Mexican Politics free essay sample

However, since the geographic extension of crisis in Tijuana is a matter of national security, federal help had to come in action. This is the time when change came from the previous President, Felipe Calderon. He ordered commander militaries to transform, internally, the police corporation of Tijuana, and gave Julian Leyzaola the position of Secretary of Municipal Public Security. I believe my thesis holds true that the Secretary of Municipal Public Security made internal change reducing corruption, delinquency, and created public confidence to help the democratization process of Mexico through the armed and military force in Tijuana, Baja California. Tijuana is a municipality of the state of Baja California and plays an important role in the democratization of Mexico. Tijuana is located in one of the most metropolitan areas of the country, and along with San Diego, California they form the greatest transnational metropolitan zone of Mexico. According to Wikipedia, â€Å"The 2012 population of the region was 5,271,078, making it the largest bi-national conurbation shared between the United States and Mexico and the third largest in the world† (Wikipedia, 2013). Tijuana borders with San Ysidro, California and together form the most transited border of the country. Thus, it is a vulnerable entrance point for illegal trafficking of drugs, which has been one of Mexico’s greatest issues. The relationship between the United States and Mexico grew closer after NAFTA and caused drug trafficking to become a real problem to both nations. However, the bond between Mexico and U. S became closer as Mexico encountered in a war against drug cartels and Mexico’s independent functionalism was challenged especially in the Municipally of Tijuana. Since former President Fox took office and the PAN came to power, it created an opening opportunity for the U. S to have intervention in Mexico’s domestic issues. Later, the Merida Initiative of Felipe Calderon in 2006 allowed the U. S intervention to become greater. Then, in 2012 when Enrique Pena Nieto came to power, the PRI criticized Felipe Calderon for â€Å"giving away† Mexico’s sovereignty. Roderic Camp writes that â€Å"on the local level, in various rural municipalities, drug cartels have threatened municipal leaders and police such an extent that they are no longer functioning independently, or they have abandoned their positions all together† (Camp, pp. 16). This is why during the administration of President Felipe Calderon, the war on drugs was enforced and help from the United States took place in many Municipalities throughout the country. Agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have played an important role in the war against the Mexican drug cartels. The bi-national relationship then questions the relationship between Mexico and U. S on how far Mexico can go with or without U. S intervention to secure its citizens. According to Daniel Levy and Kathleen Bruhn, â€Å"Closeness with the United States has become central to Mexico’s self-interest; in addition Mexico has some incentive to fight drug cartels even without U. S pressure† (Levy and Bruhn, 2006). Thus, Mexico’s sovereignty is an important factor to be secured, but the alliance from both governments to fight against the cartels helps Mexico self-interest of domestic security to its citizens, which could be more important. Levy and Bruhn also argue that Mexico has been doing a lot more in regards of fixing its drug problem than what the U. S public opinion may think. In the other hand, William Booth argues that U. S government attitudes towards a violent Mexico have changed in beneficiating Mexico from U. S economic help. The U. S public opinion is that Mexico does not make a real effort on fighting the drug cartels, but Bruhn and Levy argue the contrary. Mexico in fact, â€Å"Compared with all other Latin American drug-producing nations, Mexico spends t highest percentage of its national budget, including the majority of its justice ministry budget, on fighting drugs† (Levy and Bruhn page, 218-219). Booth adds that in fact, the U. S has given a lot of support to Felipe Calderon with not only police enforcement, but also $1. 