Mexico & Nafta - February 2009 (ISSN 1741-444X)

The campaign against Genaro Garcí­a Luna, the secretary of public security (SSP), reached a new pitch in late January. On 21 January the Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información Pública (IFAI) reversed its previous position and called for the immediate publication of all police and other agency investigations into allegations made against Garcí­a Luna dating back to 1990.

Garcí­a Luna is hugely unpopular with swathes of Mexico's security establishment. This is because (apparently backed by President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa) he has been bidding to take control of the country's entire law enforcement operation, which is currently split between the SSP, the Procuradurí­a General de la República (PGR), the army, states and municipalities.

Garcí­a Luna's most powerful enemy is the army, and particularly the defence minister, General Guillermo Galván Galván. Galván has let it be known that he had major reservations about Garcí­a Luna's appointment as public security secretary in 2006. Garcí­a Luna has been involved in improving Mexico's security for his whole career. Like so many of President Calderón's top officials, he started in the intelligence agency, the Cisen, but then went on to help establish the Policí­a Federal Preventiva (PFP) and then the Agencia Federal de Investigación (AFI).

What happens to Garcí­a Luna matters because of the growing US concerns about whether Mexico will win Calderón's war against organised crime. Calderón has backed Garcí­a Luna unequivocally, so to lose him would put a major questionmark against the president's judgment.

There is, however, considerable doubt on several criteria about Garcí­a Luna.   These issues range from the highly-paid employment he has consistently given to his sister in a series of appointments in ministries and agencies he headed, to his attitude to the corruption that appears to have riddled the country's anti-organised crime unit, the Subprocuradurí­a de Investigación Especializada en Delincuencia Organizada (Siedo), which technically is part of the PGR.

Garcí­a Luna is also vulnerable because the anti-corruption investigation, Operación Limpieza, which revealed how riddled with corruption the Siedo was, has exposed several people close to him. The most notable is Mario Arturo Velarde Martí­nez, who was arrested on 20 November. Velarde worked as private secretary for Garcí­a Luna for six years when Garcí­a Luna ran the AFI. Velarde was the fifth of Garcí­a Luna's close associates to have been arrested in Operación Limpieza.   The whole saga of Ví­ctor Gerardo Garay Cadena, whom Garcí­a Luna promoted to head the PFP, epitomises the issues and innuendo over Garcí­a Luna. Garay is now in jail, accused of being in the pay of the Beltrán Leyva brothers, who control a faction of the Sinaloa gang.

Garcí­a Luna's vulnerability means that other politicians are using him as a scapegoat. On 20 January the PGR drew further attention to Garcí­a Luna's unfortunate lieutenants by announcing that it would seal the files of all investigations into Garcí­a Luna for 12 years. This decision produced immediate outrage in the Mexican media. The PGR said that it was following guidance from the IFAI, but the PGR also knew that the IFAI was about to reconsider its guidance. Indeed, on 21 January the IFAI unanimously called for the publication of all the investigations launched by the police into alleged criminal behaviour by Garcí­a Luna. The IFAI, which previously had argued that senior officials should enjoy the presumption of a good reputation, now wants all the investigations since 1990 published by the PGR.

Although the media campaign against Garcí­a Luna has created a lot of mud, the main threat to his position is still probably the army. On 21 January, Mexico City newspaper El Universal reported that the army was now, effectively, running the PFP. Technically the PFP should answer to Garcí­a Luna and his appointees at the SSP. El Universal reported that only one of the six PFP Comisarios (senior commanders) appointed by Garcí­a Luna remains in office.

One of these Comisarios, Javier Herrera Valles, was sacked by Garcí­a Luna after Herrera wrote two letters to President Calderón accusing Garcí­a Luna of making questionable decisions. Herrera himself was then arrested on17 November.

The army's growing influence in the SSP became clear on 5 December 2008 when General Javier del Real Magallanes took over as deputy minister for police strategy and intelligence from another of Garcí­a Luna's close associates, Facundo Rosas Rosas. Del Real's appointment effectively keeps Garcí­a Luna out of police intelligence and operations.

• Interpol
  Garcí­a Luna's prominent involvement with Interpol in his career means that the allegations against a former senior Mexican Interpol official, Ricardo Gutiérrez Vargas, also damage Garcí­a Luna. Gutiérrez was arrested on 16 November by the anti-corruption squad, the Siedo, again as part of Operación Limpieza. Gutiérrez was seconded to Interpol from the AFI. Gutiérrez was charged and remanded in custody on 21 January, accused of being in the pay of the Sinaloa gang. Another of Garcí­a Luna's former associates, Rodolfo de la Guardia Garcí­a, was also remanded in custody on the same date. He too is accused of having links to the Sinaloa gang. De La Guardia also worked for the AFI, where he was regional deployment director. He is accused of getting US$10,000 a month from the Sinaloa gang.