The day before the start of the trial of Derek Chauvin in the United States for the murder of George Floyd, a Salvadorian immigrant in Mexico, Victoria Salazar, was killed by police in Tulum, one of the most exclusive holiday destinations in Mexico. This sparked discussions throughout Mexico about brutality, systematic failures, and racial discrimination in Mexican police forces.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF POLICE BRUTALITY IN MEXICO

Victoria Salazar was from El Salvador, but lived in Mexico on a humanitarian visa. She was detained after an alleged disruption to public order. In a video that has been circulated in the press, Victoria is seen on the ground with a police officer kneeling on her back, whilst other police officers stand by. It was later confirmed that Victoria died due to a ruptured first and second vertebrae, consistent with the position that she was held in by the police.

The 2020 case of Giovanni López bears a striking resemblance to the case of Victoria. Giovanni was detained by police in May 2020 for allegedly not wearing a mask. He was later found dead, bruised, with a bullet in his leg and blunt force trauma to the head. When his family questioned the circumstances of his death, officers told them that they got “carried away” and offered money in return for the family’s silence.

Police brutality in Mexico is not new. One of the most well-known cases is of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa, in the state of Guerrero, who in 2014 were detained by the police en route to a protest and forcibly disappeared. To date, the remains of only two of the students have been recovered, and the families continue to call for answers from the Mexican government. While the government maintains that they were killed by criminal gangs, this has been disputed by activist organisations.

SYSTEMATIC FAILURES

Being a police officer is one of the most dangerous occupations in Mexico—542 police officers were killed in 2020. There is therefore a high turnover of personnel and consequently many officers do not have the chance to receive adequate training. Human Rights Watch found that no police force in Mexico complied with the minimum training levels required by law. A further 10% of officers reported that they were made to pay illegal “quotas” to their superiors, and if they declined, they would be denied access to equipment and training. This lack of training and corruption leaves police officers without the necessary knowledge and tools needed to passively resolve conflict situations, which leads to an excessive use of force and deaths in police custody.

The National Institute for Statistics and Geography (INEGI) conducted a survey of people who had been detained by police in 2016 and found that the police had beaten two-thirds of detainees and choked or subjected to waterboarding another one-third of detained people. In almost half of the cases the person conducting the arrest did not identify themselves as a police officer, and in 20% of cases the detained person was taken to a private or undisclosed place instead of an official police station.

The links between organised crime and corrupt Mexican police forces compound the high levels of police brutality. In 2017, there were 1,688 cases of corruption for every 1,000 police officers in Mexico. After reports of excessive use of force during protests in response to the murder of Giovanni López, Jaliscan Governor Enrique Alfaro claimed that calls for the police to repress protesters had originated from criminal cartels.

On average in Mexico only 1% of crimes are reported and subsequently resolved, including cases of police brutality. Reasons for high levels of impunity include corruption, lack of resources, influence of organised crime, and dangerous working conditions. High impunity reduces public confidence and therefore police brutality is under-reported, and the lack of repercussions encourages police brutality to continue. Human rights organisations regularly criticise Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for not addressing these systematic failures and demand that he holds the police forces accountable to end the cycle of impunity.

PIGMENTOCRACY

Racist police killings are not only endemic to the United States. Mexico can be described as a “pigmentocracy,” with a social hierarchy based on skin tone. The pigmentocracy has its roots in the caste system implemented by Spanish colonisers in the 16th century.

Both Victoria and Giovanni were described by the press as morenos, a word used to describe people with a dark skin tone. Studies have revealed that in Mexico, the darker a person’s skin tone, the more likely it is that they will be unfairly interrogated, detained, or threatened by the police. Furthermore, 15% of people who identify themselves as moreno in Mexico say that their rights have been violated at some point in their life.

Giovanni López lived in the poverty-stricken municipality of Ixtlahuacán, one of the top five municipalities with the most disappearances in the state of Jalisco. In contrast, the neighbouring town Chapala is one of the most popular retirement destinations for Canadians. Victoria Salazar lived in the popular tourist resort of Tulum, a place where many white celebrities and influencers have sought “refuge” from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. El Salvador, her country of origin, struggles with organised crime and one of the highest femicide rates in the world. When looking at these cases, the symbolism of their proximity to luxury and whiteness cannot be ignored, and the question needs to be raised of whether a Canadian pensioner or a white influencer would have received the same treatment from the police.

Police brutality resulting from systematic failures and racism is found all over the world. Thanks to increased visibility brought about by activist organisations such as Black Lives Matter, more people are aware of crimes being committed by the police. However, being aware is no longer sufficient. It is vital that police forces are held accountable and that states enact criminal justice system reforms to protect citizens from the people who should be protecting us.

Read this article in Español

Alice is a recent German & Hispanic studies graduate from Queen Mary University of London, specialising in literature during dictatorships. Her aspiration is to move to Mexico permanently to teach English and get involved with social justice activism, hopefully returning to the city of Guadalajara where she studied for a semester.

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