underscore the 
urgent need for judicial and penal reform.  However, the state 
faces many challenges in its attempt to implement the federal 
judicial reforms signed into law last year by President Felipe 
Calderon, or launch its own program.  Governor Emilio Gonzalez 
Marquez remains committed to judicial reform, but disagreements 
among political parties, negative perceptions of the reform 
effort, an entrenched resistance to change present among certain 
sectors of the judicial establishment, and the increased costs 
associated with the new system have combined to make any 
progress slow and uncertain.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  CONOFF met with Dr. Guillermo Zepeda, a professor at the 
Technological and Superior Studies Institute of the West (ITESO) 
and an associate researcher for 13 years with The Development 
Research Center (CIDAC), an independent, non-profit research 
institution dedicated to promoting open debate about law, the 
economy, social development, and democracy in Mexico.  Dr. 
Zepeda is a keen observer of the judicial system and the various 
reform efforts. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
Dysfunctional Justice:  The Current System 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶3.  Dr. Zepeda said that unlike the United States where a 
suspect is first investigated and then, if sufficient evidence 
exists, is detained, in Mexico a suspect is first detained and 
then investigated.    He explained that after a crime is 
reported the Public Ministry (MP) - under whose authority fall 
both the judges and the state attorney's office - determines the 
charges and presents the written accusation to the judge.  Upon 
being apprehended the suspect is taken into custody by the MP 
and is held in a cell within its offices for up to 48 hours, 
during which time an interrogation of the suspect is conducted 
which contributes in large part to what is called the Preceding 
Investigation (averiguacisn previa).  The Preceding 
Investigation is considered "prueba plena," a classification of 
evidence that is given extra weight in the penal and judicial 
process.  The MP typically does not investigate many cases 
because it relies heavily on confessions obtained during the 
initial 48 hours of detention.  Dr. Zepeda said that these 
confessions are often obtained through intimidation and in some 
cases torture. 
 
------------------------------- 
Human Rights Concerns 
------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  In the six years between 2002 and 2007 the Jalisco State 
Human Rights Commission (CEDHJ) documented 22 cases of torture 
involving 27 victims and 94 perpetrators who were employees of 
the Public Ministry (MP), including the Jalisco State Public 
Prosecutor's office and the Investigative Police.  Eighty two 
percent of these cases occurred between 2002 and 2005.  The 
CEDHJ reports identify a variety of torture methods used, 
including provoked asphyxiation by placing a plastic bag over 
the head, simulated drowning, electric shock, burns, physical 
abuse resulting in broken bones, whiplash, prohibited use of the 
bathroom resulting in self-urination and defecation, and 
psychological pressure.  In Recommendation 17/2008 published on 
July 23, 2008, CEDHJ stated that "torture continues to be a 
deeply rooted practice in criminal investigations conducted by 
personnel of the Jalisco State Attorney's Office [Procuradurma 
General de Justicia del Estado]." 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Crime and Punishment:  The Grim Reality 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶5.  Dr. Zepeda stated that out of 160 countries, Mexico ranks 
13th for most citizens (per 100,000) in jail without being 
charged, and if the state of Jalisco were a country it would 
rank 5th out of 160.  Based on 2007 Jalisco state statistics a 
criminal faces only a 1.77% chance of getting caught and placed 
on trial: only 11% of crimes are reported, 26% of reported 
crimes are fully investigated, and 62% of investigated crimes 
end with the apprehension of the criminal. 
 
¶6.  Jalisco is the state with the highest rate of imprisonment, 
 
GUADALAJAR 00000250  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
which has nearly tripled in the past 10 years from 5,729 
prisoners in 1998 to 15,638 prisoners in 2008.  He also said 
that Jalisco has the highest rate of people incarcerated in 
pretrial detention.  Jalisco prisons are severely overcrowded, 
currently at 220% capacity.  Dr. Zepeda said that most inmates 
are incarcerated for minor offenses and are not dangerous 
criminals.  He claims that this is supported anecdotally by the 
fact that very few prison guards are required and there have 
been no major prison riots in Jalisco - he claims there are 
approximately 60 guards for the roughly 16,000 inmates, most of 
whom are poor.  Dr. Zepeda pointed out that some call the 
Mexican prison system "Crime University" because in prison so 
many poor people serving time for minor offenses meet and learn 
from the serious criminals.  In surveys conducted of crime 
victims in Jalisco only 13% indicated that the criminal had been 
armed. 
 
