Impunity in Mexico: 49 toddlers die in fire, officials absolved

That´s how it works here.

You can imagine how the justice system would have reacted in the U.S. if 49 children had been killed in a fire at a day-care center.

Mexico´s Supreme Court recently voted to absolve high-level officials of responsibility. A New York Times story quoted the reaction of legal affairs columnist Miguel Carbonell, who wrote in El Universal newspaper:

The surest thing is that the case ends as almost everything ends in Mexico: in oblivion and the most absolute impunity.

The Times story added:

In all, 23 people have been charged in the case and all of them are out on bail, said Lorenzo Ramos Félix, a lawyer for the victims’ families.

Except for the center’s four owners, all of the accused are low-level municipal, state and federal employees. “Neither the government nor the court wants to take a high-ranking official to trial,” Mr. Ramos said.

Families of the victims posted the Times story on their website, which is part of their campaign to seek justice.

Among the owners of the day-care center are a cousin of Mexico´s first lady as well as party and state officials and their spouses. It is no accident that those with political connections get contracts for these centers: they receive government payments for each child cared for. It´s guaranteed income.

Impunity for crimes against reporters

A similar impunity exists in crimes against journalists, which have been on the rise in Mexico.

We offer a course for Mexican journalists in how to protect themselves while covering drug trafficking and corruption. The journalists tell us that the institutions that are supposed to protect them, such as the courts, police and regulators, are sometimes in league with the criminals who threaten them.

This week there a ceremony in Tijuana honored journalist Francisco Ortiz Franco, who was murdered six years ago. According to a statement released by the Inter American Press Association:

Ortiz Franco was killed in front of two of his children as he was about to get into his car. A masked man, believed to be from the Arellano Félix cartel, shot him four times at point-blank range. Since then, despite the initial mobilization of justice authorities and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the case has suffered numerous irregularities and today remains completely unpunished.

The complete statement is here.

This article describes Mexico as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.

In the past 18 months, the facilities of five media outlets have been attacked with gunfire or grenades, according to the Centro Nacional de Comunicación Social. So far this year at least 13 journalists have been attacked or killed.

A rising political star assassinated by narcos

“The slaying of a rising political star is ascribed to his refusal to have any contact with drug traffickers.” -- LA Times

MEXICO CITY -- Until he was gunned down over the weekend, Salvador Vergara Cruz was a man of some influence with a promising future in his political party. Mayor of an important resort town outside Mexico City, and a close confidant of his state's governor, Vergara apparently felt sufficiently at ease to travel without a specially assigned team of bodyguards despite receiving death threats from purported drug lords.

The 34-year-old Vergara was killed by hooded assassins armed with semiautomatic rifles as he drove with other officials toward his home city of Ixtapan de la Sal on Saturday afternoon.

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The Interamerican Press Association recently came out with a report on the status of press freedom in Mexico. It´s a very dangerous place to work.

Update: The latest issue of the Economist tells why it´s so hard to root out corruption. The highest authorities are involved, just as in the movie Traffic.

The arrest of senior officials shows the government’s resolve in fighting drug traffickers—and that the rot in law enforcement reaches the top

AT LAST the government seemed to be enjoying some success in its battle against the drug gangs. On October 25th Eduardo Arellano Félix, a leader of the Tijuana “cartel”, was arrested, the last of five brothers still at large who had run what was once one of the world’s most powerful trafficking syndicates. Tijuana has been the scene of a vicious battle between drug factions and the security forces, with over 150 murders in the past month alone. Mr Arellano (pictured above) was captured by Mexican officials acting on information from the United States’ Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the US Marshals Service. It was an example of the kind of co-operation that officials in both countries hope will bring success for the crackdown against the drug gangs launched by Felipe Calderón when he took office as Mexico’s president almost two years ago.

But only two days later came news of more worrying recent arrests, those of two top officials at the attorney-general’s office who were among those supposedly leading the crackdown. Miguel Colorado González was in charge of assigning police to organised-crime investigations; Fernando Rivera Hernández was one of his deputies, in charge of intelligence. Three more junior officials were also indicted, and 30 were fired pending further investigation. According to investigators, the arrested officials had been passing information to the Sinaloa cartel, a more powerful rival to the Tijuana mob. They had received up to $450,000 a month in bribes, in some cases going back several years.

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