Mexico: Criminality, including organized crime; state response, including effectiveness; protection available to victims, including witness protection (2015-July 2017)

Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa

1. General Situation and Statistics

Sources indicate that the security situation in Mexico deteriorated in 2016 (Moloeznik 29 June 2017; IISS 2017, 344). A report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a London-based international, non-partisan research institute, whose research areas include non-proliferation, transnational threats, geo-economics, climate change and security (IISS n.d.), indicates that "Mexico had the world's second-most-lethal conflict in 2016, with 23,000 fatalities," behind the Syrian conflict with 157,000 fatalities, and ahead of Iraq and Afghanistan with 17,000 and 16,000 lives lost respectively (ibid. 2017, 5)

The Mexico 2017 Crime and Safety Report for Mexico City by the US Department of State's Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) indicates that crimes such as armed robberies, kidnappings, car thefts, credit card fraud and residential theft are "daily concerns" (US 24 Feb. 2017). Sources indicate that organized criminal organizations have been working alongside common criminals to diversify their criminal operations (Moloeznik 29 June 2017; BBC 3 May 2016).

The US Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016, for Mexico, indicates that organized criminal organizations are implicated in killings, often with the complicity of state, local, and security officials (US 7 Apr. 2017, 2). Similarly, a March 2017 report by openDemocracy,"an independent global media platform covering world affairs, ideas and culture" (openDemocracy n.d.), states that there has been an increase in violence caused by criminal groups, as well as crimes committed by state authorities, due to the war against drugs (ibid. 16 Mar. 2017).

The OSAC report indicates that violent crime, which had been concentrated in the northern half of Mexico, has been increasing in the rest of the country, particularly in the states of Guerrero, Michoacán and México (US 24 Feb. 2017). Sources indicate that the increasing rate of violent crime is due to a war among cartels to control drug trafficking routes (Verisk Maplecroft 1 Dec. 2016; IISS 2017, 344-345). The IISS report indicates that the increase in the homicide rate is in part due to the expansion of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación) and its war against rival cartels such as the Knights Templars, the Sinaloa Cartel, Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel (2017, 344-345).

1.1 Homicides

The Executive Secretariat of the National System for Public Safety of Mexico (Secretariado Ejecutivo del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Pública, SESNSP), a government agency, under the Ministry of the Interior (Secretaría de Gobernación, SEGOB), which is responsible for executing public safety policies in the country (Mexico n.d.), provides the following statistics:

(Mexico 2017)

A report by the Citizens' National Observatory (Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano), a civil society organization that promotes the oversight of security, justice and legal conditions in Mexico (Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano n.d.), indicates that, based on data provided by the SESNSP, the country's homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants between April 2016 and March 2017 was 18 (Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano April 2017, 17). The states with the highest homicide rate for that period are Colima (74.97), Guerrero (62.6), Sinaloa (41.67), Baja California Sur (38.66), and Baja California (37.83) (ibid.). Statistics available on the website of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for 2015 indicate that the number of homicides for that year was 20,762, which translated into a rate of 16.35 per 100,000 inhabitants (UN n.d.). The same report indicates that in 2015, the number of homicides in Canada was 604, a rate of 1.68 (ibid.).

1.2 Kidnappings

The website of the Ministry of the Interior indicates that the comparable rate of kidnapping cases for the month of March 2015 (121 cases) declined by 11.5 percent in March 2016 (107 cases) (Mexico 20 Apr. 2016). The SESNSP provides the following statistics:

(Mexico 2017)

The report by the Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano indicates that the country's kidnapping rate per 100,000 inhabitants between April 2016 and March 2017 was 4.97, and the states with the highest rates were México (37.5), Tamaulipas (21.25), Veracruz (20.17), Guerrero (11), and Mexico City (10.5) (Apr. 2017, 36).

