VZCZCXRO0586
RR RUEHCD RUEHHO RUEHNG RUEHRD RUEHRS
DE RUEHMC #0029/01 0281710
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 281607Z JAN 10
FM AMCONSUL MONTERREY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0017
INFO ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USNORTHCOM
RUCNFB/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MONTERREY 000029 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/28 
TAGS: EAID KCRM SNAR PGOV PHUM MX
SUBJECT: USG SECURITY INITIATIVES SEEK TO BOLSTER NUEVO LEON STATE 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Bruce Williamson, Consul General; REASON: 1.4(B), (D) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  Key USG-funded projects aimed at strengthening 
the rule of law have begun to take hold in Nuevo Leon, gaining 
acceptance among state leaders.    Despite problems in getting 
potential candidates past internal vetting requirements, the state 
is moving ahead with plans to send 15 investigative officers to 
FBI-sponsored (and NAS funded) anti-kidnapping training in Houston 
in May.  At least partially driven by business interests, Nuevo 
Leon is moving, albeit slowly, towards implementing a Merida 
Initiative-funded Culture of Lawfulness Program (COLP).  Meanwhile, 
a USAID contractor has just signed a MOU with the state government 
regarding implementation of justice sector reform, which would, 
inter alia, offer training programs for attorneys and judges on the 
constitutionally mandated oral trials system.  Finally, although 
progress on a NAS/ONDCP-funded drug court pilot program is 
currently stalled, high-level state government interlocutors 
believe that the Governor will eventually endorse the project. 
While Governor Medina has come under public criticism for the delay 
in offering a comprehensive public security strategy, his aides 
note that the sheer number of proposals being floated - combined 
with the state's lack of budget resources - means that policymakers 
need to carefully review all alternatives.  End summary. 
 
 
 
¶2.  (C) Notwithstanding public criticism to the effect that new 
Nuevo Leon Governor Rodrigo Medina has been slow to roll out his 
public security program, the U.S. Consulate and other USG entities 
are working with the state on a variety of training and rule of law 
initiatives.  Among those the state has currently engaged or is 
actively considering are the Culture of Lawfulness Program (COLP), 
assistance in implementing oral trials, a drug court initiative, 
and anti-kidnapping training for law enforcement investigators. 
 
 
 
Gaining Traction on a Culture of Lawfulness Program (COLP) 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------------- 
------------- 
 
 
 
¶3.  (C) In mid-December, Governor Medina dispatched two executives 
from the Secretariat of Government to Washington for week-long 
meetings with Dr. Roy Godson, one of the creators of the Culture of 
Lawfulness program and head of the National Strategy Information 
Center NGO, and academics from Monterrey Tec and the Autonomous 
University of Nuevo Leon.  During those sessions, the group set the 
parameters for a comprehensive assessment of the state's current 
Culture of Lawfulness programming and its future needs, all in 
preparation for the implementation of a multi-sector (government, 
business, labor, academia, the media, etc.) Merida-funded COLP 
project.  One of those executives, state Public Security 
Secretariat official Humberto Dingler, told PolOff on January 21 
that the state planned to incorporate the COLP as one element of a 
plan the state government was devising to address high crime rates 
in targeted neighborhoods by, among other initiatives, increasing 
civil society awareness and interaction with local authorities. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (C) Dingler added that although Godson and Governor Medina had 
hoped for a March completion date for the initial assessment, his 
office would not be able to complete it until April, at earliest, 
and possibly later.  However, he was confident that the program 
would be included in the state's overall plan to tackle crime, 
which he said his office is still developing.  While Governor 
Medina has come under public criticism for the delay in offering a 
comprehensive public security strategy, his aides note that the 
sheer number of proposals being floated - combined with the state's 
lack of budget resources - means that policymakers need to 
carefully review all alternatives. 
 
 
 
Private Sector Interest in COLP 
 
----------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶5.  (C) The Monterrey private sector supports the concept of COLP 
 
MONTERREY 00000029  002 OF 003 
 
 
as the Executive Director of CAINTRA, one of Monterrey's most 
important industry associations, has told Consulate officials that 
the business community is willing to offer whatever help is needed. 
Meanwhile, Mauricio Ramos, a respected security expert working with 
the private industry funded anti-kidnapping organization Planning 
Consultants (based in Monterrey) has offered his entity's support 
as well.  Ramos heads a parallel 'Group of Ten' (i.e., the city's 
elite companies) effort aimed at bolstering the capabilities of the 
state's anti-kidnapping unit, pushing for changes in the state's 
governing penal code, and promoting greater transparency and civic 
awareness. 
 
 
 
¶6.  (C) Ramos explained that, after ruling out vigilante actions, 
Group of Ten CEOs had formed Planning Consultants to work with 
authorities to address the city's growing kidnapping problem using 
existing legal frameworks.  He said that Nuevo Leon Governor Medina 
had agreed to include a crime reduction program developed by his 
organization that calls for involvement by all segments of civil 
society - including academia, business, church, and media 
organizations - in the state's overall public security strategy. 
 
