Up to 95% reduction in crime in six municipalities of Guerrero
The alternative security program has been tolerated, but also repressed
Rosa Rojas, La Jornada September 27, 2005
San Luis Acatlán, Guerrero.
The dream of any public safety secretary of director, which is to reduce the incidence of assault, theft, kidnapping, rape, and drug activity by 90-95%, has been achieved in six municipalities in the Costal-Mountain Region of Guerrero. Here among a population of over 100,000 people, voluntary and unpaid participation in the Community System of Security, Justice & Reducation (SCSIJR), primarily of indigenous peoples, has led to this dramatic reduction in crime.
In October of 1995, in the community of Santa Cruz El Rincón, in the municipality of Malinaltepec, the community police (PC) was founded. This organization involved groups of volunteers from 36 communities, united in the effort to halt the incidence of assault, rape, and harassment that plagued the region. The PC began a program of accompaniment of public busses, that were constantly being assaulted, as well as patrolling the roads. There was particular involvement by the coffee organizations Luz de Montaña and the Regional Campesino Union (Unión Regional Campesina), as well as the Council of 500 Years of Indigenous Resistence (Consejo 500 Años de Resistencia Indígena), Negra y Popular, the Council of Indigenous Authorities (Consejo de Autoridades Indígenas), the Community Council of Abasto, and the parish of El Rincón, Mario Campos Hernández.
In 1997 there was a conceptual leap: given that the delinquents apprehended by the PC were transferred to the Public Ministry where “more time was spent admitting them to the system than in releasing them, because of the high level of corruption that existed,” the PCs decided to extend their work beyond simple enforcement and apprehension of delinquents to include the administration of justice. Ever since then, the delinquents are tried by the SCSIJR and they are sentenced to periods of community service. In the process of completing their sentences they are reeducates by the elders and leaders of the communities.
This project involves the participation of 62 communities from the municipalities of San Luis Acatlán, Malinaltepec, Marquelia, Copanatoyac, Metlatónoc and Atlamajalcingo del Monte. The assembly of these groups makes up the first level of the PC´s justice system. The second level is formed by the Regional Assembly of Community Authorities (Asamblea Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias). At the third level exists the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities (CRAC), which includes six coordinating commissioners. These commissioners are the judges that order investigations and issue sentencing. Also included in the CRAC are the six regional commanders, each of whom relates to a distinct municipality. These commanders comprise the executive committee of the PC. In total there are 612 community police officers, the majority of whom are indigenous tlapanecos, mixtecos, and nahuas, though there are also mestizos involved.
In 2001, the parish priest Campos Hernández said: “Here we do not speak of autonomy because it is a word that causes much commotion, but we do practice it.” This continues to be the case today. “This is an ethical project, not only of resistance, which in the face of the national security crisis is a complementary project, sometimes an alternative one… we feel that we are assisting this most important project that has been growing” affirms the municipal president of San Luís Acatlán, of PRD affiliation, Genaro Vázquez. He confirmed the drastic reduction in reported crime in the region in the wake of the establishment of the PC.
HISTORY AND METHODS
This interethnic, multilingual, and intermunicipal justice system has been “nonexistent” to some government agencies. According to the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) “it is not a legally established authority” and the detention of individuals by the PC constitutes “illegal deprivation of freedom.” According to the Human Rights Center of the Tlachinollan Mountain (Centro de Derechos Humans de la Montaña Tlachinollan), affiliate of the diocese of Tlapa, the PC is a system of “alternative justice.”
The relation of the SCSIJR to the Mexican state has varied between tolerance and repression. Government actions have ranged from the PC receiving 22 rifles, in 1997, from the then governor Angel Aguirre, to the incarceration, at various times, of some twenty PC commissioners accused of “illegal deprivation of freedom.” Other actions have included, on one end of the spectrum, the training of PC members by the 48th Battalion of the Army (in 1995, 1996, and 1997) as well as by members of the official police force. On the other end of the spectrum, there has been the periodical disarming of the PC by members of the same aforementioned battalion. This year there have been arrest warrants issued for six commissioners, again accused of “illegal deprivation of freedom.”
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