Mexico to get serious about rule of law?

Houston Chronicle:

Mexico's top criminal prosecutors met in Chihuahua state Friday to begin wrestling with the devilish details of an ambitious new national anti-crime crusade.

"The only thing that can't happen is losing the battle against organized crime," Eduardo Medina Mora, the federal attorney general, told top prosecutors from Mexico's 32 states at the conclave. "Society demands results."

Prodded into action by public outrage over crime and the violence it brings, federal and state officials and leaders of the judiciary agreed Thursday to a 75-point plan to overhaul the country's police and justice systems within three years.

Among other things, the officials agreed to clean up all police forces and give better training to prosecutors and judges. The officials also agreed to create new anti-kidnapping squads in every state, stiffen penalties for abductors; and cooperate rather than compete in the pursuit of criminals.

As President Felipe Calderon put it Friday, they had promised to make Mexico a country of laws at last.

"This is the hour to join forces," he said. "United, we Mexicans have the capability of resolving our problems one by one."

But now as authorities at every level of government work to meet the goals and deadlines set by the accord, they face a wall of ineptitude and corruption by officials and a deep pool of doubt harbored by many crime-weary Mexicans.

Who can fault the cynicism? As often as not, police don't police. Prosecutors don't prosecute. Judges don't judge. Legislators don't legislate.

Those signing Thursday's pact vowed to show tangible results in 100 days and to set everything right within three years. That's quick for the wheels of justice to rotate in any society. It amounts to a nano-second in Mexico.

"It's like they're saying, now we're going to do our jobs," said Ana Maria Salazar, a former Clinton-administration defense official who has become an anti-crime expert in Mexico.

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It is going to be a tough job. The new Chief of Police in Juarez was murdered within 24 hours of taking the job. His predecessor was also murdered. It is going to take more than a lawfare approach to stopping this criminal insurgency.

Mexico needs to beef up its military and give them counterinsurgency training so they can protect the people and the law enforcement officers. In Juarez they need to dramatically increase their force to space ratio so that the insurgents cannot move to contact without being detected.

If the narco terrorist are going after the Chief of police in Juarez, there should be a military squad waiting for the bad guys when they try to grab him.