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DE RUEHME #6196/01 3512018
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R 172018Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 006196 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KCRM KJUS SNAR PHUM MX
SUBJECT: CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE OVER JUSTICE REFORM MOVING 
FORWARD 
 
¶1.  Summary.  The Mexican Senate passed judicial reform 
legislation that would facilitate transition to an oral trial 
system, give law enforcement officials broader search and 
seizure authority, allow consensual monitoring of telephone 
calls, and give police more responsibility for conducting 
investigations.  Since the Senate modified several articles 
of the draft prior approved by the House of Deputies, the 
Senate version will return to the House for consideration in 
February.  Several leftist parties and human rights 
activities described the legislation as a "step backwards," 
giving the State excessive authorities at the expense of the 
accused.  Many jurists, however, believe effective 
implementation of the legislation will make the Mexican 
system work more transparently, expeditiously, and fairly. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  President Calderon introduced a draft judicial reform 
bill to the Congress last March but it went through a series 
of modifications before coming up for a formal vote.  The 
House of Deputies approved its version of the bill 301-94 
December 12.  PRD Deputies split their vote with the majority 
voting with PAN and PRI in support of the bill but other PRD 
Deputies voting with Convergencia, the Labor Party (PT) and 
PANAL against the bill.  Mexican Senators from PAN, PRI, and 
the Green Party (PVEM) outvoted Senators from the Leftist 
Front (PRD, Convergencia, the Labor Party (PT) and PANAL) 
80-27 December 13 to pass their own modified draft of the 
bill after a 20 hour debate.  The Senate version returns to 
the House for consideration in February after the winter 
recess. 
 
--------------------- 
What Would it Change? 
--------------------- 
 
¶3.  The bill passed by the Senate modifies some 12 articles 
of the Mexican Constitution relating to the judicial system. 
If ultimately passed into law, the bill envisions 
implementation of the changes taking place over 8 years.  The 
most noteworthy reforms would include the following: 
 
-- Oral Trials:  Mexico's present judicial system is 
described as a mixed inquisitive/accusative system but 
predominantly the former with judges having no contact with 
the accused in over 80 percent of the cases they decide. 
Under this bill, Mexico's system would transition more 
rapidly to a fuller embrace of the oral, adversarial system. 
The victim would have additional rights to participate and 
receive restitution in the process, the accused would enjoy 
the presumption of innocence and a greater ability to 
confront their accusers and challenge the testimony of 
witnesses against them, and the police would assume wider 
authority for investigating cases, which currently are 
tightly controlled by prosecutors.  The changes are designed 
to foster greater transparency, efficiency, objectivity and 
fairness in the rendering of decisions. 
 
-- Expanded Search Authorities:  The House draft had allowed 
for Federal Police to enter premises without a warrant in 
certain exigent circumstances if they believed an individual 
was in danger or a crime was underway inside.  The Senate 
version raises the bar for entering without a warrant, 
requiring police to have clear evidence -- rather than mere 
belief -- of exigent circumstances. Under current law, there 
is no such exigent circumstance exception to the warrant 
requirement for entering a residence or other premises. 
 
-- Access to Financial Documents:  The House Draft had given 
the Attorney General's Office access to financial documents 
in the investigation of organized crime cases.  The Senate 
amended this provision to require prosecutors obtain judicial 
authorization before they can access these documents. 
 
-- Asset Forfeiture:  The bill would make the necessary 
constitutional changes to allow the judicial forfeiture of 
assets that have been the instrument, object, or product of 
criminal activity, without the need of a criminal conviction 
of the property owner first.  Mexico's lack of civil 
forfeiture procedures has seriously hampered its ability to 
take illicit assets away from criminal organizations, and 
with these changes, the GOM plans to establish a forfeiture 
regime similar to Colombia's law of "extincion de dominio." 
 
-- Special Judges: Law enforcement authorities will have more 
immediate access to judges in seeking approval of searches 
and other investigatory measures. 
 
-- Telephone Intercepts: Telephone conversations taped 
without a court order will be admissible as long as one of 
the parties to the call consents. 
 
 
MEXICO 00006196  002 OF 002 
 
 
-- Rights of the Accused:  The bill clearly establishes, 
inter alia, the accused's right to remain silent and the 
right to information, a public trial, interpretation, and 
public defense. 
 
----------------------------- 
Who Opposes the Bill and Why? 
----------------------------- 
 
¶4.  Most opposition to the bill is couched in human rights 
terms.  Jose Luis Soberanes, the President of the Mexican 
government's semi-autonomous Human Rights Commission (CNDH) 
described it as a "step backwards for human rights in 
Mexico."  Rosario Ibarra of the Labor Party complained the 
bill extended the police excessive authorities.  She worried 
the bill gave a police force lacking in any appreciation for 
human rights the power to decide when a public demonstration 
might be considered as connected to organized crime and thus 
illegal.  PAN Senator Alejandro Gonzalez Alcocer, President 
of the Senate's Judicial Committee, responded that in their 
defense of individual rights some tend to forget that 
citizens have a right to public security.  President Calderon 
insisted "law enforcement is inseparable from respect for 
human rights" and that his government would "not stand for 
any violations of the law in the fight against crime." 
 
¶5.  Comment:  Few would dispute the assertion that Mexico's 
justice system is broken.  Poor defendants are detained for 
years on minor charges awaiting sentencing in a judicial 
system from which they are detached.  Rich, well-connected 
defendants evade justice relying on corruption but also, in 
large measure, loopholes in the current system that tie the 
hands of law enforcement authorities seeking to conduct 
thorough and aggressive investigations.  The reforms 
contemplated respond to many changes USG agencies have long 
supported through various programs, technical assistance, and 
joint cooperation in operational and case-related matters. 
They would render Mexico's system more transparent and give 
law enforcement authorities more tools to prosecute organized 
crime cases.  The House already approved a tougher version of 
the bill adopted by the Senate.  The votes should still be 
there to approve the new version when it comes under 
consideration by the House in February.  As the bill involves 
modifications to Mexico's constitution, if it is approved by 
the House in February, it will need to be passed by a 
majority of Mexico's 31 states before it goes to President 
Calderon for signature.  End comment. 
 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
BASSETT