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180111
2008-11-25 22:24:00
08MEXICO3498
Embassy Mexico
CONFIDENTIAL
08MEXICO2371|08MEXICO3321
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TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SNAR KCRM MX
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 003498 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2017 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SNAR KCRM MX
SUBJECT: CALDERON CONTINUES ANTI-CORRUPTION SWEEP 
 REF: A. MEXICO 2371 
     ¶B. MEXICO 3321 
 
Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor James Merz. 
Reason: 1.4 (b), (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary.  The Calderon administration's 
anti-corruption initiative Operation Cleanup most recently 
produced the arrest of the head of Interpol in Mexico and a 
former Deputy Attorney General/anti-drug czar.  While the 
revelations of narco-infiltration into the upper echelons of 
law enforcement community have given rise to alarm in public 
circles, they also help Calderon burnish his credentials as a 
leader committed to combating organized crime and corruption 
-- an effect that may come more into view over the longer 
term.  The only real loser may be Secretary of Public 
Security Genaro Garcia Luna, who will have to work hard to 
overcome the perception that he is either oblivious to what 
goes on around him or tolerates his subordinates' activities. 
 End Summary. 
 
Operation Cleanup: Cleaning House 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) As part of the Mexican Government's anti-corruption 
Operation Cleanup (Limpieza), an ongoing investigation into 
information leaks by law enforcement officials to drug 
traffickers (see reftels), Rodolfo de la Guardia Garcia, a 
former top official at AFI, was placed under forty- days 
arrest-in-place after being taken into custody in October. 
More recently, the Director for International Police Affairs 
at the Federal Investigative Agency (AFI) and head of 
Interpol in Mexico, Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas, was similarly 
placed under forty -days arrest-in-place last week for his 
alleged links with drug cartels.  Interpol announced November 
20 that it sent a team to Mexico to investigate the 
possibility that its communication systems and databases are 
not being used for legitimate law enforcement purposes, even 
while the Mexican government sought to assure Interpol that 
no sensitive information from the international police 
agency's system was leaked to cartels.  Mexico's Interpol 
office, or National Central Bureau, is staffed and run by AFI. 
 
¶3. (SBU) In addition to these apprehensions, Mexico's former 
head of the Attorney General's (PGR) Office of the 
Sub-Prosecutor for the Investigation of Organized Crime 
(SIEDO), Noe Ramirez Mandujano, popularly regarded as 
Mexico's anti-drug czar, was also arrested last week for his 
alleged involvement with cartels.  Ramirez had served in that 
position for twenty months until he resigned in July. 
Attorney General Media Mora announced that information from a 
member of the Sinaloa cartel accused Ramirez of accepting a 
450,000 USD monthly payment from the cartel in exchange for 
confidential information.  Over thirty Mexican government 
officials have been arrested or dismissed since July in 
connection with Operation Cleanup. 
 
Good For President Calderon 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Gutierrez and Ramirez are two of the highest ranking 
GOM officials uncovered by Operation Cleanup, demonstrating 
the Calderon administration's ostensible commitment to 
cleaning house even as investigations encroach on the upper 
echelons of government.  Political and security analyst Juan 
Pardinas told Poloff on November 24 that he was "pleasantly 
surprised" by the arrests of Gutierrez and Ramirez and opined 
that Calderon is "hitting the right targets" with Operation 
Cleanup.  Pardinas also said that this was the strongest 
anti-corruption message the president has sent so far. 
 
¶5. (C) Pardinas expects that the recent round of arrests and 
investigations probably will lead, at the very least, to more 
apprehensions of mid-level officials.  In the short term, the 
arrests may undermine public confidence in both Calderon and 
Mexico's security apparatus as the extent of 
narco-infiltration in government is made clear.  Pardinas 
suggested that in the long term, however, the housecleaning 
will help to build Calderon's track record as being truly 
committed to restoring the integrity of and public faith in 
 
MEXICO 00003498  002 OF 002 
 
 
Mexico's public security system. 
 
Bad for Garcia Luna? 
-------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Mexican media outlets have highlighted that many of 
the recent investigations have been focused on officials 
close to Secretary of Public Security (SSP) Garcia Luna, 
including Gutierrez, Francisco Navarro, chief of SSP's 
Special Operations, Gerardo Garay Cadena, head of the Federal 
Preventative Police, and Mario Velarde Martinez, who had 
served as Garcia Luna's private secretary.  While in Peru 
attending the APEC Summit, Calderon publicly expressed his 
confidence in Garcia Luna and said that Garcia Luna would not 
be the Public Security Secretary if the president had any 
doubts as to his abilities.  Calderon exhorted observers not 
to interpret Operation Cleanup as targeted at any one person. 
 
¶7. (C) Nevertheless, some perceive the investigations into 
the behavior of so many of Garcia Luna's close colleagues and 
subordinates as potentially undermining his authority as an 
effective Public Security Secretary.  While high-level PGR 
officials also have been subject to investigations and 
arrests, Medina Mora's reputation does not appear to be 
taking a similar hit, probably in some measure because PGR is 
conducting its own anti-corruption sweeps.  SSP, on the other 
hand, appears to be less an active agent in an 
anti-corruption campaign and more a passive participant as 
the PGR is investigating and prosecuting corruption cases in 
the Secretariat.  Pardinas noted that the number of corrupted 
officials surrounding Garcia Luna points to either negligence 
or tolerance on his part, even if thus far evidence has not 
been presented to publicly implicate Garcia Luna in corrupt 
activities.  While press sources speculate that Calderon may 
soon ask Garcia Luna to step down, it bears recalling that 
press and political circles have been rife with such rumors 
practically since Garcia Luna assumed his current post. 
 
¶8. (C) Concerns about Garcia Luna's ability to manage his 
subordinates may complicate Mexico's ability to work 
bilaterally on sensitive security issues.  In addition to 
Interpol's concerns regarding the integrity of its 
information and databases, Colombia also is worried about the 
levels of corruption in Mexican law enforcement.  Political 
Officer Paola Holguin at the Colombian Embassy in Mexico City 
told Poloff on November 19 that the Director of Colombia's 
National Police had recently told Garcia Luna that if he does 
not better vet--and demonstrate to Colombia that the vetting 
process was thorough--Federal Police officers receiving 
training from Colombia, Bogota will need to look at cutting 
off the program. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9. (C) Calderon may be stung in the short term by a public 
reeling from revelations of narco-infiltration into high 
levels of the Mexican security apparatus.  In the longer 
term, however, such efforts will help him to build a 
reputation as being committed to combating organized crime 
and the cartels both inside his own house and in the country 
writ large.  The key will be developing an institutional 
capacity to keep the forces clean, something that will take a 
sustained commitment over many years to achieve.  The real 
loser in all this may be Garcia Luna, who while to date not 
implicated personally in the corrupt activities of his 
subordinates, will have to work hard to overcome the 
perception that he is either oblivious to what goes on around 
him or tolerates his underlings' less-than-savory activities. 
 
 
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