http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/miami/16635.html

Soberanes says Fox failed on crime
Wire services
El Universal
Martes 17 de enero de 2006
Miami Herald, página 1

President Vicente Fox´s administration has shown itself to be ineffective in battling crime, the nation´s human rights ombudsman said Monday.

"Neither life, nor safety, nor property, which are fundamental rights, are being protected properly," said José Luis Soberanes, head of the autonomous National Commission on Human Rights, or CNDH.

Each new administration tries to correct the shortcomings of its predecessor, Soberanes said in a speech marking the presentation of his office´s report on the state of public safety in the nation.

"In nearly 15 years the number of federal plans and programs to confront crime has surpassed a dozen," the ombudsman said, asserting that at least half of those initiatives represented attempts to remedy earlier failed efforts.

Referring to the 16 nationwide conferences of state and federal prosecutors held since 1996, Soberanes said that officials could not point to any comprehensive evaluation indicating that those gatherings had led to "genuine and significant reductions in the dramatically rising incidence of crime."

"No one in his right mind could say that the aggravated public situation ... is due to a small budget" for crime-fighting, the ombudsman said, noting that federal spending on law enforcement skyrocketed from US$26 million in 1994 to US$1.27 billion currently.

Turning to Fox, whose six-year term will end in December, Soberanes said the administration´s half-hearted commitment to making Mexico safer ensured that its four successive security plans had no chance of succeeding.

Specifically, the CNDH report highlighted an "alarming" gap between the number of arrest warrants issued by courts and those that were actually carried out, and blamed weak oversight for allowing corruption and abuse of power to flourish in the country´s numerous law-enforcement agencies.

The text also contains 16 recommendations to improve the situation, including the creation of a national fingerprint database and the establishment of rigorous training programs for police.

During its 15 years in existence, the CNDH´s reports have resulted in disciplinary action against more than 1,000 police and public officials, but in only 324 cases were criminal charges filed.

A survey released last week showed that three of every 10 households in Mexico City were touched by crime in 2004, and that violence was a factor in 10 percent of all offenses.

The survey found that while Mexico as a whole experiences 11,246 crimes per 100,000 residents, the figure is much higher in big cities, soaring to 25,655 in Culiacan, 22,827 in Tijuana, 21,227 in Guadalajara, 20,911 in Acapulco and 20,525 in Mexico City.

Also disclosed last week were the results of the annual nationwide poll conducted by opinion research firm Consulta Mitofsky, which showed that for the first time in six years, crime surpassed the economy as Mexicans´ chief worry.

Despite the Fox administration´s launch last year of the "Safe Mexico" plan, involving joint operations by the army and police against drug cartels, the country saw more than 1,400 killings described as related to organized crime.