Sources indicate that express [1] and virtual kidnappings [2] occur in Mexico (US 24 Feb. 2017; UNAM 19 July 2017). A webpage on emergency preparedness posted on the website of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) indicates that victims of kidnapping belong mainly to the upper class and include business people, industrialists, politicians, ranchers and artists, and their families (UNAM 19 July 2017). Other sources report that the economic position of the victim is no longer relevant (El Universal 21 June 2017; BBC 3 May 2016). A report by the BBC on kidnappings in Mexico indicates that there have been reported cases of kidnapped victims who were plumbers, blacksmiths, street sellers, hair stylists, and a street sweeper (ibid.). Univisión, a Spanish-language news television channel based in the US, cites the director of Stop Kidnappings (Alto al Secuestro), a Mexican NGO that advocates for the victims of kidnapping and their families (Alto al Secuestro n.d.), as saying that victims are no longer necessarily wealthy people as there are cases of people with low income, such as street vendors, being kidnapped (Univisión 18 Sept. 2016).

Sources indicate that the exact number of kidnappings is difficult to determine because victims, or their families, do not report crimes to authorities (US 24 Feb. 2017; El Universal 21 June 2017). Reasons for this include: fear that the police is also involved in the kidnapping or that they are unable to provide effective assistance (US 24 Feb. 2017), or that they might be extorted by the authorities themselves (El Universal 21 June 2017).

Sources indicate that kidnapped victims endure mutilations, beatings, sexual abuse (Univisión 18 Sept. 2016; BBC 3 May 2016) and parts of their body being burned to pressure family members to pay the ransom (ibid.). Sources indicate that there are cases when, even if the ransom is paid, the victim has been killed (US 24 Feb. 2017), or is never heard from again (BBC 3 May 2016).

1.3 Disappearances

Amnesty International (AI) indicates that enforced disappearances, including those committed by state and non-state actors, are "widespread" (AI 2017). The US Country Reports 2016 indicates that "[f]ederal law prohibits forced disappearances, but laws relating to forced disappearances vary widely across the 32 states and not all classify 'forced disappearance' as distinct from murder or kidnapping" (US 7 Apr. 2017, 3). The OSAC characterizes the number of disappeared as "high," and indicates that forced disappearances have become "routine occurrences" in the country, including in Mexico City (ibid. 24 Feb. 2017).

The US Country Reports 2016 indicates that the investigation, prosecution and sentencing for disappearance-related crimes "remained rare" (ibid. 7 Apr. 2017, 3). AI characterizes the investigation of disappearances as "flawed and unduly delayed," with authorities failing to immediately search for victims (AI 2017).

1.4 Extortion

The SESNSP provides the following statistics:

(Mexico 2017)

The report by the Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano indicates that the country's extortion rate per 100,000 inhabitants between April 2016 and March 2017 was 4.56, and the states with the highest rates were Baja California Sur (22.08), Nuevo León (12.34), Jalisco (8.68), San Luis Potosí (8.45), and Colima (8.4) (Apr. 2017, 44).

The OSAC report indicates that foreign companies are extorted by criminals and that some have been attacked if no extortion money is paid (US 24 Feb. 2017). Sources report that small business owners are extorted by criminals using "user rights" (derecho de piso or cobro de piso), where the business owners are asked to pay the criminals periodically in order to be able to work (SinEmbargo 22 Nov. 2016; El Universal 22 May 2017). According to SinEmbargo, a digital Mexican newspaper, the criminals tell their victims that they are part of one of the cartels in order to get them to pay (SinEmbargo 22 Nov. 2016). Sources report that extortions are also committed from Mexican prison centres (Huffington Post 11 Jan. 2017; Univisión 15 Mar. 2017).

1.5 Robberies and Thefts

The report by the Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano indicates that the country's [translation] "violent robbery" [3] rate per 100,000 inhabitants between April 2016 and March 2017 was 150.95, and the states with the highest rates were Tabasco (458.23), Baja California (306.45), Morelos (285.53), Mexico City (252.67), and Sonora (239.87) (Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano Apr. 2017, 51). The same report indicates that the country's theft rate per 100,000 inhabitants between April 2016 and March 2017 was 57.34, and the states with the highest rates were Tabasco (368.37), Mexico City (234.86), Baja California (165.45), Aguascalientes (106.25), and Querétaro (93.62) (ibid., 75).

