Civil liberties

Mexico: Federal Commission to Investigate Military Amid Espionage Claims

Published MAR 15 2023

Story

Image credit: AFP/Getty Images [via The Guardian]

The Facts

Sen. Ricardo Monreal, the leader of the ruling Morena party in Mexico's upper chamber, told reporters on Monday that a federal commission will be installed later this week to investigate claims of abuses by the military, including reports that it used the Pegasus spyware to hack the phone of prominent rights activist Raymundo Ramos.
Guardian
This announcement comes just a few days after Mexico's Pres. Andrés Manuel López Obrador assured that the government hasn't spied on anyone, accusing Mexican news outlets of publishing "made up" allegations against him.
Reuters
Last week, three local outlets working with Mexican rights groups disclosed an alleged military report suggesting that high-ranking military officials were involved in espionage reportedly carried out by the secretive Military Intelligence Center.
nytimes
While the government has been mired in scandal for years over the alleged use of spyware against prominent critics, this is the first time a paper trail has emerged to support such claims. Mexico's Ministry of Defense has acknowledged using Pegasus only from 2011 to 2013.
nytimes
In October, Mexican digital rights organization R3D, with technical support from the Citizen Lab, claimed that forensic analysis had revealed that two Mexican journalists and an opposition lawmaker, as well as Ramos, were infected with Pegasus between 2019 and 2021.
The Citizen Lab
Mexico was reportedly the testbed for the global spy tool developed by the Israeli company NSO Group. In 2021, the country's Public Security Ministry disclosed details of 27 of 31 contracts – worth more than $160M – signed between 2011 and 2018.
Reuters

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Though well-known that Mexico's democracy has been pushed to its limits under the López Obrador government, the confirmed spying on journalists and activists is certainly a new low. Either the president knew about this practice and did nothing to stop it, or he has been an incompetent commander in chief of the increasingly powerful armed forces.

The New York Times

Narrative B

The latest allegations that Mexico's military has spied on its citizens are ill-founded fabrications that are intended to undermine the reputation of this institution as well as of López Obrador. While the government has indeed relied on some kind of intelligence technology to investigate and tackle crime, it hasn't engaged in espionage activity.