NCJ Number
224214
Journal
International Criminal Justice Review Volume: 18 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 261-291
Date Published
September 2008
Length
31 pages
Annotation
By analyzing a wave of homicidal action against the leftist opposition party in Mexico (Partido de law Revolucion Democratica [PRD]), this study examined the role of Mexico’s criminal justice system in exempting from punishment those who commit political assassinations.
Abstract
In Mexico, hundreds of leftist political party militants, who often engaged in legal activities, have been gunned down by state agents (the police, the military, and local politicians associated with the dominant party) or indirectly by hired guns acting on behalf of state leaders. Because a full 73 percent of the political murders of PRD members remained unsolved in 1994, the majority of these crimes remained in a state of impunity (free from any legal punishment). This article contends that the Mexican state showed its acquiescence in the killings through the impunity that was afforded the killers. Specifically, this acquiescence occurred through the further disarming of the legal coercive power of the existing state to prosecute and punish murderers. Local and regional legal systems have operated to perpetuate a system of impunity for political assassination in two ways: by failing to conduct thorough investigations of these crimes and by failing to serve arrest warrants after the crimes were investigated and suspects identified. This pattern is especially damaging to the rule of law in Mexico, because it further makes the judicial system impotent in punishing political-electoral homicide. The justice system has thus colluded with the dominant political powers in undermining democratic debate and democratic elections. These conclusions are based on the author’s analysis of the 1,000-page case reports on 90 perredista deaths documented in the period between 1988 and 1994 in the report of the National Human Rights Commission, whose mission is to improve Mexican justice and compliance with human rights by the Mexican Government. 16 notes and 72 references