The London School of Economics and Political Science Policing the Past: Transitional Justice and the Special Prosecutor’s Office in Mexico, 2000-2006 Javier Trevino-Rangel A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology of the London School of Economics and Political Science for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, September 2012 Declaration 2 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 99,859 words. I can confirm that my thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by Susannah Wight. Abstract 3 Abstract This thesis looks at how Mexico’s new democratic regime led by President Vicente Fox (2000–2006) faced past state crimes perpetrated during the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s (PRI’s) seventy-year authoritarian rule (1929–2000). To test the new regime’s democratic viability, Fox’s administration had to settle accounts with the PRI for the abuses the party had perpetrated in the past, but without upsetting it in order to preserve the stability of the new regime. The PRI was still a powerful political force and could challenge Fox’s efforts to democratise the country. Hence, this thesis offers an explanation of the factors that facilitated the emergence of Mexico’s ‘transitional justice’ process without putting at risk Fox’s relationship with the PRI elite. This thesis is framed by a cluster of literature on transitional justice which follows a social-constructivist approach and it is supported by exhaustive documentary research, which I carried out for six years in public and private archives. This thesis argues that Fox established a Special Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) as he sought to conduct ‘transitional justice’ through the existing structures of power: laws and institutions (e.g., the General Attorney’s Office) administered by members of the previous regime. So, Fox opted to face past abuses but left the task in the hands of the institutions whose members had carried out the crimes or did nothing to prevent them. The PRI rapidly accepted the establishment of the SPO because the most relevant prosecutorial strategy to come to terms with the PRI was arranged by the PRI’s own elite during the authoritarian era – prosecutorial strategy that led to impunity. In this process, the language of human rights played a decisive role as it framed the SPO’s investigations into the past: it determined the kind of violations that qualified for enquiry and, hence, the type of victims who were counted in the process, which perpetrators would be subject to prosecution, and the authorities that would intervene. Categories of human rights violations (e.g. genocide or forced disappearance) were constructed and manipulated in such a way as to grant a de facto amnesty to perpetrators. Fox was able to preserve the stability of the new regime as his prosecutorial strategies never really threatened the PRI elite. Acknowledgments 4 Acknowledgments My earliest memory of my PhD studies goes back to the induction meeting where the Doctoral Programme Director spoke for the first time to the new students. ‘The PhD is a solitary activity’, he said emphatically. One of the findings of this research was that the PhD is anything but a lonely endeavour. To complete this thesis I depended on many people and incurred countless debts. First, I would like to thank Claire Moon for supervising this research. Simply, this thesis would have not been possible without her. She offered unequivocal and continuous support and encouragement every step of the way – insightful discussions with her stubborn student; she sent references at just the right time; and she made rigorous, meaningful and constructive comments on earlier drafts. She read every chapter thoroughly, backed all my efforts to get funding so I could remain a full-time student, and untiringly motivated me to participate in seminars, conferences, and research groups. A dedicated scholar, she persistently urged me to revise. Her diligent supervision pushed me to challenge my own boundaries. I decided to undertake my doctoral studies at LSE in order to have Claire as my supervisor; it was a decision well made. My research was inspired by four people whose academic work has determined my career. Professor Lorenzo Meyer encouraged my interest in the history of Mexico’s authoritarian regime. Professor Sergio Aguayo taught me about Mexico’s history of abuses. Claire Moon introduced me to the field of transitional justice. They have done whatever they could to see this thesis completed. Finally, Professor Stan Cohen taught me about political crimes, gross human rights violations, and the sociology of denial. I am profoundly grateful to them. The Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award generously funded the first four years of this research, and Mexico’s National Council on Science and Technology (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, CONACYT) financed the final year. The LSE’s Postgraduate Travel Fund offered important grants, which allowed me to conduct my fieldwork in Mexico. The Department of Sociology at LSE was an exceptional place to study. I am grateful to Claire Alexander and Robin Archer for reading and commenting on chapters of this thesis. They helped me more than they realise. For similar support, I thank my classmates Christian Kroll, Roxana Bratu, David Reubi, Tom McClean, José Luis Álvarez, Olivia Muñoz-Rojas, Simon Dickason, and Sandy Ross. I single out Krisztina Csedo, who has been a constant source of advice. I have also benefitted from the research and opinions of my classmate Peter Manning, Professor Kevin Middlebrook, and journalist Jorge Carrasco Araizaga. Fabián Sánchez granted me access to his files on human rights ONGs in Mexico, and helped me to make sense of the politics of human rights activism in the country. Antonio Garibay guided me through Mexico’s Kafkaesque legal system. Acknowledgments 5 In Mexico, two academic institutions provided a friendly atmosphere where I could finish my writing-up. I am grateful to Professor Gustavo Vega and Dr Fernanda Somuano for accepting me as a visiting research student at El Colegio de México. I also would like to thank the administrative staff of El Colegio for their courtesy and efficiency; I am particularly grateful to Virginia Arellano, Silvia López, Patricia Soto, and Angélica Chávez who helped me with Mexico’s surrealist bureaucracy. At the University of Aguascalientes I am indebted to Ricardo A. López-León, Juanis Zapata, Omar Vázquez, and Alma Rosa Real. I learnt English a few years ago, as an adult, but had a hard time drafting the first chapters of this thesis because of my lack of practice and uncertainty about how to express more complex constructions. Four women came to my rescue and provided instrumental support as I wrote this thesis. Mrs Barbara Crow gave me free English lessons for more than a year before I began the doctoral programme – ‘humanitarian aid’, she called it. For tips on how to present Mexican legal jargon to an English speaking audience I owe much to Alfonsina Peñaloza. A masterful fiction writer, María Lourdes Pallais listened patiently to my ideas on the particular narrative of each chapter. This was important as Mexico’s reality – as Gabriel García Márquez said – is far stranger than any fictional invention. For good recommendations on style I thank the proof-reader of my thesis, Susannah Wight. This was an itinerant thesis, written in three different cities. On my travels, I have benefited from the help and hospitality of Anna Debska, Gisela Calderón, Ceci Dinardi, Esteban Damiani, Julieta González, Tessa Boyd-Cane, and James Seppälä in London; of the Chaverot and Seppälä families in Paris; and of Iván Ramírez, Ana Paula Hernández, Carlos Aguirre, Ana Luisa Liguori, Eugenia Mazzucato, Mario Bronfman and Diana Rubli, Ana Pecova, Diego Antoni, the Prudent-Farjeat family, Doris Arnez, and Georgina Romero in Mexico City. Dr Elizabeth Allison, my psychoanalyst, kept me going. Her stimulus and advice were invaluable. The most important support I have received has come from my friends Angelica Seppälä and Juan Carlos Rosales. They have sustained me in many ways during my doctoral programme and have been more than a family to me. To them my deepest gratitude. Table of Contents 6 Table of Contents DECLARATION........................................................................................................................................ 2 ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................ 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................... 9 MEXICO’S ‘TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE’ PROCESS .......................................................................................