Thread: U.S. Anti-Drug Plan Would Recast Legal System in Mexico

U.S. Anti-Drug Plan Would Recast Legal System in Mexico
By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, November 18, 2007; A18

MEXICO CITY -- The Bush administration's proposed counternarcotics aid package for Mexico would set in motion a vast reengineering of the country's justice system, revamping the legal education process, creating a network of court clerks and helping to write new laws, according to two summaries obtained by The Washington Post.

The $500 million plan would also fund anti-drug and human rights campaigns and new citizen complaint centers. It would provide money for efforts to develop "centers of moral authority" and for media campaigns to create "a culture of lawfulness."

Under the plan, which has drawn criticism from some on Capitol Hill, officials from the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Prisons would conduct training sessions and military officers would provide instruction related to aircraft.

Nearly every sector of Mexico's federal justice system would receive a slice of the proposed aid, with millions being doled out for equipment and training for prosecutors, federal police, prison managers and customs inspectors. It would also give birth to new institutions: Money has been set aside, for instance, to help establish a training academy for drug-sniffing dogs and their handlers.

Bush proposed the package Oct. 22, announcing its inclusion in a supplementary war spending bill. The aid was requested by the Mexican government, which has been struggling to contain a war among drug cartels that are blamed for more than 4,000 killings in the past 18 months. If approved by the U.S. Congress, the package would represent a landmark in relations between the two countries, which often have failed to coordinate counternarcotics efforts.

About 40 percent of the aid package would go to the Mexican military, which would receive helicopters, planes and ion scanners, which detect traces of drugs. The military, which President Felipe Calder¿n is deploying in anti-drug offensives, has been accused of human rights violations by several international organizations, complicating its inclusion in the deal.

The U.S. effort to sell the plan in Mexico, where there is an ongoing debate about whether the military should be involved in drug campaigns, has been hampered by inaccurate reports in Mexican media that 60 percent of the package would go to the Mexican army and navy.

The Mexican attorney general's office would receive more than $70 million for an array of projects, including forensics labs and anti-corruption training, as well as for armored vehicles for 30 prosecutors and 13 investigators. Much of that money would also go to upgrade computer systems and provide training. An existing program that allows Mexican and U.S. prosecutors working in parts of the border area to share information would be extended along the full length of the border.

The Mexican federal police force -- which stands to receive more than $39 million -- would get $2 million to establish or upgrade investigative units that would specialize in gangs, organized crime or money laundering. It would also get millions for polygraph machines that would be used in vetting officers and for training programs as it tries to meet a goal of adding 8,000 investigators in the next two years.

The plan proposes helping to "develop appropriate legislation," which some analysts believe could be perceived as an attempt by the United States to dictate Mexican laws. It also calls for U.S. officials to help develop "substantive legislation on forfeiting assets that have been used to commit crimes or which are the proceeds of crime." Asset forfeiture is a controversial topic in Mexico, where a complex formula determines how drug money is spread among government agencies. Recently, a $200 million drug forfeiture in Mexico City devolved into bickering between Mexican agencies and accusations that the federal government did not provide a full accounting of the seizure.

Beyond detailing the multi-pronged plan, the documents present the fullest explanation to date of its goals and give insights about which institutions the U.S. government sees as best able to attack the drug problem.

In one instance, the document states that Mexico's military, known by its Spanish-language initials SEDENA, is better suited to interdict drug shipments, especially those in remote areas, than the Mexican federal police or the customs agency.

"SEDENA's role in interdiction fills a gap that no other agency can match," one of the documents says.

The plan endorses some shifts in strategy, including conducting inspections in the country's interior to prevent arms trafficking. As many as 2,000 weapons are smuggled from the United States into Mexico each day, according to a Mexican government estimate. Currently, Mexican inspectors primarily focus on land borders and seaports.

Arms trafficking has long been a sensitive subject. U.S. officials appear reluctant to draw attention to the flow of guns into Mexico because of concerns that the United States, already blamed for creating the drug market that makes Mexican cartels rich, will also be blamed for arming them. But talks on the aid package have brought more attention to the problem.

In a Capitol Hill hearing last week, Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), ranking minority member on the Foreign Relations Committee, urged lawmakers to ensure that the U.S. aid includes provisions to stop the flow of guns into Mexico. "We do not want to create a self-defeating situation in which a critical foreign assistance program meant to assist a neighbor and enhance U.S. security is being undercut by an illegal flow of weapons originating from within our own borders," Lugar said.

The documents include unusually blunt criticisms of Mexico, with one declaring that "there is widespread popular distrust within Mexico for its law enforcement institutions."

In justifying $15 million for training prosecutors and developing a system of court clerks, the document states that "the current court management system is inefficient and ripe for corruption."

Corruption is a theme that runs throughout the plan. Nearly $29 million would be spent on hardware and software to support an ongoing attorney general's office reform project intended to "help eliminate impunity, delays and injustices of the current system." An additional $2 million would be set aside for the training of attorney general's office internal affairs units to "help reduce corruption."

Federal Bureau of Prisons officials would be sent to Mexico for training aimed at helping Mexican officials "assert control over the prisons," where some drug kingpins are said to live in luxurious cells and run their crime empires from behind bars.

"The Mexican federal prison system," one of the documents says, "is plagued by overcrowding, limited alternatives to incarceration, and is facing challenges created by prisoners involved in narco-trafficking."

