VZCZCXRO9174 RR RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM DE RUEHME #0983 01 0581604 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 271604Z FEB 07 FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO TO RUEHC SECSTATE WASHDC 5560 RHMFIUU CDR USNORTHCOM RUEABND DEA HQS WASHDC RUEAHLA DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY RUEAWJA DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC RUCNFB FBI WASHDC INFO RUEHXC ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 000983 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR INL WHA MEX DHS FOR A S J MYERS OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - K O 'REILLY CBP - C STALLWORTH E O 12958 N A TAGS PREL PGOV PTE SNAR MX SUBJECT SECRETARY CHERTOFF 'S MEETINGS WITH ATTORNEY GENERAL EDUARDO MEDINA MORA AND PUBLIC SECURITY SECRETARY GENARO GARCIA LUNA THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY ------Summary ------1 SBU During a two-day trip to Mexico City Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff met February 16 with Mexican Secretary of Public Security Genaro Garcia Luna Secretary Chertoff and senior Department of Homeland Security SIPDIS DHS staff heard Medina Mora outline plans to improve investigation and prosecution of crime in Mexico discussed increasing cooperation in attacking the trade in methamphetamine precursor chemicals reviewed Mexico 's strategy for controlling its southern border and agreed to further operational engagement in each of these areas End Summary --------------------------------------Policing Prosecutorial Changes Outlined --------------------------------------2 SBU Medina Mora opened by outlining the legal changes the Calderon administration would seek from the Mexican Congress to improve the link between policing investigations and prosecution First he said President Calderon would seek a constitutional amendment to give a reorganized federal police force the power to conduct criminal investigations Every federal police officer should have the capacity to conduct investigations without prior approval from the Office of the Attorney General PGR as is now required His office would still need to validate the results of such investigations but he expected his officers in the future to focus on building legal cases rather than chasing bad guys Chasing bad guys is a police function he said 3 SBU Second he said he expected Mexico to move toward a mixed system of oral trials and the current accusatorial system of justice Without outlining a time frame or legislative strategy to effect the change Medina Mora said the PGR would seek to institute oral trials at the federal level for minor crimes retaining accusatorial procedures for major criminal cases particularly against the cartels However under the reforms outlined above his office would have a strengthened capability to develop and present evidence to judges for processing major criminal cases Embassy comment There is something inconsistent across these plans on justice reform But then the legal package is still being developed End comment 4 SBU Finally Medina Mora noted that he wanted to bring all of Mexico under single criminal and procedural codes at the federal and state levels -----OASSIS -----5 SBU Secretary Chertoff led his comments by noting the success of the Smugglers and Traffickers Initiative on Safety and Security OASSIS program and offered to work with the GOM to expand it Medina Mora agreed called the program valuable and endorsed its extension particularly to the area between Eastern California Baja California and Sonora Arizona where he estimated 80 percent of the migrant traffic crossed into the United States Secretary Chertoff reminded Medina Mora that he would be traveling to Arizona the following week noting he needed to remain visibly active in promoting tighter controls against the flow of illegal immigrants even as his administration worked for a temporary worker program --------------Meth Precursors --------------6 SBU Medina Mora turned to Mexico 's growing problem with methamphetamine production and trafficking and told MEXICO 00000983 002 OF 003 Secretary Chertoff that the GOM had recently seized close to SIPDIS 40 metric tons of pseudoephedrine shipped from Hong Kong through Long Beach to Manzanillo He noted that as much as 97 percent of illicit precursor chemicals were routed in this fashion and asked for better U S monitoring and interdiction at the port of Long Beach as well as U S - GOM diplomatic engagement in Asia to target and impede such illegal shipments Secretary Chertoff asked Medina Mora to share more details of the seizure with DHS If such large volumes are passing through Long Beach then improved targeting informed by Mexican Law Enforcement intelligence could improve U S targeting of precursor shipments bound for Mexico The U S and Mexico need to cooperate more closely in this area Secretary Chertoff agreed He offered to put someone operational to work in this area to see how both countries could share intelligence and jointly analyze vulnerabilities -------------Southern Focus -------------7 SBU Broadening the discussion Medina Mora outlined what he called the three most critical law enforcement challenges Mexico faces improving the institutional strength of local state and federal police forces