Mexico: Felipe Calderón To Face Charges At International Court

A member of a rival political party officially denounced the former president of Mexico, Felipe Calderón to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

Humberto Moreira, whose son was a victim of the conflict between the Mexican government and drug cartels and was head of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) until December 2011, confirmed to AFP that he considered Calderón a “war criminal” and that he had taken the matter to the ICJ. According to AFP the document sent by Moreira to prosecutor Fatou Bensouda states that Calderón imposed “a state of emergency in which, far from protecting civilians in military operations, as is mandated in the Geneva Convention, the armed forces have systematically jeopardised the lives and physical integrity of the people”.

 

Felipe Calderón, from the Partido de Acción Nacional (PAN), won the 2006 elections and as one of his first measures upon arriving to power “declared war” to the increasingly powerful drug cartels of Mexico. Six years on the so called “War on Drugs” has been considered by many as a complete failure, having claimed the life of more than 60,000 Mexicans and the conflict spiralling out of control.

“My son was killed because of the crazy war of the irresponsible Calderón. Thousands have died like my son,” said Moreira. Moreira himself is a controversial figure in Mexican politics as he has been accused of corruption during his time as governor of the state of Coahuila in which the debt of the state went from US$200m to US$35bn.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, also from the PRI, took over from Calderón earlier this month and has announced that he will change the security policy of the troubled North American country.