Criminal Violence in Mexico: Challenges for the Peña Nieto Administration

By Andres Quinche
March 14, 2013

A holistic effort between government, civil society, and the international community is the best way forward to address criminal violence in Mexico, contended experts Mark Schneider and Javier Ciurlizza of the International Crisis Group (ICG). Speaking at an event co-sponsored by the Inter-American Dialogue and the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, Schneider and Ciurlizza presented the findings of a new ICG report to be released on March 19, examining the challenges and prospects to eradicate violence in Mexico.

In the face of census estimates of drug-related homicides exceeding 65,000 in Mexico since 2007, the lack of emphasis on security from the Peña Nieto administration in its first few months has been striking. The administration’s recent announcement of a new crime prevention program is an important step, but much more is needed.

The panelists argued that it will be crucial for the international community to engage in a constructive conversation on criminal violence, and the ICG report aims to play a prominent role in provoking further debate in Mexico. Drawing on what Ciurlizza called “some of the most brilliant minds in Mexico,”  the report incorporates numerous interviews and field visits in more than eight states with varying levels of violence and insecurity to attempt to identify patterns, and establish what is working, and what is not.

The report highlights the challenge of defining the complex dynamics and the social damage of criminal violence in Mexico. Criminal groups in Mexico are multifaceted. Schneider contended that such groups have diversified into fast moving criminal organizations with increased arms capacity; some have deep historical roots in Mexican society. The Sinaloa cartel, for example, dates back to the 1920s and is deeply embedded in social and political structures in Mexico, while others have split into smaller factions under pressure from the Calderón administration’s all-out war on the cartels. The issue of collusion between cartels, politicians, and businesses is a major challenge and the diversification of the cartels’ enterprises beyond drug trafficking into extortions, human trafficking, and oil theft further complicates the fight against criminality. The report also highlights the profound damage that widespread impunity, military abuses—which  the panelists argued have further deteriorated the public’s trust in the government—and escalating attacks on journalist and human rights defenders inflict on Mexican society.

Despite such bleak observations, the report identifies important opportunities to find a solution. The transnational nature of the crime problem in Mexico lends itself to an international response, and the international community has useful resources and is eager to get involved. Though Ciurlizza noted that bilateral cooperation would not entirely resolve this complex problem, Schneider maintained that the recent expansion of US-Mexico cooperation to combat violence has been a historic step. Internally, there are other positive signs, including the national pact signed by all three major parties, which solidifies the Mexican government’s commitment to find an end to violence.

A powerful civil society movement has emerged to denounce the prevailing response to criminal violence, which may, in part, have inspired Peña Nieto’s departure from Calderón’s security approach, seeking to focus more on crime reduction as opposed to arresting and killing top cartel leaders. Other promises from the administration like community-based programs, which Duncan Wood, director of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, called a “simply fascinating initiative,” is geared toward addressing the broader structural issues of criminality. The panelists also expressed optimism about political and legal reforms in Mexico and the proposed creation of a 10,000-person gendarmerie.

The panel agreed that this is an important moment for the Mexican government to reflect on its security strategy and that there are promising signs that the new administration will make changes that will improve citizen security and judicial institutions in the country.