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Durham E-Theses The crisis of civil-military relations in Mexico during the war against drugs: comparative reections on accountability and legal reform in the modern democratic era RAMIREZ-MENDOZA, SERGIO,LUIS How to cite: RAMIREZ-MENDOZA, SERGIO,LUIS (2017) The crisis of civil-military relations in Mexico during the war against drugs: comparative reections on accountability and legal reform in the modern democratic era, Durham theses, Durham University. 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Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Sergio Luis Ramirez Mendoza The crisis of civil-military relations in Mexico during the war against drugs: comparative reflections on accountability and legal reform in the modern democratic era This research is focused on the current crisis that is taking place between Mexico’s civil society and the armed forces in the context of the “war against drugs”. In 2006 the federal government initiated a security strategy focused on the militarization of the enforcement against organised criminal groups that specialise in drug-trafficking. At the same time the number of civilian complaints for human rights abuses attributed to military personnel increased exponentially. Ten years later, the same policies are in force and the soldiers keep being accused of severe human rights violations. The aim of this project is to develop a theoretical framework that will provide the elements needed to reform the current Mexican legal frameworks and military institutions, in order to improve the relationship between the armed forces and civil society. To develop new theory, this research addresses the social background of the conflict and analyses contemporary concepts and frameworks that shape the topic of civil-military relations both at a domestic and international level. Subsequently, the cases of the German post-WWII military institutional reforms and the emergency legal regime in Northern Ireland during the 1960s and 70s are studied and analysed. This provides the elements to do a legal comparison with the current Mexican legal codes and institutions. The result produces the theory needed to develop reforms that have the potential to shape a new civil-military relations paradigm in Mexico. 1 The crisis of civil-military relations in Mexico during the war against drugs: comparative reflections on accountability and legal reform in the modern democratic era Sergio Luis Ramírez Mendoza A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy Durham Law School University of Durham England June of 2016 2 Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..9 Research questions………………………………………………………………………………………………15 Chapter breakdown……………………………………………………………………………………………..16 Methodology……………………………………………………………………………………………………….18 1. Preliminary concepts, the historical background of anti-drug operations in Mexico and the geopolitical context with the United States of America .................................................. 24 1.1 Organised Crime..................................................................................................... 24 1.2 Drug Trafficking ...................................................................................................... 25 1.3 Characteristics of drug trafficking organisations ................................................... 27 1.4 What are the current policies against drug trade and what is the theoretical background behind them? ................................................................................................. 29 1.5 The historical background of two nations that share the same security issue ..... 30 1.5.1 Operation Interception .................................................................................. 32 1.5.2 Operation Condor .......................................................................................... 34 1.5.3 The current security strategy ......................................................................... 35 1.6 Mexico’s relationship with the US government in the context of the security strategy against drug-trafficking ........................................................................................ 38 1.7 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 43 2. International law and accountability for the Mexican civil-military current context .... 45 2.1 Accountability ........................................................................................................ 47 2.1.1 Accountability from the perspective of international law: a modern perspective ..................................................................................................................... 48 2.1.2 The International Military Tribunal ................................................................ 51 2.1.3 International Humanitarian law and armed conflicts: is the application of IHL in Mexico’s non-international security problem possible? ........................................... 53 2.1.4 The types of conflicts covered by IHL ............................................................ 54 2.1.5 Non-International conflicts ............................................................................ 56 2.1.6 Application of IHL in domestic armed conflicts ............................................. 57 2.1.7 How has Mexico complied with IHL? ............................................................. 63 2.1.8 The concept of war crimes: is it possible to apply in the Mexican security conflict? 63 2.1.9 Customary International Law ......................................................................... 66 2.1.10 Human rights law applied in non-international armed conflicts ................... 67 3 2.1.11 The Convention against Torture and its application in the Mexican context 69 2.1.12 Can the International Criminal Court (ICC) intervene in Mexico for the possible commission of Crimes against Humanity? ....................................................... 73 2.1.13 Enforced disappearance ................................................................................ 78 2.2 Military Justice Code reform: ensuring effectiveness? .......................................... 80 2.3 The use of firearms by the military ........................................................................ 87 2.4 Transitional justice in transitional democracies .................................................... 88 2.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 90 3. Emergency Powers, Civil-Military relations and the Mexican case ............................... 94 3.1 Emergency powers ................................................................................................. 94 3.1.1 What can be understood as a “public emergency”? ..................................... 97 3.1.2 The modern concept of states of emergency in the Latin American context 100 3.1.3 The Rosendo Radilla case ............................................................................. 104 3.1.4 Mexico’s reform of Constitutional article 29: the creation of a state of emergency ................................................................................................................... 106 3.2 Contemporary civil-military relations .................................................................. 113 3.2.1 An appropriate civil-military theory for Mexico? ........................................ 115 3.2.2 Militarism ..................................................................................................... 117 3.2.3 Different conceptions about military intervention at a domestic level ....... 120 3.2.4 Civil-military relations in Mexico .................................................................. 122 3.2.5 Military attitudes towards domestic political issues and its relationship with the political class in Mexico ......................................................................................... 124 3.2.6 Contemporary military control in Mexico .................................................... 127 3.3 Flawed points of the Mexican army ..................................................................... 128 3.4 Equality, pre-trial procedures and contemporary human rights standards ........ 135 3.5 The judiciary power should have the monopoly of the authority to elaborate judgements which are within its jurisdiction. .................................................................. 139 3.6 Case studies ......................................................................................................... 142 3.6.1 Case study 1 ................................................................................................. 142 3.6.2 Case study 2 ................................................................................................