4 billion aid package from the U. S budget (Booth, 2010). In the state level, The Secretary of Public Security of Baja California, has as main objective to safeguard the integrity and rights of the people of Baja California. The Secretary of Public Security of Baja California, is the state government agency responsible for coordinating all efforts to achieve a safe state in which social harmony prevail in an atmosphere of peace, respect, moral, trust and social peace. This all based on efficient and coordinated participation of all governmental sectors and the active and committed participation of society. As well as their liberties, order and peace, through the implementation of a comprehensive policy of public safety and social life. Also developed under intergovernmental coordination axes, fighting crime, corporate reengineering and public safety, with the joint participation of all sectors of society (Secretaria de Seguridad Publica de Baja California. Web 2013). In help for a more democratic Mexican government, the Secretary of Public Municipal Security of Tijuana is making emphasis in preventive action and restructure of the public security strategy by reducing corruption. There are five main roles that the Secretary of Public Security is doing to help democratize Mexico, especially in Tijuana, in ensuring public security by reducing organized crimes and violence. The first task is to deeply restructure the modernization of the Secretary of Municipal Public Security. Second, achievement to increase the citizen participation to supervise the functionalism of the police system. Third, the creation of campaigns to prevent crime, especially against drug addiction, drug and human trafficking, and many more. Fourth, stimulation of the social participation through community and between neighbors. Fifth, creating greater campaigns focusing in the rehabilitation of drug addicts (XX Ayuntamiento de Tijuana, 2013). The mission of the Secretary of Public Security of Tijuana is to â€Å"honor and strengthen the trust of the community through the promotion of participatory culture: encouraging the culture of complaint and by involving all Tijuanenses in crime prevention strategies, all this, in the framework of the Comprehensive Public Safety and Social Affairs† (XX Ayuntamiento de Tijuana. Web 2013). Also, the working tools of the Secretary of Public Security are concentrated on humanist service, steward and subsidiary to the attention of the challenges and priorities of citizens. Police Officers are structured by five main standards, which are legality, honesty, responsibility, loyalty, and humanism. (Official Meza, 2013). The Secretary of Municipal Public Security gets its monetary resources from the Subsidio Para la Seguridad Publica Municipal (SUBSEMUN)/Grant for Municipal Security, a federal agency. The SUBSEMUN objective is to â€Å"Establish operational mechanics of the program to carry out the professionalization of police forces in the municipalities, moving toward a new model of police operation† (SEGOB, 2013). With the resources and regulations of the SUBSEMUN, the municipal corporations are changing in become a more professional carrier. The professionalism of the municipal operative elements is composed by completion and approval of seven tests: 1. Psychometric: Personality, intelligence and adaptability to the post, 2. Toxicology (five substances), 3. Medical: general health and biometrics, 4. Equity and social environment (interview and instruments), 5. Trust: test values and degrees to contests and controls, polygraph, 6. Knowledge and skills of policing and 7. Basic computer parcels (SEGOB, 2013). One of the most notable leaders in the Municipal police force of Tijuana is the previous Secretary of Public Security of Tijuana, Julian Leyzaola. Leyzaola was born in Culiacan, Sinaloa and started his carrier in the military when he got enlisted as infantryman at 16 years old in Mexicali, Baja California. Leyzaola worked his way up and although, he is now a retired military, he is now the Secretary of Municipal Public Security in Ciudad Juarez. Leyzaola first maintained the same position at Tijuana beginning in December 10, 2008 to late 2012. He was appointed to the position by the previous President Felipe Calderon. The Major of Ciudad Juarez, Hector Murguia, who describes Leyzaola â€Å"as a man who gives results† invited Leyzaola to â€Å"clean† Ciudad Juarez as he did with Tijuana. In Tijuana Leyzaola targeted the organized crime and fought against police corruption resulting in a decrease from 6,500 crimes per month to 4,000. (Diaz Favela, 2011). Leyzaola’s work has been recognized by the U. S in several occasions, but also criticized by the public opinion and other Police Officers. According to William Finnegan, â€Å"The mayor of San Diego praised Leyzaola, and the Los Angeles Times called his work a model for the kind of law enforcement muscle the Mexican government needs to battle organized crime† (Finnegan, 2010). Since Leyzaola main goal was to clean the police corporation from corruption, he gave the example to police officers, which according to Elliot Spagat, Leyzola â€Å"rejected an $80,000-a-week offer from an emissary of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lord, Joeaquin â€Å"El Chapo† Guzman† (Spagat, 27. Nov. 2010). Other police officers and the Human Rights Ombudsman of the state of Baja California do not see him as Tijuana’s