While the documents provide a trove of details about the drug plan, some areas are not fully fleshed out. Half a million dollars would be set aside for media campaigns designed to create a "culture of lawfulness" and for helping nongovernmental organizations develop "centers of moral authority." But the document does not define a center of moral authority.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 98_pf.html

NAU in the making.

I agree otherwise why would it be our duty to finance Mexico and their re-invention. Like it will do alot of good.

I cannot believe in any program that gives money to Mexico FOR ANY REASON!!!!!

We should tell Calderon: "Get your illegals out of our country, then we are speaking terms again."

Originally Posted by zeezil

U.S. Anti-Drug Plan Would Recast Legal System in Mexico
By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, November 18, 2007; A18

MEXICO CITY -- The Bush administration's proposed counternarcotics aid package for Mexico would set in motion a vast reengineering of the country's justice system, revamping the legal education process, creating a network of court clerks and helping to write new laws, according to two summaries obtained by The Washington Post.

The $500 million plan would also fund anti-drug and human rights campaigns and new citizen complaint centers. It would provide money for efforts to develop "centers of moral authority" and for media campaigns to create "a culture of lawfulness."


The Mexican attorney general's office would receive more than $70 million The Mexican federal police force -- which stands to receive more than $39 million -- would get $2 million to establish or upgrade investigative units that would specialize in gangs, organized crime or money laundering. It would also get millions for polygraph machines that would be used in vetting officers and for training programs as it tries to meet a goal of adding 8,000 investigators in the next two years.


In justifying $15 million for training prosecutors and developing a system of court clerks, the document states that "the current court management system is inefficient and ripe for corruption."

Nearly $29 million would be spent on hardware and software to support an ongoing attorney general's office reform project intended to "help eliminate impunity, delays and injustices of the current system." An additional $2 million would be set aside for the training of attorney general's office internal affairs units to "help reduce corruption."


" Half a million dollars would be set aside for media campaigns designed to create a "culture of lawfulness" and for helping nongovernmental organizations develop "centers of moral authority." But the document does not define a center of moral authority.

OMG this needs to go to Lou Dobbs. I'm stunned. Funny, I was under the assumption we are BROKE. How about using that money in the Iraq War, then bring home the troops to annihilate these bastards. This is out of control. I think Bush need a competency test, FOR REAL!!

NEVER MIND THE TEST TO SEE IF HE IS COMPETENT, I CAN TELL YOU RIGHT NOW THE MAN IS INSANE. WHY IS CONGRESS PUTTING UP WITH THIS B-----D IN THE FIRST PLACE? BUSH IS BY FAR THE ABSOLUTE WORSE PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY. AND BECAUSE OF HIM, AMERICANS ARE HATED BY PEOPLE FROM A LOT OF OTHER COUNTRIES. AS AMERICAN CITIZENS, DO WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO IMPEACH BUSH SINCE THE PEOPLE WE SEND TO WASHINGTON DON'T SEEM TO HAVE THE GUTS TO DO SO? THIS IS SO WRONG. VICTIMS OF KATRINA AND THOSE WHO LOST SO MUCH DURING THE FIRES IN CALIFORNIA NEED THAT MONEY FAR MORE THAN MEXICO. BUSH HAS HIS PRIORITIES IN THE WRONG PLACE AND HIS HEAD UP MEXICO'S A--!

Originally Posted by LadyStClaire

NEVER MIND THE TEST TO SEE IF HE IS COMPETENT, I CAN TELL YOU RIGHT NOW THE MAN IS INSANE. WHY IS CONGRESS PUTTING UP WITH THIS B-----D IN THE FIRST PLACE? BUSH IS BY FAR THE ABSOLUTE WORSE PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY. AND BECAUSE OF HIM, AMERICANS ARE HATED BY PEOPLE FROM A LOT OF OTHER COUNTRIES. AS AMERICAN CITIZENS, DO WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO IMPEACH BUSH SINCE THE PEOPLE WE SEND TO WASHINGTON DON'T SEEM TO HAVE THE GUTS TO DO SO? THIS IS SO WRONG. VICTIMS OF KATRINA AND THOSE WHO LOST SO MUCH DURING THE FIRES IN CALIFORNIA NEED THAT MONEY FAR MORE THAN MEXICO. BUSH HAS HIS PRIORITIES IN THE WRONG PLACE AND HIS HEAD UP MEXICO'S A--! :roll: :roll:

Some good news I read the other day. Other countries, except the muslim ones, like Americans ans America, but hate Bush. Thankfully they can see that WE are not HE!

Something has to give America can't take another year of this crap, hopefully.

MORRRE MONNNNEY!!! Good grief where does it end, can't do anything about medical for Americans, no money to build the fence or enforce the laws in LA or other big cities, no money for 287g program, I could go on but it would do any gooooood!!! ( 9 trilllllion in debt ),
Yet Mexico has the money to set up a parliment and run adds on national tv to try to make us believe how wonderful their citizens are. Pleasssseeeee!!!!

Somebody please gag Bush until he gets out of office, we can not handle much more of this,I swear I hate the man for what he is doing to this country, and our pocket books, how about discussing this with the American people.

Tell the Mexican elite to fund the program. Why is all our money flowing southward?

I agree it is time Bush was gone he has done nothing to help this country,He will do all he can to help the illegals and the Mexican GVT which has to stop, the money he has wasted on Mexico could go a long way to help the poor and disadvataged American citizens .. MAD AS HECK