Proceso (4-7-2013)
Translated by un vato for Borderland Beat
MEXICO, DF. (proceso.com.mx).--The Mexican Office of Attorney General (PGR: Procuraduria General de la Republica) has decided to restrict official reports about organized crime in the country for 12 years, such as the number of cartels, their names and their areas of operation.The agency headed by Jesus Murillo Karam argues that disclosure of these facts would affect law enforcement strategies (used) to fight organized crime and would, in addition, even risk the lives of criminals themselves, according to Reforma (journal).
Pursuant to the Transparency law, the newspaper requested from the PGR information about the number of cartels that operate in the country, their structure and zones of influence.
However, the PGR argued that, due to the current situation in the country, giving out that information represents a risk to the safety of the persons mentioned in those reports, because different criminal organizations may obtain information that can be used against them, placing their physical integrity, including their lives, at risk.
It adds: "Revealing information presents a clear threat to the development of strategies that are based on said document, in addition to revealing information about the location of persons directly related to organized crime, which represents a risk against their life and physical integrity, when they are directly identifiable and locatable."
The newspaper recalls that during the Felipe Calderon administration, the PGR, the Federal Public Safety Secretariat, the Federal Police and the Army gave detailed information about the principal criminal organizations that were operating in Mexico, the names of their leaders and the areas they controlled.