dismantling the sophisticated business operations run by the drug cartels and crafting a regional strategy encompassing the U S Mexico and Central America The cocaine trade through Central America gives Mexican cartels the money incentives capabilities and corrosive impact they have in Mexico and its southern neighbors he said 8 SBU Secretary Chertoff asked Medina Mora to outline Mexico 's southern border strategy Medina Mora suggested that interdiction capacity-building among Central American countries as a necessary key focus The problem for Mexico he said is truly regional and potential instability in Central America would pose direct and immediate threats to public security in Mexico He cited Guatemala as particularly problematic Understandable reductions in the armed forces there in recent years have created a security vacuum particularly in the Peten the northernmost department of Guatemala which Medina Mora called a no-man 's land 9 SBU The Attorney General suggested shifting U S Halcon Citations to Guatemala since he averred airborne shipments of illegal drugs within Mexico toward the north were rare Similarly Mora staffer Oscar Rocha outlined a proposal whereby the U S would purchase go-fasts seized and re-furbished by Mexico and provide them to Central American governments for their own interdiction efforts Providing them a shore-based interdiction capability they currently lack would compliment U S blue water patrols in the region and get buy-in from the Centrals for a regional counter-drug effort Without providing encouragement to these specific proposals Secretary Chertoff agreed the situation warranted creative approaches and promised to work the inter-agency community in Washington to see what kinds of resources various elements such as DOD might be able to put into the mix ---Cuba ---10 SBU Medina Mora warned of the destabilizing dangers of a rapid post-Castro regime collapse in Cuba and argued that a semi-authoritarian regime evolving toward democracy would be better for stability in the region He said displaced Cuban regime elements particularly from the armed forces could pose an organized crime threat in the Hemisphere akin to the Russian mafia in Europe 11 SBU The meeting concluded with the Attorney General saying he sought a U S - Canadian-style relationship a true partnership rather than a made-in-USA program such as what he argued characterized much of Plan Colombia If we are to truly improve the quality of our cooperation he MEXICO 00000983 003 OF 003 stated Mexico needs to build its own capabilities as well as help its Central American neighbors Secretary Chertoff responded by saying he understood Mexico 's political dynamic and urged again that the GOM give the U S its own plan particularly concerning the southern border He said he would work it through our inter-agency map it and build a support strategy ----------Garcia Luna ----------12 SBU Secretary Chertoff next met with Public Security Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna who thanked Secretary Chertoff SIPDIS for the cooperation DHS had extended to him both at the Public Security Secretariat SSP and at the Mexican Federal Investigations Agency AFI which he ran during the Fox administration He briefly discussed some of the same legal reforms Medina Mora had discussed and outlined the Mexican President Felipe Calderon 's plans to merge a number of Mexican Law Enforcement agencies under his authority at SSP and noted that he would be recruiting over 8 000 new officers in the coming year This he said would require a new approach to vetting officers and he expressed the hope that DHS could help him establish programs for assuring the integrity of his force 13 SBU Garcia Luna asked for clear guidance from DHS regarding appropriate points-of-contact within each DHS component and on particular issues of mutual interest Both governments have complex federal law enforcement systems and sometimes make erroneous connections Secretary Chertoff noted that he would soon send a senior DHS Attache to Mexico and expressed the hope that this would improve coordination efforts 14 SBU Garcia Luna highlighted the operational focus of his Secretariat and the need for close coordination with DHS You will have open access to our law enforcement intelligence information he said and added that he hoped to work closely with DHS to establish protocols to allow for more sharing of high-quality law enforcement intelligence 15 SBU Secretary Chertoff emphasized the importance of Border Enforcement Security Taskforce BEST program as a forum for DHS cooperation with SSP and told Garcia Luna that he had designated Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary Julie Myers as the principal point of contact for pursuing cooperation via that program He also noted the importance of the Border Violence Protocols and told Garcia Luna that his lead for that program would be Chief of the Border Patrol David Aguilar DHS Chief Intelligence Officer Charles Allen of the Department 's Office of Intelligence and Analysis has the lead on intelligence and information exchanges Secretary Chertoff said 16 U Secretary Chertoff did not have an opportunity to review this message before leaving Mexico Visit Mexico City 's Classified Web Site at http www state sgov gov p wha mexicocity GARZA