Hook
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Purge of Federal Police Chiefs
Thought sure this would be up by now. Mebbe I'm the only one still reading the LA Times?
Mexico purges federal police chiefs
The housecleaning comes as the nation seeks traction in a foundering drug war.
By Sam Enriquez, Times Staff Writer
June 26, 2007
MEXICO CITY — Mexico replaced the federal police chiefs from each of the country's 31 states and the Federal District on Monday, pending polygraph and
drug tests to determine whether they are on the right side of the law in the nation's foundering drug war.
The surprise purge of top leaders of the federal police and an elite federal investigations agency comes as Mexican President Felipe Calderon seeks
traction in a 6-month-old campaign against drug traffickers that has neither stemmed killings nor slowed shipments.
Corruption among local, state and federal law enforcement has for years given cover to drug smuggling gangs, now at war over access routes to the
United States, and over Mexico's growing domestic markets.
"Every federal cop is obliged to carry out his post with legality, honesty and efficiency," Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna said at a news
conference Monday announcing the housecleaning. "In the fight against crime, we have strategies. One axis of our strategy is to professionalize and
purge our police corps."
The police chiefs were replaced Monday by federal officers who have passed a rigorous screening, Garcia Luna said.
Shortly after taking office in December, Calderon sent the army to work alongside federal police in nine states. But there are growing suspicions that
millionaire kingpins continue to buy protection as easily as ever, despite Calderon's efforts. Half a dozen federal police officers were arrested this
month when their army counterparts discovered they'd allowed a cocaine shipment to pass through the Mexicali airport.
About a third of Mexico's 20,000-member federal police force, which investigates all drug crimes and homicides, is assigned to work alongside the
12,000 soldiers employed in Calderon's anti-trafficking campaign. That pairing has raised speculation about information being leaked to smugglers and
growers.
Street prices in the United States remain stable, suggesting that suppliers continue to smuggle narcotics over the U.S.-Mexico border relatively
undisturbed, drug experts say.
With more than 2,000 people killed last year, curbing drug violence emerged as Calderon's first priority when he took office. The army, with its
reputation of being more trustworthy than Mexico's police agencies, emerged as Calderon's tool of choice.
But critics worry that Mexico's army will be the next institution to be tainted by drug profits. American drug users are estimated to spend as much as
$65 billion a year, mostly on cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine, commodities largely controlled by Mexican trafficking organizations and
their Colombian affiliates.
"Drug trafficking results in a lot of money, and money buys power," said a senior U.S. counter-drug official. "When you have someone who has a base of
operations significant enough to earn millions of dollars a year, it's not uncommon for them to wield the kind of power to develop circles of
protection. Mexico is no exception to that. That's no secret here. The government of Mexico is well aware."
Calderon has asked the U.S. to shoulder a larger share of the drug enforcement burden. U.S. officials acknowledge that the war in Iraq has shifted
attention and military resources away from drug interdiction in the air and sea shipping zones of Mexico and Central America.
Although Calderon has won credit for facing down drug cartels, uncertainty lingers in Washington over how much help to give Mexico's law enforcement
agencies, particularly in the gathering and sharing of intelligence.
Garcia Luna would not say whether any of the replaced federal officers were being investigated for alleged corruption, or what prompted the
government's decision.
"Any evidence we have will be processed by the attorney general's office, and, of course, any reference we find will be analyzed and sent to
prosecutors," he said.
Mexican lawmakers on Monday demanded that Calderon's government present any evidence it has of federal police corruption.
The removed state heads of the federal police, known as the Federal Preventive Police, or PFP, as well as the Federal Investigative Agency, or AFI,
will undergo additional training and be subjected to close scrutiny, Garcia Luna said. They will be given polygraph and drug tests, he added, and
their financial assets will be examined to see whether they are in line with a public servant's salary.
Garcia Luna said the new state police chiefs were among 284 federal police officers who began work Monday as replacements. Calderon in March called
for new standards in police ethics and discipline, triggering the recall.