¶7.  Dr. Zepeda noted that in the state of Jalisco the average 
time to process a case in the judicial system is 170 days.  In 
Jalisco 57% of the prison population has been charged with a 
crime but not sentenced.   Statistics show that, 40% of 
prisoners in Jalisco will be released on the same day that they 
are sentenced because they will have been found innocent or they 
will have already served more time in jail than required by 
their sentence or they will opt to pay a fine rather than serve 
prison time.  For this group, if they had been sentenced in a 
timely manner they would not have served any time in prison. 
With 33 percent of the state's security budget going to the 
penal system, a reduction in the number of prisoners would 
represent a significant savings that could be used for other 
pressing needs. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
The Federal Initiative is No Panacea: 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶8.  The state of Jalisco still faces challenges in harmonizing 
the federally mandated reform with state interests.  Interested 
parties in Jalisco are looking at the federal plan which 
includes oral arguments, alternative resolutions (such as 
mediation, reconciliation, reparations, and suspended 
sentences), and a greater role for the judge.  While the MP will 
gain a new responsibility in determining whether or not to 
employ a form of alternative resolution, it will lose the 
monopoly it once enjoyed on the investigative process by 
conducting preceding investigations without any checks and 
balances from other agencies, for the police will now play a 
greater role in conducting investigations.  Also, the legal 
preference and procedural advantage given to the Preceding 
Investigation will be reduced in the new system.  Under the 
reform the defense must now include an attorney - under current 
law any one can carry out a legal defense.  The new laws will 
also demand more professionalism and expertise on the part of 
attorneys and the police, and crime victims will receive more 
rights.  Some critics allege that the federal reforms do not go 
far enough in preventing the current widespread abuse of 
pre-trial detention, especially for those suspected of organized 
crime activities.  Other critics allege that the reform has gone 
too far by establishing in the constitution itself a catalog of 
crimes for which pretrial detention is mandatory. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
Obstacles to Judicial Reform in Jalisco 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶9.  Dr. Zepeda said that the Jalisco state congress has been 
attempting to come to an agreement on the details of state penal 
reform legislation since 2006, before the national reform was 
approved, but the state political parties still have not been 
able to reach an agreement.  Dr. Zepeda explained that there are 
four main reasons for this: 
 
A)  Political tension through competing plans from the National 
Action Party (PAN) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party 
(PRI).   A reform bill backed by the PRI failed in 2007 when it 
failed to gain the support of the ruling PAN party.  Jalisco is 
also an innately conservative region that has often been 
relatively slow to change. 
 
B)  Negative national perception of a similar historical 
precedent.  As a result of the Mexican Revolution in the early 
20th century, the judicial system was reformed to include oral 
arguments and trial before a jury.  This was in effect for 15 
years, during which time there were several high profile cases 
that resulted in an innocent verdict and in which the public and 
media believed that the jury was excessively swayed by how the 
 
GUADALAJAR 00000250  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
defense attorneys presented their arguments rather than on the 
merits of the evidence presented by the prosecution.  As a 
result, some called oral arguments before juries nothing more 
than a "public speaking pageant."  This two-pronged experiment - 
oral arguments and trial before juries - was abandoned in 1931 
and its memory continues to conjure up negative images of both 
proposals.  The judicial reform of 2008 proposes only to 
implement an adversarial method of oral arguments to occur 
before a panel of three judges.  Trial by jury has not been 
proposed and is not included in the 2008 judicial reform. 
However, the oral arguments proposal is viewed negatively by 
some in Jalisco simply because of its historical association 
with the trial by jury experiment in the early 
post-revolutionary period. 
 
C)  There exists among some sectors of Jalisco society a view 
that U.S. lawyers are believed to be attempting to take over the 
Mexican judicial system - by making it more like the U.S. 
judicial system - as part of a wider conspiracy that the U.S. is 
attempting to take advantage of Mexico and Mexican citizens. 
 
D)  Some believe that the additional costs associated with the 
implementation of the reform, such as the requirement that three 
judges preside over each case, rather than only one, and the 
extensive training that will be necessary for attorneys, judges, 
and the police forces, will amount to such a significant cost 
increase that it could be prohibitive. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Comment:  Pressing Forward 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  The need for judicial reform is obvious given the dismal 
performance of the current justice system and an almost total 
lack of public confidence in it.  The challenge is how to bring 
it about.  Informal interviews of trial and defense lawyers 
suggest that there exists a consensus among Jalisco attorneys 
that reform is positive but must be implemented slowly to ensure 
success.  While the lawyers that CONOFF spoke with associated 
the oral arguments provision with the system in the United 
States they did not view that negatively.  Universities such as 
Universidad Panamericana, ITESO, and TEC de Monterrey are 
committed to reform.  ITESO is already offering graduate level 
courses to help prepare law students and the TEC de Monterrey in 
Guadalajara dedicated a new mock courtroom last year designed 
for oral trials. 
 
¶11.  Jalisco Governor Emilio Gonzalez Marquez told the CG in 
June that he remains committed to promoting judicial reform, and 
hopes to spur the State Congress to pass a bill later this year, 
after the July elections.  The Consulate has emphasized the 
importance of judicial reform as a key part of its public 
diplomacy activities, and many prominent business organizations 
and Chambers of Commerce have endorsed the effort as a vital 
part of improving Jalisco's economy and attracting more 
international investment.  The trends are positive, if slow, and 
we intend to continue our efforts to keep the reform effort 
moving forward. 
RAMOTOWSKI