VZCZCXRO4147
RR RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #2112/01 1922115
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 102115Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USNORTHCOM
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2528

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 002112 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM MX PGOV PHUM PM PREL SNAR
SUBJECT: ASSESSING MEXICAN MILITARY'S HUMAN RIGHTS TRACK 
RECORD 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  By historic standards in the region, 
Mexican military's track record on human rights is good, but 
not perfect.  However, prevailing military attitudes and 
practices -- and incomplete and inaccurate chronicling of 
alleged military abuses by human rights organizations -- 
reinforce the contention in a ten year old UN assessment that 
"military personnel appear to be immune from civilian justice 
and generally protected by military justice."   The 
institution has taken steps in recent months to address the 
issue of accountability for soldiers accused of rights 
abuses, but it remains reluctant to fully engage civil 
society here on the issue.  This is the first of three cables 
describing the difficulties in assessing the military's human 
rights track record, its relations with civil society, and 
its complicated code of justice which allows it to retain 
jurisdiction over serious criminal offenses involving 
soldiers.   End Summary. 
 
Mexican Military Still Rates High Among Public 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶2.  (U) In comparison to other Mexican security elements 
(particularly state and local), Mexico's military has a good 
reputation for honesty and professionalism.  In polls, it 
consistently garners higher approval ratings than most other 
institutions in Mexico.  In the past year and a half, more 
than 27,000 soldiers have been deployed throughout Mexico in 
ten states.  They are a highly visible presence in narco-hot 
zones, patrolling in the streets of contested cities, 
aggressively chasing down suspected cartel hit men, manning 
roadblocks, digging up marijuana plants -- even occasionally 
taking on civil functions such as manning ports of entry 
along the insecure northeastern border. 
 
¶3.  (U) The Mexican public's support for Calderon's use of 
the military in the battle against the Cartels seems to be 
holding up.  57% of respondents to a June 2008 poll still 
approved of Calderon's overall counter narcotics strategy, 
which puts the institution front and center -- although about 
half said they believed the military had committed rights 
violations in the course of its duties. 
 
Accusations Frequent, Definitions of Rights Violations Fuzzy 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Beyond that, however, there is very little 
agreement in Mexico regarding the nature and scope of 
military human rights abuses.    Human rights abuse 
accusations against the military, although less frequent than 
those leveled at civilian police forces around the country, 
number in the hundreds each year.  Media have reported in 
recent weeks that since the beginning of President Calderon's 
drive against the cartels, Mexico's National Human Rights 
Commission (CNDH) has "documented" 634 human rights 
complaints against the military.  CNDH itself says it has 
received 556 preliminary rights complaints so far this year. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) These numbers are deceptive, however. CNDH takes 
all manner of complaints against officials, including many 
that would not normally be categorized as human rights 
abuses.  Last year, the organization estimated that more than 
80 percent of the complaints it registered were for 
dereliction of duty, which typically involves a soldier or 
policeman who fails to respond to a request for assistance 
from a civilian.  The organization has yet to provide us with 
a breakdown for this year, and it remains unclear why CNDH 
considers these types of complaints to be human rights 
related. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Further complicating the picture is that many 
organizations take a very broad view of human rights 
violations that inflates, and sometimes trivializes the 
issue.   Two years ago, for example, the Mexico City Human 
Rights Commission charged the leftist opposition party with 
violating the rights of city commuters through its protracted 
blockade of major capital boulevards to protest the outcome 
of the presidential elections.   In late June of this year, 
the city commission took a complaint from the police officer 
in charge of the botched raid on a local nightclub, which 
left 12 dead in a stampede, that his own had been violated by 
accusations against his conduct during the raid.  (Rights 
accusations are also being lodged against officers involved 
in the raid.)   Like police and other security officials, 
soldiers are often the subject of complaints from citizens 
that we would qualify as trivial. 
 
¶7.  (U) Soldiers are also sometimes smeared outright by those 
who most want to see them return to the barracks.   Last 
 
MEXICO 00002112  002 OF 002 
 
 
month banners appeared throughout the north central city of 
Torreon, charging that senior military officials were 
deliberately carrying out widespread human rights abuses in 
the region.   The banners also charged the officials with 
colluding with the Sinaloa cartel and analysts quickly tagged 
their authors as being associated with the rival Arturo 
Beltran Leiva organization.   Similar campaigns to muddy the 
waters against the military have been carried out in other 
northern and border cities. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  CNDH tells us that typically most complaints are 
either dismissed or resolved without the organization having 
to take the next step, which is to issue a formal 
recommendation based on a more complete investigation. 
Until CNDH makes more specific information available to us, 
it will be difficult to qualify the seriousness of the 556 
complaints against the military, but clearly the figure cited 
in the media greatly exaggerates the scope of the problem 
here. 
 
Hard Cases Being Investigated 
----------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Definitional differences and smear tactics aside, 
there are credible rights allegations which most 
organizations agree are serious and to which they give 
sustained attention.   CNDH and non-governmental 
organizations focused on six such cases in 2007. (These were 
reported in our annual human rights report.)   So far this 
year, CNDH told us it has begun formal investigations into 
nine incidents.  On July 10, its president announced he would 
make eight formal recommendations to the military the 
following day. It is unclear which incidents the organization 
will include, but seven of those it said it was investigating 
involved fatal shootings at military checkpoints or 
installations (see below).   One involved the seizure and 
alleged abuse of Salvadoran migrants by members of the 
Mexican Navy.  Another involved the alleged abduction and 
sexual humiliation of policewomen by the soldiers in the city 
of Ciudad Juarez. (Comment:   SEDENA told our DATT that its 
attempts to interview the alleged victims  and collect 
physical and medical evidence in the latter case were stymied 
by their refusal to cooperate.) 
 
Roadblock Shootings on the Rise 
------------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (U) There have been seven reported shootings of 
civilians by soldiers at military checkpoints so far this 
year.   Many rights workers say these shootings constitute a 
pattern of gross violations of human rights.  Most incidents 
appear to be more in the nature of tragic chains of bad 
judgment, however.    In a recent case, for example, on June 
8 three young men were driving erratically along a dark road 
in the state of Chihuahua early on a Sunday morning, failed 
to stop at a military checkpoint and knocked down (and 
fatally injured, by one account) a soldier manning it. 
Fellow soldiers repeatedly fired into the car when it hit a 
cement barrier.  All three in the car died, along with a 
bystander. 
 
¶12.  (U) NGOs say the uptick in such incidents demonstrates 
the institution's unwillingness to properly train soldiers 
and put in place procedures to prevent such occurrences. 
While not "gross violations of human rights" by international 
standards, these incidents clearly involve serious breaches 
of military discipline and professionalism.  The Embassy will 
be watching closely in coming months for signs SEDENA is 
fully investigating them -- and taking measures to avoid 
future tragedies. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Comment:  That individuals and organizations in 
Mexico cannot agree on what does and does not constitute a 
violation of human rights significantly complicates 
discussion of the issue in Mexico.  While there are certainly 
credible accusations against soldiers, until the public and 
government refine their definitions, it will remain difficult 
to sort them from the large number of unsubstantiated 
charges. 
 
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 / 
GARZA