Obama and the Human Rights Question in Mexico’s Drug War

While Obama and Calderon met today in Guadalajara, Mexico’s Supreme Court was set to review a human rights case that could change the direction of the drug war. On the table is whether soldiers accused of rights violations should be tried in civilian court.

The abuse question is major because complaints against the military have gone up 600 percent since 2006, when Calderon started the war and scattered 45,000 troops around the country. Mexico says the complaints reflect isolated cases which have all been handled properly. Human rights groups from small Mexico City organizations to heavyweights like Amnesty International say otherwise. (Last April Human Rights Watch came out with a report about military impunity, and the Washington Post followed up with this story in July.)

If this sounds like your typical fight between lefty rights defenders and the military, it has real bilateral diplomacy implications. Last week Sen. Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Senate subcommittee that controls State Department spending, blocked $100 million earmarked for the army because he wasn’t satisfied with Mexico’s progress on human rights.

If the Supreme Court decides in favor of trying soldiers in civilian court, it could pave the way for the Senate to release the money.

The Calderon administration wouldn’t be happy, though. El Universal reported that Fernando Gomez Mont, the Mexican equivalent of vice president, personally visited each member of the Court to argue against the case. Now imagine the fallout if Biden tried to influence a U.S. Supreme Court decision that way.

UPDATE: During today’s summit Obama said he fully backed Calderon in his fight against the cartels. From the Times:

Repeating a line used often by President Felipe Calderón of Mexico, Mr. Obama labeled the drug traffickers causing so much violence in both Mexico and the United States as the biggest violators of human rights.

UPDATE II: That was fast. The Supreme Court, in a 6-5 decision, won’t rule on the constitutionality of military tribunals for human rights cases. With Obama’s support and the military status quo secure, Calderon scored two wins today.