2. State Response

In correspondence with the Research Directorate, Marcos Moloeznik, a professor of political science who specializes in public safety and criminality in Mexico, indicated that state response during the presidency of Peña Nieto [December 2012 - present] has been three-pronged:

[translation]

1. repressive, through the intensive use of the military, especially against organized criminal organizations, and the militarization of police bodies supplying them with high-caliber, lethal weapons;
2. reform of the judicial system, favoring the implementation of an adversarial system of criminal justice; and
3. preventive, through the National Program for the Prevention of Violence and Crime (Programa Nacional para la Prevención de las Violencias y la Delincuencia, PRONAPRED). (Moloeznik 29 June 2017)

Sources report that the government has been deploying military personnel throughout the country in order to increase security (US 24 Feb. 2017; AI 2017). The OSAC report indicates that this includes a new military unit called the National Gendarmerie (Gendarmería Nacional) (US 24 Feb. 2017). Sources indicate that the National Gendarmerie was launched on 22 August 2014 to assist in public safety functions (Excélsior 22 Aug. 2014; Univisión 23 Aug. 2014), including the reduction of kidnapping and extortion (ibid.). Further information on the National Gendarmerie could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

In April 2017, sources report that the National Anti-kidnapping Coordination Agency (Coordinación Nacional Antisecuestro, CONASE), a government entity responsible for coordinating anti-kidnapping efforts among municipal, state, and federal security agencies that operates under the Ministry of the Interior (Mexico 5 Mar. 2016), allocated 103 million Mexican pesos (MXN) [about C$7,312,718] to strengthen the Anti-kidnapping Specialized Units (Unidades Especializadas Contra el Secuestro, UECS) [4] in the states of Tabasco, México, Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Mexico City, due to the rising rates of kidnapping in these states (Excélsior 19 Apr. 2017; El Universal 20 Apr. 2017). On 20 April 2016, the website of the Mexican Ministry of the Interior indicated that kidnapping rates in the country are decreasing as the result of the coordination of the UECS with state security agencies (Mexico 20 Apr. 2016).

The 2016 annual report by the Attorney General's Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR), presenting information on the PGR's federal crime investigations for the period between 1 September 2015 and 30 June 2016, provides, among other information, the following statistics:

• 17,350 people were detained in security actions related to drug trafficking (p.171);
• 511 people were sentenced for participation in organized crime-related activities (p. 55);
• 2,714 small arms, 2,853 high-caliber weapons and 644,563 rounds of ammunition seized in connection to organized crime-related activities (p. 171);
• 259 people charged with kidnapping (p. 65);
• 220 investigations opened into kidnapping involving 1,305 suspects, of which 235 were detained and 1,070 were at-large (p. 65);
• 330 victims of kidnapping liberated, of which 43 were minors (p. 65) (Mexico 1 Sept. 2016, 65-171).

The same source indicates that 10,272 warrants for federal crimes were executed, and as of 30 June 2016, 28,153 warrants were pending for execution (ibid., 165).

The UNODC statistics indicate that in 2015, 1,938,457 people were brought into formal contact with the police and/or the criminal justice system, including suspects, arrestees, or those cautioned, for a criminal offence at the national level (UN n.d.). The report further adds that 50,061 people were convicted in Mexico for a wide variety of crimes in 2015 (UN n.d.). Information on statistics for 2016 and 2017 for common crime could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

2.1 Effectiveness

The UNODC statistics indicate that in 2015, Mexico had 382,277 police personnel, representing a rate of 300.96 officers per 100,000 inhabitants (UN n.d.). Comparatively, the same source indicates that in the same year Canada had a rate of 191.37 (ibid.). The UNODC statistics further indicate that in 2015, Mexico had 5,567 judges or magistrates, representing a rate of 4.38 per 100,000 inhabitants (ibid.). Comparatively, the US had a rate of 0.75 for the same year (ibid.).

Sources indicate that the police and the military have reportedly been involved in activities such as unlawful killings, torture and disappearances (AI 2017; US 7 Apr. 2017, 1). Moloeznik indicated that the growing use of the military in combating violence has, in part, led to an increase in complaints of human rights violations committed by members of the military (Moloeznik 29 June 2017). Sources indicate that state agents that commit crimes continue to enjoy impunity (US 7 Apr. 2017, 1; AI 2017; Al Jazeera 8 Dec. 2016).

