Move championed as a way to battle police corruption, but many
fear abuse

By Paul delaGarza CHICAGO TRIBUNE

MEXICO CITY Trying to combat rampant police corruption. President
Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon increasingly has turned to the military,
putting generals into positions previously held by civilians and giving
soldiers greater responsibility against drug trafficking.

Zedillo's moves have drawr praise from some quarters, including some
civilian U.S. governmenl officials. But critics, among therr military
affairs experts in the United States, recall the oppressive role the army
has played throughout history in Latin America, and fear the shift in
policy can only lead to abuses of power.

"It's easy to bring them (the military) into the political arena," said
Donald Schulz, a professor at the U.S. Army War College. "It may not be
so easy to get them out."

Beyond that, human rights activists, members of opposition political
parties and even guerrilla groups fear that with national elections
coming, Zedillo is flaunting the military's presence in public tc silence
dissent, a charge that Zedilo's administration dismisses as "completely
unfounded."

Since taking office in late 1994, Zedillo in an effort to overcome the
unbridled corruption of the local, state and federal police has
installed generals to lead the federal drug agency, the federal judicial
police and the Mexico City Police Department. These generals, in turn,
have placed their cronies in key management jobs.

"We understand we have to reform the institutions that provide security
to the citizenry... and the military has proven very reliable, said a
government official. "When it comes to honesty, they are unmatched in
Mexico."

_Lure of big money_

Nonetheless, critics are concerned that the allure of drug money
will corrupt the armed forces. In February, the nation's drug czar, Gen.
Jesus Gutie'rrez Itebollo, was arrested on charges of protecting one of
Mexico's most powerful traffickers in exchange for bribes. Gutie'rrez had
been on the job for two months.

Officials acknowledge the potential for corruption in the armed forces
concerns them, considering that the take from drug trafficking in Mexico
is estimated as high as $30 billion a year.

"That is our biggest worry and our biggest risk, that the prestige of
the military will be lost," said Gen. Enrique Salgado, a 43year military
veteran whom Zedillo named Mexico City police chief last June.

The defense minister, Gen. Enrique Cervantes Aguirre, is obsessed with
maintaining an honest military, officials say, and the training soldiers
receive instills discipline and the values of honor and patriotism.

With their increasing role in law enforcement, military officials have
gained political clout. According to the weekly magazine Proceso, the
military in 1995 saw its budget jump by 44 percent.

Despite public disclaimers, the budget increase leaves the military
indebted to the ruling party, Schulz said, and just the fact that
soldiers are more visible on the street intimidates the political
opposition.

The president's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has
run Mexico for 70 years, but it faces some of the stiffest competition in
its history in national elections in July.

According to some polls, opposition parties seem poised to make
appreciable gains, including possibly winning the coveted mayor's office
in the capital.

_Promise: It's temporary_

A top presidential aide emphasized that the military's role in
law enforcement was temporary, and that once the administration achieved
its goal of improving the civilian police, the military would pull out.

"I see a great darkness and unknown that Mexico is moving into," Schulz
said. "The idea is to return law enforcement back to the civilians, but
first you have to build strong, confident, honest police and judicial
institutions, and Mexico has never been able to do that."

The signs of militarization are everywhere, from key drug routes near
Tijuana and Chihuahua on the U.S. border, to the crime plagued streets of
Mexico City and the guerrilla occupied states of Chiapas and Guerrero in
the south.

Soldiers are replacing the notoriously corrupt federal judicial police,
who are responsible for drug investigations. In Mexico City, soldiers are
replacing civilian police officers while the officers attend police
training.

In March, about 2,500 soldiers moved into the capital's most dangerous
neighborhood, Iztapalapa, on the southeast side. Neighborhood residents
so far have nothing but praise for the soldiers.