Mexican Politics and Whack-a-mole: Calderon replaces Mexico attorney general - latimes.com

Mexico's mole-whacker-in-chief whacks one of his chief mole whackers for not whacking enough moles. 

Mexico attorney general: Calderon replaces Mexico attorney general - latimes.com: "Locked in a grueling and bloody war with drug cartels, Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday replaced the nation's top legal official, whose lackluster stint had failed to improve paltry narcotics conviction rates or stem human rights abuses.

Atty. Gen. Arturo Chavez Chavez stepped down after 18 months on the job. Calderon nominated Marisela Morales, head of the high-profile organized crime unit of the prosecutor's office, to replace Chavez. The Mexican Senate must ratify the appointment. ...

Chavez became attorney general under a cloud of controversy. He was seen by many Mexicans as a bland technocrat whose main qualification seemed to be his loyalty to Calderon's National Action Party, or PAN. Human rights activists were especially incensed because of Chavez's perceived failure to adequately investigate a rash of killings of women when he was top state prosecutor in Chihuahua in the 1990s.

In a secret 2009 diplomatic cable disclosed this year by WikiLeaks, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual described Calderon's decision to name Chavez attorney general as "totally unexpected and politically inexplicable."...

Morales, if confirmed, would be the first woman to serve in the post. She wins high marks from U.S. officials, and last month received the 2011 International Women of Courage Award in a ceremony in Washington headed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama. But Morales too was tainted in the botched Michoacan case, and some of the senators who must approve her appointment may hold that against her."