Sources indicate that an eight-year transition from a criminal system based on written testimonies to one based on oral trials was completed in 2016 (AI 2017; IISS 2017, 347). The 2017 IISS report further ads that, in the new system, confessions would only be admissible in court if they are made before a judge (IISS 2017, 348). AI indicates that "[m]any challenges" from the previous system remained, including the failure to respect the presumption of innocence of the accused (2017). According to Moloeznik, there has been resistance from some sectors of the justice system to implement the oral trial system as judges, prosecutors, investigators and police officers have not been properly trained (Moloeznik 29 June 2017). Additional information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

The US Country Reports 2016 indicates that Mexico has "extremely low rates of prosecution for all forms of crime," and prosecutions "could take years to complete" (7 Apr. 2017, 1, 9). Moloeznik indicates that the impunity rate for committed crimes is 7 percent (Moloeznik 29 June 2017). Sources indicate that crime is underreported due to generalized mistrust in authorities (ibid.; El Universal 21 June 2017).

3. Protection Programs
3.1 PGR's Witness Protection Program

Relevant articles of the Federal Law for the Protection of Persons Involved in Criminal Proceedings (Ley Federal para la Protección a Personas que Intervienen en el Procedimiento Penal), which was enacted in 2012, that address aspects such as protection measures, determination of eligibility to get into the program, responsibilities required for protected witnesses, obligations of the program with protected witnesses, and termination of protection, are attached to this Response. Sources indicate that the PGR is the entity responsible for administering the witness protection program (Mexico 2012a, Art. 3; Moloeznik 29 June 2017).

According to Moloeznik, problems with the witness protection program include the lack of financial resources and public mistrust in the PGR, which prevents potential witnesses from testifying (29 June 2017). In October 2015, sources reported that, between 2000 and 2015, the PGR spent around 217,443,000 pesos [around C$15,440,000] for the protection of witnesses (Telemundo 6 Oct. 2015; El Universal 5 Oct. 2015). In April 2017, Milenio, a Monterrey-based newspaper, reports that the witness protection program has costed the PGR more than 210 million pesos [around C$14,912,000] in the last 17 years (14 Apr. 2017).

Milenio quotes Rodolfo de la Guardia, the former director of Interpol-Mexico, who was incarcerated under false evidence of collusion with narcotrafficking, as saying that the witness protection program started out as an [translation] "investigation tool," which was later used by members of organized criminal groups to benefit them by providing information that was ultimately not upheld in court (14 Apr. 2017). Similarly, El Universal quotes a criminal lawyer as indicating that the witness protection program [translation] "is useful, but in Mexico the program is not properly used as there should be an analysis to determine that the information being provided by the member of the organized criminal organization who is being protected in the program is actually true" (El Universal 5 Oct. 2015).

El Universal quotes a representative from the PGR as saying that there are no time limits for the duration of the protection of a witness as "it all depends on the witness himself or when there is a change in the circumstances that were used to evaluate the risk in the first place" (ibid.). In October 2016, La Jornada, a Mexico City-based newspaper, reports that, according to the PGR, [translation] "55 witnesses were withdrawn from the witness protection program for reasons ranging from the end of judicial proceedings to the death of the witness" (La Jornada 6 Oct. 2016). The same source reports that the PGR indicated that 66 witnesses were being protected in 2012, 53 in 2013, 40 in 2014, and 11 in 2015 (ibid.). Additional information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

3.2 Protection Program for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists

The Law to Protect Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Ley para la Protección de Personas Defensoras de Derechos Humanos y Periodistas) regulates the mechanism for the protection of these groups (Mexico 2012b, Art. 1). The Mexican Ministry of the Interior is the entity responsible for administering the protection program for human rights defenders and journalists (ibid. 12 July 2017).

A report by the Ministry of the Interior on the protection program for human rights defenders and journalists indicates that in 2016, 97 out of 114 applications for protection received were approved (Mexico 30 June 2017, 3). The same source indicates that between January and June 2017, 85 out of 97 applications for protection were approved, and that as of June 2017, 59 journalists and 58 human rights defenders were receiving protection (ibid., 5). Sources indicate that the [translation] "panic buttons," one of the protection tools assigned to persons being protected, "do not work" (El Universal 24 Jan. 2017; Animal Político 29 July 2015; El Sol de México 21 May 2017). An article published in El Sol de Mexico, a Mexico City-based newspaper, on the protection mechanism, indicates that panic buttons, which consist of a satellite signal mechanism, lose the signal and have to be reinitiated every time the battery is charged, at which point the button loses the signal again (ibid.).