hero. They see him as a person who tortures suspicious officers as a way to find the truth and solve the corruption problem. A military veteran who was arrested for suspicious involvement with drug traffickers, Jorge Sanchez, revealed that he got tortured and questioned by orders of Leyzola. According to Spagat, Sanchez said that, â€Å"a plastic bag was placed over his mouth three times while his eyes were covered with tape, and he was punched in the stomach† (Spagat, 2010). Also, other police officers arrested by Leyzaola for corruption have been released for lack of evidence and for claiming that they got tortured while in custody. Leyzaola responded that critics existed, because they disapproved of his â€Å"get-tough approach. In an interview with CNN Mexico, he addressed to critics who characterize him as violent by saying, â€Å"They are wrong and should not to be confusing strict enforcement of the law with repression or torture. † In responding to the violence including the many deaths in Tijuana, since he became chief police officer, Leyzola said, â€Å"If the cartels understand o nly the language of violence, then we are going to have to speak in their language and annihilate them† (Finnegan, 2010). Mexico has become a very violent country, because of the drug cartels and the fact that Felipe Calderon declared a war against them, worsened the situation even more. According to William Booth, â€Å"Calderon and his supporters point out that most of the more than 17,000 people killed in the country’s drug war have been narcotics traffickers and other criminals, though the Security Commission of the Mexican Senate reports that among the dead are 620 women, 1500 police officers and 87 soldiers. † Booth does criticize Mexico’s bad enforcement from Calderon’s drug war with death statistics to show that Mexico has not been reducing the drug related crimes and have been killing innocent people. However, although the U. S government tries to help the Mexican government fight the drug war, the strong demand of drugs coming from the U. S will not permit it. Levy and Bruhn say that â€Å"Mexicans drug control efforts are inadequate largely because they can neither solve the U. S (demand) side of the problem nor escape the economic and geographical forces that carry the problem to Mexico. Inadequacy does not mostly reflect lack of good intent. † (Levy and Bruhn page, pp. 220-221). Corruption is not only coming from Mexico, but the term â€Å"corruption† also applies to U. S as well. The corruption comes from the U. S society that demands drugs and the allowance of failing to stop drug trafficking coming to the country. In order for Mexico to be successful in the democratization process, corruption needs to be reduced, which has been the attempt of many Mexican presidents. During the fox administration, in a three year period, 3,000 police officers were arrested and 5,000 bureaucrats were sanctioned or fired (Levy and Bruhn, pp. 138). This are good figures, but other Presidents like Salinas who did sanction corrupt figures still had preference for other corrupt people who he did not approach nor questioned them. Mexican scholars believe that corruption is the glue that holds the Mexican system together (Levy and Bruh, pp. 137). Mexico is full of corruption and according to Levy and Bruhn, â€Å"corruption may also help the system’s stability, in that poorly paid public workers can argument their incomes to decent levels† (Levy and Bruh, pp. 137). Out of Fox’s â€Å"anti-corruption czar† there was an estimate that 9% of Mexico’s GDP came from corruption bribes (Levy and Bruh, pp. 137). Also, during the Zedillo administration, the Attorney General estimated that 80% of federal police was engaged in corruption (Levy and Bruh, pp. 37). As from the public opinion, polls have showed many times that one of the major concerns is the police corruption. The city and public security changed by putting military commanders to transform the police corporation. In my interview with Veronica Meza, a Police Officer in Tijuana rank A, I found out that Police Officers felt th e internal change within the police corporation when Leyzaola became Secretary of Municipal Public Security of Tijuana. Officer Meza says that the change was dramatically. Officer Meza states that the Leyzaola administration arrested over 200 police officers from Tijuana known as mangueras or corrupt and were taken to Nayarid and Mexico City to be investigated (Officer Meza, 2013). In Tijuana, they call mangueras to those Police Officers that are part of la mana or the hoax, knack, trick, or simply doing corruption. Those are few of the internal key words that Police Officers use to describe certain members within their corporation and the code for la mana is â€Å"10-10. † Police Officers who are part of la mana are receiving orders