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210563
2009-06-05 20:31:00
09MONTERREY213
Consulate Monterrey
SECRET
09MONTERREY210
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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MONTERREY 000213 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  6/5/2019 
TAGS: ASEC SNAR CASC KCRM MX
SUBJECT: MEXICAN MILITARY ARRESTS STATE AND LOCAL POLICE OFFICERS 
 
REF: MONTERREY 0210 
 
MONTERREY 00000213  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Bruce Williamson, Consul General, Monterrey, 
State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  In ongoing operations, 74 police officers, 
including some high ranking officials, have been detained by the 
Mexican military for ties to organized crime.   The arrests 
highlight the level of infiltration of local security forces. 
While President Calderon has vowed to keep up the fight against 
corruption, several Monterrey-based opposition party members are 
claiming that these arrests are a cover to gain votes in the 
upcoming midterm election.  End Summary. 
 
Names of Arrested Police Officers Found on Payoff lists 
 
¶2.  (U)  Starting on June 1, the Mexican military began what is 
an ongoing campaign in the Monterrey metropolitan area to arrest 
municipal and state law enforcement officers with presumed ties 
to organized crime.  After four days there have been 74 arrests. 
 Of the 74 arrested, 58 are being held for 30 days pending an 
investigation, 6 have been released, and 10 are pending 
arraignments.   According to press reports, the military is 
conducting the arrest based on information found on payroll 
lists seized during recent drug raids. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)   The arrests include the heads of municipal public 
security secretariats and several high ranking police officers. 
For instance, Fernando Torre y Cuevas a former Nuevo Leon 
sub-secretary of public security and Monterrey's current 
director of transit police, was one of those arrested and then 
released.   Of the 6 high-ranking officials that have been 
detained and released, the reasons why they were let go has not 
been made public.   It is possible that the derogatory evidence 
found against them was insufficient to make formal charges or 
that they were arrested  in an attempt to pressure them to 
reveal useful information.  In any event, the 6 released 
officials have not been reinstated to their previous posts 
pending a full investigation. 
 
¶4.  (U)   The arrest of the police officers appears to be part 
of a larger effort by President Calderon to crack down on 
corruption and organized crime.  On May 26, federal police 
forces arrested 30 government officials (including 10 mayors) in 
the state of Michoacan.  In a June 2 speech following the arrest 
of the police officers in Nuevo Leon, Calderon openly admitted 
that organized crime had infiltrated government offices but he 
declared his government is working to root corruption out and 
that "Mexico will not go backwards in the war against organized 
crime." 
 
Opposition Claims Arrests Are Political 
 
¶5.  (C)   Nationwide, security has been the top election issue 
and the PAN strategy has been to equate the opposition (namely 
the PRI and the PRD) with corruption and bad governance. 
However, there is no public evidence to suggest the arrests in 
Nuevo Leon and Michoacan were politically motivated but the 
opposition parties are crying foul.  In Nuevo Leon, the 
detentions took place in five municipalities:  Escobedo, 
Guadalupe, San Nicolas, Santa Catarina, and Monterrey.  The 
first two are governed by PRI mayors;  the last three by PAN 
mayors.   In addition, Nuevo Leon Public Security Secretary Aldo 
Fasci had advance knowledge of the military's raids and he 
reports directly to the state's PRI governor.  Indeed, all the 
prisoners were initially held at the state government's police 
academy. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)    The day after the first round of detentions, Nuevo 
Leon Governor Natividad Gonzalez Paras read a message on behalf 
of all PRI governors welcoming the arrests of the corrupt police 
officers but warned the President not to politicize the arrests. 
  The governor also called on the military to share more 
intelligence with state police forces so they could play a 
greater role in the investigations. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)   If President Calderon is acting politically to 
influence the July midterm elections, there has been little 
impact locally.  A June 4 poll by El Norte showed the PRI and 
PAN candidates for governor statistically tied if the elections 
were to be held that day.  The poll results have remained 
relatively steady for the last three months.   Nationally, 
however, the PRI's favorability rating has fallen from about 45% 
to 39% since March according to a recent poll by La Reforma. 
 
¶8.  (C)  Comment.  To date, the Nuevo Leon municipalities where 
the arrests have taken place are all areas dominated by the Gulf 
Cartel.  As reported in the press, Post law enforcement sources 
indicate that the information upon which the arrests are based 
comes from information gathered during previous military drug 
raids.  While the military arrests are ongoing, so far the 
influential suburb of San Pedro, where many state and business 
 
MONTERREY 00000213  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
leaders, live has not been touched.  This could be because San 
Pedro's affluence has allowed city leaders to instill a 
(slightly) higher degree of transparency in its municipal police 
force.  Or it could be because that municipality is dominated by 
the Beltran Leyva faction of the Sinaloa cartel, an organization 
about which military authorities in Monterrey have relatively 
less information. 
 
¶9.  (S)  Comment continued.  Post DEA notes the Mexican 
military's increasing use of unilateral intelligence in its 
operations.  In addition to the recent detentions, the military 
also acted unilaterally in the arrests of two Sinaloa cartel 
leaders in Nuevo Leon:  Hector `La Burra' Huerta Rios, on March 
24 and his replacement, Rodolfo `El Nito" Lopez Ibarra on May 18. 
WILLIAMSONB