Animal Político, a news source based in Mexico, reports in a July 2015 article that problems with other protection measures include emergency help lines that are not answered, scheduled police rounds that are not carried out, and surveillance cameras that take several months to be installed (29 July 2015). Corroborating and additional information on these protection measures could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Notes

[1] Express kidnappings are those in which the victim is usually held for a few hours and forced to withdraw funds from ATM machines (UNAM 19 July 2017; US 24 Feb. 2017) or held for a few days for a small ransom to be paid by the victim's family members (US 24 Feb. 2017).

[2] Virtual kidnappings are those that do not occur in reality but when the criminals trick the family members of a person that they allege to have kidnapped into paying a ransom (UNAM 19 July 2017; US 24 Feb. 2017) either personally or electronically (ibid.). The OSAC report indicates that virtual kidnappers target family members either in Mexico or abroad (ibid.).

[3] The report by the Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano defines "violent robbery" as that in which the victim is robbed through physical force or under psychological pressure and "under the threat of losing his or her life, liberty, health or assets" (Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano Apr. 2017, 90).

[4] The website of the Ministry of the Interior indicates that the UECS were created in 2009 to fight kidnapping in the country (Mexico 3 Nov. 2016). There are 32 UECSs, one in each state, that operate 24 hours a day and they are composed of officers from the police, the General Attorney Office, and victims' assistance (ibid.).

References

Al Jazeera. 8 December 2016. "Mexico: Land of Impunity." [Accessed 19 July 2017]

Alto al Secuestro. N.d. Twitter. "Alto al Secuestro." [Accessed 22 July 2017]

Amnesty International (AI). 2017. "Mexico." Amnesty International Report 2016/2017: The State of the World's Human Rights. [Accessed 19 July 2017]

Anima Político. 29 July 2015. Arturo Angel. "Mecanismo 'protege' a periodistas y activistas con botones de pánico inservibles y teléfonos donde nadie contesta." [Accessed 23 July 2017]

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 3 May 2016. Vladimir Hernández. "Una mirada desgarradora al macabro mundo de los secuestros en México." [Accessed 19 July 2017]

El Sol de México. 21 May 2017. Patricia Torres. "Ante reciente violencia, piden revisar Mecanismo de Protección a periodistas." [Accessed 23 July 2017]

El Universal. 21 June 2017. Juan José Rodríguez Chávez. "El secuestro en México y su realidad." [Accessed 19 July 2017]

El Universal. 22 May 2017. Arturo Ortiz Mayén. "Por no pagar derecho de piso, balean a comerciante de origen chino en Centro Histórico." [Accessed 22 July 2017]

El Universal. 20 April 2017. Dennis A. García. "Destinan 103 mdp a combate al secuestro." [Accessed 22 July 2017]

El Universal. 24 January 2017. Dennis A. García. "ONU: defensores de derechos humanos en México viven violencia." [Accessed 23 July 2017]

El Universal. 5 October 2015. Zorayda Gallegos. "217 millones han costado testigos protegidos de PGR." [Accessed 19 July 2017]

Excélsior. 19 April 2017. Marcos Muedano. "Destinan 103 mdp para combate al secuestro en 5 regiones." [Accessed 22 July 2017]

Excélsior. 22 August 2014. "Presentan la Gendarmería, séptima División de la Policía Federal." [Accessed 21 July 2017]

Huffington Post. 11 January 2017. "Así operan las redes de extorsionadores desde el reclusorio norte de la CDMX." [Accessed 19 July 2017]

International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). 2017. Armed Conflict Survey. Vol. 3. No. 1.