 
 
¶7.  (C) Key among Ramos' goals is the creation of a long-term 
program that transcends elected administrations and restores public 
faith in legal authority.  His organization's program also includes 
strategies to reinforce political will, rebuild institutions, train 
law enforcement officials, judges and prosecutors, and create a 
crime prevention public consciousness.  Ramos believed COLP 
assistance would be important in accomplishing many of these 
objectives. 
 
 
 
FBI Anti-Kidnapping Training 
 
--------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶8.  (C) Fifteen Nuevo Leon State police investigators will 
participate in Merida-funded anti-kidnapping training in Houston 
from May 3 - 21.  Once training is completed, the officers are to 
form the core of a new elite anti-kidnapping unit, which will also 
likely receive support from private sector sources in terms of 
equipment and salary supplements.  Implementation of the 
FBI-organized, NAS-funded program, which will also include state 
police from Tamaulipas, has been delayed a bit, partly because 
eight of the 15 original candidates from Nuevo Leon failed federal 
Secretariat of Public Safety (SSP) polygraph tests and the state 
must now recruit replacements.  (Note:  Post does not know the 
specific protocol SSP used for the tests or the expertise of the 
technicians conducting the examinations.  End note.) 
 
 
 
Oral Trials:  Another Key Component 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU) On January 21, Luis David Ortiz, Director of Management 
Systems International (MSI), told the Consul General that his 
Merida Initiative-funded organization is assisting the federal 
government and states in adopting the new constitutionally mandated 
oral trial system, which must be in place by 2012.  MSI is 
counseling state governments in drafting new codes, guiding 
legislative changes, and training prosecutors, defenders and police 
about the oral trial system.  MSI is also promoting the "Rule of 
Law III" project that focuses on human rights and treatment of 
detainees.  MSI and the state of Nuevo Leon have recently signed an 
MOU which calls for MSI to assist the state in its ongoing justice 
sector reform efforts. 
 
 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Nuevo Leon, he said, began oral trials early, but still 
only applies the process to a fraction of proceedings, usually for 
lesser crimes.  MSI's goal is to help the state government 
 
MONTERREY 00000029  003 OF 003 
 
 
implement oral trials in the state on a large scale, and to this 
end is in the processing of opening an office locally. (Note: 
USAID administers funding for MSI, which is headquartered in Mexico 
City.  End note.) 
 
 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Ortiz acknowledged that local bar associations were key 
to overcoming attorney resistance to moving the country from a 
written to an oral trial system.  He observed that reaching 
attorneys would be laborious - Nuevo Leon, for example, has 2 main 
bar associations and 28 smaller ones.  However, he believed that 
helping university law schools develop new training courses as well 
as on-line instruction, has -- and will continue to help -- reach 
many attorneys.  (Comment:  Many cases adjudicated under Mexico's 
written trial system have lingered for years, often posing undue 
financial and emotional burden on litigants and eroding public 
confidence in a vaguely understood, opaque judicial system.  Courts 
have even had to dismiss some cases because key witnesses died 
during the years it took to decide cases.  For those cases in which 
the oral trial system has already been implemented in Nuevo Leon, 
the length of trials has been dramatically shortened and greater 
transparency has been added to the process.  End comment.) 
 
 
 
Drug Courts 
 
---------------- 
 
 
 
¶12.  (C) Nuevo Leon, under the administration of former Governor 
Jose Natividad Gonzalez Paras and in conjunction with the federal 
Attorney General's Office (PGR), committed to the implementation of 
a drug court pilot program, whereby instead of receiving jail time 
those apprehended for drug use are diverted to treatment and 
rehabilitation centers.  Under ONDCP and INL auspices, USG 
officials conducted training of local judicial officials in August 
¶2009.  The program, however, has yet to be endorsed by new Governor 
Medina and remains in limbo.  (Comment:  Post believes the Medina 
administration is not hostile to this initiative but lost focus on 
the program in the flurry of activity inherent in establishing a 
new state government.  End comment.)  Indeed, on January 25 
Secretary of Government Javier Trevino -- in effect, the Governor's 
deputy - told Consul General that he felt that the drug court 
initiative would eventually be given the green light to move 
forward. 
 
 
 
Comment 
 
------------- 
 
 
 
¶13.  (C) While the new state government appears determined to put a 
home-grown face on its anti-crime initiative, it has been receptive 
to USG outreach, particularly the COLP program and police training 
programs.  Kidnapping prevention is the core reason that the heads 
of some of Monterrey's most influential companies founded Ramos' 
Planning Consultants.  The business sector continues to offer its 
support where needed.  For instance, in the absence of a modern 
state police training academy, the FEMSA corporation - one of the 
city's most successful firms - is making its state-of-the-art 
security training facilities available to state personnel. 
Nonetheless, no matter what the level of outside support, either 
from the private sector or the USG, reforming the state's 
corruption-riddled criminal justice institutions is a long-term 
proposition that will take considerable time, effort and resources. 
WILLIAMSON