Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A victim is a victim, and survivors are demanding justice for these crimes that are approaching nearly a decade of impunity. Too few cases are solved, and there are reports of little attention given to the victims -- and they are widespread. Much of the inattention to the cases and the lack of follow-up are blamed on incompetence, lack of training, corruption and politics. In contrast, the drug cartels and their hierarchies have, on occasion, suffered the wrath of what the Mexican military and federal police have bestowed upon them. Although being a journalist in Mexico is a dangerous profession, with scores having been abducted, tortured and/or murdered, many journalists have focused their reporting on cartel nomenclature, the areas under organized crime control, and the personalities of the drug kingpins and their lifestyles. Many of the upper echelons of leadership within the drug trade receive celebrity status within regions, some are praised for their generosity, and there are those who are even welcomed and supported in the same localities where they have committed atrocities. In Mexico, deputy interior secretary for human rights Lia Limon, in late February of this year, acknowledged a submission by Human Rights Watch regarding 27,000 cases of disappeared people. As well, there were demands to clarify the circumstances under which the abducted vanished. In particular, mothers and parents across Mexico are describing years of armed abductions of daughters who have never been seen again. In frustration, coalitions of mothers of abducted children of all ages have begun to do their own investigations where police have failed to do so. In a climate of perceived lawlessness, and with alarming levels of violence and failures to arrest and convict to achieve justice, there is considerable distrust of the authorities. Few
cases go to trial and convictions are scarce. Too, a lack of transparency on the part of police and prosecutors about the status of pending cases and investigations certainly undermines confidence. This is certainly not good news for the immediate future for Mexicos fight against transnational organized criminals, and smaller home-based gang confederates and hatchet men, regardless of whether they are drug affiliated or not. If they are not being arrested, not tried in courts of law or incarcerated, they remain fluid and deadly enemies against the state. In this scenario, a military would need to continue to sustain the fight for an indeterminate time. Joaquin El Chapo Guzmans recent arrest was widely celebrated by the world media. Some Mexican citizens actually could not believe that Guzman, seen as a shrewd and elusive businessman by some, was caught. Others expressed opinions to leave the drug traffickers alone. Sadly, few reported the suspected numbers of deaths and carnage Guzmans reign is responsible for. As well, the media and pundits were quick to speculate who may maneuver to take control, and what areas of Mexico the criminal organizations would fight for. However, the victims in Mexico remain silent on the posturing, simply asking for justice and an official and reliable accounting of their losses. Justice and the rule of law to prevail require a skilled policing and investigative infrastructure with competent professional leadership and oversight. Mexico has lacked this necessity for decades. Since the late 1980s it is believed that more than 500 women had been murdered in the state of Chihuahua. Many simply disappeared. The creation of a Special Prosecutors Office in 1998, to investigate the murders of women in Juarez and the State of Chihuahua, failed to achieve the expectations for much needed
changes. Adding further insult to injury, many of the victims families claimed they were treated very despicably by the previous Chihuahua administration. They felt that authorities, in public statements, displayed open discrimination against the women and their families. In many of the statements the women themselves were blamed for their own fatal circumstances President Pea Nieto's security policy prioritizes the reduction of violence. He claims his focus is on lowering murder rates, kidnappings and extortions. Yet these goals will be monumental tasks without successful prosecution, and equally frustrating for all of the ignored victims who have been suffering for decades as they have received neither answers nor justice. Jerry Brewer is C.E.O. of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global threat mitigation firm headquartered in northern Virginia. His website is located at www.cjiausa.org. TWITTER: CJIAUSA Jerry Brewer Published Archives