"It's obvious that there are mafias that don't want things to change," Garcia Luna said. "In the fight against corruption, we won't give in to
pressures."
Calderon's campaign began with a flurry of successes in his home state of Michoacan; TV news broadcasts showed destroyed marijuana and opium poppy
fields. But cocaine seizures by the army this year are less than half the amount taken during the same period in 2006. Drug killings continue at last
year's pace.
The PFP was created in 1998, unifying various federal agencies that had specialized jurisdiction over airports, customs, roads and civil unrest. The
5,000-member AFI was created by then-President Vicente Fox in 2001 to replace a corrupt federal police force.
More than 100 AFI agents work under the supervision of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents based in Mexico, according to the Justice
Department's Office of Inspector General.
sam.enriquez@latimes.com
Carlos Martínez and Cecilia Sánchez of The Times' Mexico City Bureau contributed to this report.
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comitan
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That should be great news, but when you read about the replacement chiefs found dead an d beheaded in a gully it won't be nice, just for those
crackheads in the states 65 BILLION DOLLARS WORTH.
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What\'s Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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toneart
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There is always a major sweep of corrupt police on every level whenever a new president takes over. When they are fired, some retain badges,
uniforms, firearms and their police cars. In the past, they have become the most violent of the highway bandidos. I do think Calderon is more serious
and should take steps to curb this problem, if he is able. Anyway, the "war" is not over, yet.
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DENNIS
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Good....... Purge the cops. But, they can't purge the system. Crime is stonger than altruism in Mexico.
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oldhippie
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"Street prices in the United States remain stable, suggesting that suppliers continue to smuggle narcotics over the U.S.-Mexico border relatively
undisturbed, drug experts say."
This oldhippie would take issue with that statement. My personal inflation index has gone up sharply.
All statements in this post are untruthful.
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surfer jim
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$65 BILLION.....with that much "mordida" money floating around you would think the cops would let the gringos slide during traffic stops....we already
paid back in the states.....
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Dave
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Prescription to win the war on drugs
| Quote: | Originally posted by comitan
That should be great news, but when you read about the replacement chiefs found dead an d beheaded in a gully it won't be nice, just for those
crackheads in the states 65 BILLION DOLLARS WORTH. |
Intercept drug shipments and lace them with odorless/tasteless rat poison. Lower the price and pass them upstream.
Repeat as needed.
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MrBillM
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Purging
New Old News. They could just rerun the story every few years, changing the dates, etc, to make it current.
It was also covered in today's SD Union-Tribune.
Yawn.
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DENNIS
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Good idea Bid-D....
Make drugs poisen. That's what the government says there are anyway.
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vacaenbaja
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Sounds like a demand side problem. Reminds me of a quite graphic
anti drug commercial that aired a long time ago.. It started out with a
camera panning to a slobbing blindfolded young man being made to kneel
by a soldier with a 45 automatic pointed to the back of the mans neck. The narator is saying "in some countys the penalty for drug possesion is death.
at witch point you hear the gun go off as the screen goes blank.
Looked like it was somewhere in the african continent,but I would not know what nation would have had or has such sever laws. circa late '70's
You would have thought that he was taking diamonds in a South African mine.
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Cypress
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The new sheriff gets to hire his own deputies and fire those loyal to the ex-sheriff. That's what you call "business as usual".
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BajaBruno
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I've always thought it was rather ironic that a "Christian" people would condone poisoning one person's drug of choice while they sat in their chair
and sipped their own intoxicant through a wet straw.
Christopher Bruno, Elk Grove, CA.
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The Gull
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Dave
| Quote: | Originally posted by comitan
That should be great news, but when you read about the replacement chiefs found dead an d beheaded in a gully it won't be nice, just for those
crackheads in the states 65 BILLION DOLLARS WORTH. |
Intercept drug shipments and lace them with odorless/tasteless rat poison. Lower the price and pass them upstream.
Repeat as needed. |
ACLU and Clinton/Gore won't stand idle as this happens.
�I won\'t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.� William F. Buckley, Jr.
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