VZCZCXRO6611
RR RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #3642/01 3621756
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281756Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9562
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1179
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0386
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHME/USDAO MEXICO CITY MX
RHMFIUU/HQ USNORTHCOM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 003642 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA DAS JACOBSON, MEXICO OFFICE DIRECTOR 
LEE, D STAFF CUE, AND INL HOHMAN. NSC FOR O'REILLY. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR UN MX
SUBJECT: NEW MEXICAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION PRESIDENT 
PLEDGES MODEST CHANGES 
 
REF: MEXICO 3627 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Raul Plascencia Villanueva at his 
inauguration ceremony November 17 as the new President of 
Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) pledged 
changes that would strengthen the organization's ability to 
promote greater human rights respect.  During the ceremony, 
Plascencia announced that he wanted to make CNDH 
recommendations legally binding upon all government agencies. 
 The following day, he told Poloffs that he also plans to 
work more closely with the NGO community.  (Note:  His 
predecessor, Jose Luis Soberanes, had a notoriously bad 
relationship with the human rights NGO community. End Note.) 
Analysts, however, question whether he will show the courage 
to take a strong hand on human rights with serious political 
overtones.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Raul Plascencia Villanueva pledged modest changes at 
his inauguration ceremony November 17 as the new President of 
Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).  Before a 
large number of well-wishers from the human rights community, 
Plascencia said that he would work to make CNDH 
recommendations legally binding upon all government entities. 
 The NGO community repeatedly has voiced its displeasure with 
the current system in which government agencies are not 
obligated to implement CNDH recommendations.  In a cautious 
move, Plascencia also announced the creation of a new 
kidnapping unit.  The unit was created in response to the 
high number of kidnappings over the past several years but 
some analysts question the relevance of the unit to human 
rights abuses by government authorities.  In a follow-up 
meeting with Poloffs November 18, Plascencia continued his 
cautious stance by not offering more ambitious proposals for 
reform.  He said, however, that he would endeavor to work 
more closely with the NGO community than his controversial 
predecessor, Jose Luis Soberanes. 
 
¶3. (U) CNDH is composed of five major offices: 1) the 
Presidency, 2) a Consultative Council and its 3) Technical 
Secretariat, 4) an Executive Secretariat, and 5) Five 
Substantive Divisions or "Visitorships."  Of these offices, 
the most important are the Consultative Council, which 
consists of ten academics appointed by the Senate who are 
responsible for establishing CNDH guidelines, approving 
internal rules and overseeing the budget (the CNDH President 
serves as head of the Council), and the five Visitorships 
which cover the following areas. 
 
-- First Visitor: Disappearances; women, children and family 
issues; attention to crime victims; HIV; and the new 
kidnappings unit; 
 
-- Second Visitor: conduct of authorities in federal 
institutions; 
 
-- Third Visitor: prison system conditions; 
 
-- Fourth Visitor: indigenous affairs; 
 
-- Fifth Visitor: treatment of journalists and migrants and 
trafficking in persons. 
 
Plascencia appointed the following five new Visitors: 
 
 -- First Visitor: Dr. Luis Garcia Lopez Guerrero.  Garcia 
served as Technical Secretary of CNDH's Consultative Council 
prior to his assignment as the First Visitor.  He was a law 
professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico 
(UNAM), including a member of its investigation center, as 
well as law professor at the Autonomous University of 
Yucatan, Iberoamericana University, La Salle University, 
among others.  He has written several books including one on 
Mexican penal law.  He holds a Bachelor's, Master's, and 
Ph.D. in law from UNAM. 
 
-- Second Visitor: Dr. Luciano Silva Ramirez.  Silva is 
member of the National System of Investigators and has 
written several articles on constitutional law.  He holds a 
Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Public 
Administration from the Autonomous Universty of Nuevo Leon, a 
 
MEXICO 00003642  002 OF 002 
 
 
Master's Degree from the University of Ortega y Gasset in 
Madrid, Spain, and a Ph.D. in Political Science and Sociology 
from the Complutense University of Madrid. 
 
-- Third Visitor: Daniel Romero. Romero is the former 
president of the Maquila Industry trade association, and 
Honorary Consul of Japan.  He was suggested for this position 
by PRI Senators Manlio Fabio Beltrones and Fernando Castro. 
Romero is a lawyer by profession and also has served as 
Public Prosecutor. 
 
-- Fourth Visitor: Teresa Paniagua Jimenez.  Prior to her 
assignment as the Fourth Visitor, Paniagua served as Deputy 
Director in the Liaison Unit of Information in the Chamber of 
Deputies.  She also served as the Press Director in the 
Agrarian Reform Secretariat. Prior she worked as a journalist 
and, in 1987, received the National Journalism Award. 
Paniagua is a lawyer by profession. 
 
-- Fifth Visitor: Fernando Batista.  Batista has held 
different positions within CNDH including Fourth Visitor and 
Director of the Victims of Crime Program.  He has given 
classes in human rights at different universities.  Batista 
holds a Bachelor's Degree in Law from the Technological 
Autonomous Institute of Mexico (ITAM).  He studied Judicial 
Policy at Harvard University and earned a Master's Degree in 
Legal Sciences from the Navarra University of Spain. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Comment:  During the meeting with Poloffs, 
Plascencia promised to work more closely with the NGO 
community.  As the Ambassador meets with the human rights 
community, we have encouraged those groups to work more 
collaboratively with Plascencia and CNDH.  Plascencia also 
has pledged a number of reforms including an initiative to 
strengthen CNDH's ability to enforce its recommendations, 
which will require Congressional approval.  This would help 
assuage the Commission's harshest critics, some of whom 
indicated in the last NGO meeting with the Ambassador in 
November (reftel) that the organization lacks the political 
will to realize its full powers.  Human rights organizations 
question Plascencia's fortitude, however, because he 
essentially secured his election with the backing of leaders 
from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and National 
Action Party (PAN). Former senior CNDH advisor Javier 
Montezuma knows Plascencia and believes him to be very 
cautious about criticizing powerful political players 
particularly in view of the fact that CNDH relies on Congress 
for its funding.  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 / 
PASCUAL