from drug lords and corrupt politicians. Meza says that the effect done from Leyzaola was not a bad one, but only for those police officer that were not involved with la mana, like herself. She says, â€Å"Leyzola helped us a lot, because we started doing our job better and any Police Officer who messed up got arrested. Before Leyzaola, any Police Officer who messed up, would not got arrested and got away, because when we questioned their wrong behavior, they will simply answer, â€Å"10-10, I am doing my job, don’t get involved† while carrying submachine guns, and unfortunately we couldn’t do anything. Well, Leyzola came to clean all that† (Officer Meza, 2013). In a recent FBI tribute to praise Leyzaola’s accomplishments, he told a group of Police Officers in Tijuana, â€Å"If I don’t stay, I hope that you continue to work with loyalty and honor. I hope our mission doesn’t change and that we don’t return to ways of the past. † In the other hand, Officer Meza argues that, unfortunately, everything is changing back again with the current Mexican President. Officer Meza says, â€Å"All this was done only while the sexennial of the Felipe Calderon Administration, but now that Enrique Pena Nieto became president, things are changing back as before. Now, things are not the same, because the PRI is in power, and the PRI is very quiet involved with la mana. You know, drug lords† (Officer Meza, 2013). However, Still under PRI rule, police officers are enforcing the Turnacion por cohecho, turnation for bribery law. Official Meza states that the great majority of police officers in Tijuana are arresting people for bribery ending in a less corrupt Secretary of Municipal Public Security. Contrary to the United States, Mexico has been known for having a government full of corruption and dishonesty from politicians and police corporations. Due to the high level of crimes in the country, the municipal police corporations have been the most vulnerable, because this corporations have not been yet prepared nor have been designed to handle crimes of high impact. The same thing happened in Tijuana were the crime rate was so high that President Calderon had to make immediate action. The new strategy for the public security corporation emerged by enforcing the support of military forces to the Municipally of Tijuana. Armed forces brought strict procedures to make internal change in the Secretary of Municipal Public Security. Without doubt, Tijuana made substantial change in coordination of operation actions, structure of commanders, control and public confidence by reducing corruption, as well as capacitation and professionalism of the police force under Leyzaola’s command. The cleaning of corruption in the police force continues to be the most important changes of the police corporation. Also, the professionalism of the police corporation has been the greatest success accomplished, because Tijuanenses feel safe and are more willing to cooperate with the police corporation. Thus, the Secretary of Municipal Public Security of Tijuana helped create a more democratic Mexico under the command of Julian Leyzaola by reducing police corruption and increasing public confidence towards the police corporation. Bibliography Booth, William. â€Å"U. S to Embed Agents in Mexican Law Enforcement Units Battling Cartels in ? Juarez. † The Washington Post. 2 Feb. 2010. â€Å"Conocenos/ About Us† Secretaria de Seguridad Publica de Baja California/ Secretary of Public ? Security of Baja California. Undersecretariat of the State System of Public Security. 15 ? May. 2013. Web 12 May. 2013. Diaz Favela, Veronica. Julian Leyzaola, El Policia Polemico Que Quiere Darle Seguridad a ? Juarez. † CNN Mexico. 29 Nov. 2011. Finnegan, William. â€Å"In the Name of the Law: A Colonel Cracks Down on Corruption. † The New ? Yorker. 18 Oct. 2010. Levy, Daniel C and Bruhn, Kathleen â€Å"Bilateral Issues† Mexico: The Struggle for Democratic ? Development. 2nd Edition. University of California Press, 2006. pp 112-148. Book. Levy, Daniel C and Bruhn, Kathleen â€Å"Difficult Democracy† Mexico: The Struggle for ? Democratic Development. 2nd Edition. University of California Press, 2006. pp 136-138. ?Book. Meza, Veronica. Personal interview. Apr. 2013 â€Å"San Diego-Tijuana. † Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. , 29 Apr. ?2013. Web. 10 May 2010. â€Å"Seguridad Publica/Public Security. † XX Ayuntamiento de Tijuana/ XX City Council of Tijuana. ?Direccion Municipal de Informatica/ Municipal Department of Computing. 7 Apr. 2013. ?Web 12 May. 2013 Spagat, Elliot. â€Å"Tijuana Top Cop Who Fought Cartels is Out of a Job. † NBCNews. 27 Nov. 2010. â€Å"Subsidio Para la Seguridad Publica Municipal (SUBSEMUN)/ Grant for Municipal Security. † ? Secretaria de Gobernacion (SEGOB). Comision Nacional de Seguridad. 2013. Web. 12 ? May 2013.