L.A. Times: Richard Fausset. MEXICO CITY — In the midst of a violent drug war, President Felipe Calderon
fired crooked cops by the hundreds, and hired new ones — rigorously vetted and
college educated — by the thousands. Salaries were doubled, new standards
imposed and officers were subjected to extensive background checks.
A trustworthy federal police force was to be one of the most important
legacies of Calderon's six-year term. And yet, just months before he is to leave
office in December, the president found himself apologizing "profoundly" this
week for an incident in which federal police allegedly opened fire on an SUV
with diplomatic plates, injuring two Americans.
A dozen federal police officers are being detained while the Mexican attorney
general's office investigates the incident. Many of the details remain unclear,
including what may have motivated officers to open fire on the vehicle, which
was traveling through dangerous countryside south of Mexico City. Read More.
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
Good for them. This story is exactly the reason why background checks are so important.
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