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La Jornada. 6 October 2016. Alfredo Méndez. "Da de baja PGR a 55 testigos protegidos." [Accessed 19 July 2017]

Mexico. 30 June 2017. Secretaría de Gobernación. Informe estadístico Junio 2017: Mecanismo para la Protección de Personas Defensoras de Derechos Humanos y Periodistas. [Accessed 23 July 2017]

Mexico. 2017. Secretaría de Gobierno, Secretariado Ejecutivo del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Pública (SESNSP). Cifras de víctimas del fuero común, 2014-mayo 2017. [Accessed 19 July 2017]

Mexico. 3 November 2016. Secretaría de Gobernación. "Unidades Especializadas en Combate al Secuestro (UECS)." [Accessed 22 July 2017]

Mexico. 1 September 2016. Procuraduría General de la República (PGR). 4to Informe de labores 2015-2016. [Accessed 19 July 2017]

Mexico. 20 April 2016. Secretaría de Gobernación. "Conoce más sobre el Mecanismo de protección de personas defensoras de derechos humanos y periodistas." [Accessed 23 July 2017]

Mexico. 5 March 2016. Secretaría de Gobernación. "Infórmate: ¿Qué es la #CONASE?" [Accessed 22 July 2017]

Mexico. 2012a (amended 2016). Ley Federal para la Protección a Personas que Intervienen en el Procedimiento Penal. Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Services and Procurement Canada. [Accessed 19 July 2017]

Mexico. 2012b. Ley para la Protección de Personas Defensoras de Derechos Humanos y Periodistas. [Accessed 23 July 2017]

Mexico. N.d. Secretaría de Gobernación, Secretariado Ejecutivo del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Pública (SESNSP). "¿Qué hacemos?" [Accessed 21 July 2017]

Milenio. 14 April 2017. Fernando Damián et al. "La PGR gastó 210 mdp en testigos protegidos." [Accessed 19 July 2017]

Moloeznik, Marcos. 29 June 2017. University of Guadalajara. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.

Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano. April 2017. Reporte sobre delitos de alto impacto. [Accessed 19 July 2017]

Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano. N.d. "Quiénes somos?" [Accessed 21 July 2017]

openDemocracy. 16 March 2017. Katya Salazar. "Impunity and Human Rights Violations in Mexico Continue Unabated." [Accessed 19 July 2017]

openDemocracy. N.d. "openDemocracy." [Accessed 15 Aug. 2017]

SinEmbargo. 22 November 2016. "La extorsión sigue a la alza en México, y estos son los 10 estados con la mayor incidencia del delito." [Accessed 22 July 2017]

Telemundo. 6 October 2015. "México paga más de 217 millones a testigos protegidos." [Accessed 23 July 2017]

United Nations (UN). N.d. UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). "Crime and Criminal Justice." [Accessed 19 July 2017]

United States (US). 7 April 2017. Department of State. "Mexico." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016. [Accessed 19 July 2017]

United States (US). 24 February 2017. Department of State, Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC). Mexico 2017 Crime and Safety Report: Mexico City. [Accessed 19 July 2017]

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).19 July 2017. "Secuestros en México." [Accessed 19 July 2017]

Univisión. 15 March 2017. "Secuestros virtuales: la nueva modalidad de extorsión desde las cárceles de México." [Accessed 22 July 2017]

Univisión. 18 September 2016. "Hermanas fueron mutiladas por banda de secuestradores." [Accessed 22 July 2017]

Univisión. 23 August 2014. "Los gendarmes de Peña Nieto: cinco cosas que debes saber." [Accessed 21 July 2017]

Verisk Maplecroft. 1 December 2016. "Risk of Violent Crime Highest in Latin America - Afghanistan, Guatemala, Mexico Top Country Ranking - Verisk Maplecroft." [Accessed 19 July 2017]

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: a political scientist, Wilson Center; a professor of anthropology, University of Guatalajara; a professor of international studies, Colegio de México; a professor of politics, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas; Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos.

Internet sites, including: Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Protección de los Derechos Humanos; Deutsche Welle; ecoi.net; El Financiero; El País; Factiva; Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'Homme; Freedom House; Human Rights Watch; InSight Crime; Institute for War and Peace Reporting; Instituto para la Seguridad y la Democracia, A.C.; International Crisis Group; IRIN; Jane's Intelligence Review; Mexico - Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Penales, Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, NOTIMEX, Policía Federal; México Evalúa; Norway - Landinfo; Organization of American States; Presunción de Inocencia; Proceso; Reporte Indigno; RT; UN - Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Refworld, ReliefWeb; US - Central Intelligence Agency, Embassy in Mexico City; Washington Office on Latin America; World Justice Project.

Attachment

Mexico. 2012 (amended 2016). Ley Federal para la Protección a Personas que Intervienen en el Procedimiento Penal. Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Services and Procurement Canada. [Accessed 19 July 2017]