One Year On

Excélsior, a year ago one of the chief media proponents of the National Agreement for Security, Justice, and Legality, today devotes a lot of column space to condemning the lack of progress in reaching the agreement's goals. An entire page, in fact. One of the NGOs behind the agreement, Mexico United Against Crime, grades the different areas of government according to the progress they've made on different commitments. On a scale of 1 to 10, the executive branch drew an average of 5.8, the judicial branch scored 7.5, the legislative branch 7, state governments 3, and the association of the nation's mayors a staggeringly bad 0.9. In fact, the mayors scored below 2 on every one of its goals, including a big fat zero on, "Municipal security plan".

Alejandro Martí also declared himself unsatisfied with the progress. Although he appeared animated about the idea of organizing opposition to the most change-resistant politicians in their races 2012.

Another voice associated with the National Agreement, Ernesto López Portillo, points to the System of Indices and Indicators of Public Security as a success:

The System was conceived by a technical board of the highest specialization, integrated by representatives of academia and civil organizations. The exercise was possible thanks to the donation of funds coming from business leaders. This episode implies what I call the professionalization of civil society, which is to say, the expropriation, by independent actors, of recognition and instruments that allow them to approach authorities with technical and highly proactive language. Look at the relevance of the formula: we are passing from the growing self-isolation and sporadic marches, to organized, technical, and permanent vigilance of the authorities.