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Legality and Extra-legality in Mexico*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Evelyn P. Stevens
Evelyn P. Stevens*
Affiliation:
Division of Special Interdisciplinary Studies, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
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Extract

There are many ways of dealing with events that are perceived by a government as threats to the stability of the existing political system. Two contrasting ways will be discussed in this study of Mexico, and an attempt will be made to evaluate their relative efficacy in controlling activities regarded as subversive by the government in question. The first method to be discussed will be referred to as the legal approach to subversion. Focus will be on both the latent and manifest functions (in Mertonian terms) of the letter, intent, and implementation of the Mexican law.

The ley de disolución social (law of social dissolution) forms part of the Mexican Federal Penal Code, which is applicable throughout the entire republic.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , January 1970 , pp. 62 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1970

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Footnotes

*

I am indebted to Lic. Héctor Fix Zamudio, Director, Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, for facilitating my research in the library of the Institute.

References

1 Código Penal, Libro Segundo, Título Segundo, Capítulo 3, Artículos 145 y 145 bis.

2 Carrancá, Raúl y Trujillo, , Código penal anotado (México: Antigua Librería Robredo, 1962), pp. 351–353.Google Scholar

3 Lic. Aguilar, Rómulo Rosales, “Opiniones de algunos penalistas sobre el delito de disolución social,” Foro de México 96 (March 1, 1961): 64–82.Google Scholar

4 Ibid., p. 80.

5 Where the median penalty prescribed by law for a crime exceeds five years, Mexican procedure denies the recourses of bail and suspended sentence.

6 Dr.Sodi, Carlos Franco, “Historia, anatomía y diagnóstico de un delito,” Criminalia 26, no. 12 (1960): 1033.Google Scholar

7 Lic. Pallares, Eduardo, “El delito de disolución social,” Foro de México 95 (1961): 29.Google Scholar

8 Carrancá, y Trujillo, , Código penal anotado, p. 357.Google Scholar

9 Rosales Aguilar, “Opiniones de algunas penalistas,” passim.

10 Supreme Court, First Chamber, Informe, 1961, cited in Carrancá, y Trujillo, , Código Penal, p. 354.Google Scholar (Many students of comparative law hold that the Mexican Supreme Court cannot exercise the power of judicial review, but Mexican authorities differ on this point. The subject will be discussed in a later article.)

11 Lic. Carrancá, R. y Rivas, , “Panorama de la disolución social en la URSS y en México,” Criminalia 27, no. 7 (July 31, 1961): 419–421.Google Scholar

12 Héctor Aguirre Costilla, “Los delitos de disolución social” (Licenciatura en Derecho diss., Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1961).

13 de Brody, Olga Pellicer, “La revolución cubana en México,” Foro Internacional 8, no. 4 (April-June 1968): 360–383.Google Scholar

14 See for example Schmitt, Karl, Communism in Mexico (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1965), especially pp. 220–249 Google Scholar for a resume of the reasons for the failure of Mexico's Communists to become influential.

15 Some of the speeches at PAN's national convention in 1965, marking the party's silver anniversary, had a nostalgic ring as the party's leaders reminisced about the real and imagined perils of the past and contrasted it with the currently more peaceful existence.

16 Teissier, Ernesto Julio, “De domingo a domingo,” Novedades, August 21, 1966.Google Scholar

17 Debray, Regis, “Revolution in the Revolution?” Monthly Review 19, no. 3 (July-August 1967): 83.Google Scholar

18 de Brody, Pellicer, “La revolución cubana en México,” Foro Internacional 8:321.Google Scholar

19 See for example the full page advertisement in Excelsior, January 17, 1959.

20 Evelyn P. Stevens, “Information and Decision-Making in Mexico” (Ph.D. diss., University of California, 1968), pp. 112-185.

21 Carrión, Jorge, Cazés, Daniel, Arguedas, Sol, and Carmona, Fernando, Tres culturas en agonía (México: Editorial Nuestro Tiempo, 1969), pp. 9–39.Google Scholar

22 Excelsior, April 14,1959, p. 1.

23 See for example Sucesos para todos, April 6, 1968, p. 4.

24 Excelsior, April 2,1959, p. 1.

25 Hispanoamericano, August 22, 1966, p. 8.

26 Últimas Noticias de Excelsior, 2nd ed., July 30,1968, p. 1.

27 Manjárrez, Froylán C., “La matanza de Xochicalco,” in Jaramillo, Rubén and Manjárrez, Froylán C., Autobiografía y asesinato (México: Editorial Nuestro Tiempo, 1967), pp. 126–131.Google Scholar

28 Stavenhagen, Rodolfo, “Un modelo para el estudio de las organizaciones políticas en México,” Revista Mexicana de Sociología 29, no. 2 (April-June 1967): 335–336.Google Scholar

29 Ibid., pp. 332-333.

30 Much of the information in this section is based on a number of interviews conducted by the author in 1965, 1966, and 1968 with individuals who had direct experience with the techniques described. In each case, the informant agreed to discuss these matters after repeated assurances that his (or her) anonymity would be preserved.

31 See Anderson, Bo and Cockroft, James D., “Control and Cooptation in Mexican Politics,” International Journal of Comparative Sociology 7, no. 1 (March 1966): 21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

32 Carrión, et al., Tres culturas, pp. 170–246.Google Scholar

33 See for example Almond, Gabriel and Verba, Sidney, The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 414 et passim.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

34 Needier, Martin, Political Development in Latin America: Instability, Violence, and Evolutionary Change (New York: Random House, 1968), p. 21.Google Scholar