Empowerment and Protection - Stories of Human Security Oct. 2014 | Page 60

IN NUMBERS
MEXICO
PEOPLE KILLED

DRUG CARTELS

DEPORTED, DISAPPEARED
OR MISSING

MISSING
DRUG CARTELS BRING IN

$19 TO $29

80,000 BILLION
SINCE 2007 USD ANNUALLY

Background

(HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 2014)

POPULATION

ALLEGED ABUSES

decided to carry out military operations to tackle
The United Mexican States, commonly known as Mexico, represent
organised crime and drug trafficking.
the world’s 14th largest economy. The country is home to 120
million people, making it the 12th most populous country in the
Insecurity and violence in Mexico
world. The country is a member of the Organisation for Economic
The country has since experienced an alarming
Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade
increase in levels of crime, violence, and impunity.
Organisation (WTO), and is one of the eleven emerging powers
Since 2006 between 47,000 and 70,000 people
have been murdered and over 25,000 people
of the Group of Twenty (G20).2 However, according to the World
have been disappeared.6 There are many different
Bank, the distribution 2013 (WORLD BANK 2014)
122.3 MILLION IN of wealth in the country remains skewed,
perspectives on the causes of increased violence.
and Mexico’s overwhelming economic and social inequalities
According to the International Crisis Group, the
3
undermine its people’s standard of life. 80 percent of Mexicans
end of the legislative ban on high calibre assault
live in urban areas, and 50 percent of the population is living in =10.000.000 the United States in 2004 marked
weapons in
poverty according to national standards.4 The Human Development
the beginning of increased violence in Mexico.7
The Mexican government and some civil society
Index of the United Nations Development Programme ranks Mexico
representatives believe that the violence is caused
71st globally, which is well below other economies of its size in
primarily by armed confrontations between drug
5
Latin America.

During most of the twentieth century, the

0-14 Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
dominated Mexico’s political
15-24 overwhelming majority in landscape, holding
an
both chambers
of
Congress and most
25-54 the Federal In 1997 the PRI lost of the state
governments.
its majority
in
55-64 Congress and in 2000 opposition candidate
Vicente Fox, from the National Action Party
65+ (PAN), won the presidential election, ending 70

years of uninterrupted rule by the PRI.
(INDEX MUNDI 2014)

Despite the change in the federal government,
many claimed that little was done to address
the myriad of problems afflicting the country,
including corruption, impunity, economic and
social distress, and the increase of organised
crime. Illegal drugs had been produced in Mexico
and then smuggled to the United States as early
as the 1960s. In the 1980s, smugglers in South
America shifted their routes from the Caribbean
to Mexico, a more direct and easier pathway
to the United States. As the drug cartels grew
wealthier, they amassed power.

GLOBAL PEACE
INDEX 2014

138
162

(IEP

Some groups have been more vulnerable than
others, “[Enforced disappearance] victims belong
to the poorest and most marginalised strata of
Mexican society.” An interviewee from the la
Laguna region in northern Mexico comments,
“insecurity was particularly intense for youth; armed
attacks caused lots of deaths of young people.”
In 2012, newly elected President Enrique
Peña Nieto (PRI) promised a completely new
strategy to address insecurity and violence in
the country, focusing more on crime prevention
and reconstruction of the social tissue, and less
on the territorial deployment of police officers
and military and navy personnel. The strategy
was formalised in the administration’s 'National
Development Plan 2013-2018'; the governmentopposition coordination mechanism known as the
‘Pact for Mexico’ and ultimately in the National
Program for Crime and Violence Prevention.

“ he military response
T
led to more fear and
the suppression
of activities in the
public space.”

71

AGAINST CIVILIANS, 5,600
FROM JAN 2007
ALLEGED ABUSES BY SOLDIERS

OPEN INVESTIGATIONS:
(HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 2014)

TO MID-2013

26,000
(HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 2014)

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

9.4%
IN 2012
(WORLD BANK 2014B)

Although several positive developments have
taken place during the current administration,
much remains to be done. Continued and
systematic human rights violations, the
ever-growing presence of violent criminal
organisations, the emergence of civilian armed
groups, and rampant government corruption and
impunity still threaten human security in the
country.

”Insecurity was
particularly intense
for youth; armed
attacks caused lots
of deaths of young
people.”

Others emphasise factors related to inequity that
has never been addressed by the local or federal
authorities. For example, in the case of Ciudad
Juárez, an interviewee says, “The city had a
great number of youths with social resentment,
without any real education, employment, and
development opportunities. For a long time, crime
and violence in the city were quite stable, so we
did not perceive this factor as a serious threat, but
it was.”

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
INDEX 2013
Other nongovernmental organisations and

In 2006, President Felipe Calderón (PAN, 20062012) announced tough action on the increasing
rates of violent crime. Mexico’s security situation
had deteriorated to the point that criminal gangs
had assumed de facto territorial control in some
areas. However, rather than addressing these
important threats through strengthening the local
2014)or state police and the(UNDP 2014)
justice apparatus, Calderón

60 stories of Human Security | Mexico

“The military response led to more fear and the
suppression of activities in the public space. A lot
of soldiers took over civilian positions related to
law enforcement in the local government. Marines
and soldiers started patrolling the streets and we
witnessed an unprecedented increase in human
rights abuses, including torture and enforced
disappearances.”

cartels.

POPULATION
DISTRIBUTION BY AGE
27,9%
18,1%
40,4%
7%
6,6%

(CNN WORLD 2014)

grassroots community members, including many
interviewed for this publication, suggest that the
government’s territorial deployment of military
forces to combat violent drug cartels, coupled
with the weakness and corruption of the security
and justice apparatuses, directly contributed to
the unprecedented increase in human rights
violations, violence and crime. As an interviewee
from Nuevo León in northern Mexico said,

The announcement of the new strategy was
applauded as a much needed shift from the one
privileged by the previous Calderón government.
National, regional and international policies to
reduce both the demand and supply of drugs have
increasingly been accused of having failed, with
Mexican drug cartels today bringing in $19 to $29
billion USD annually.8

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