Mexico Politics and Rule of Law: Mexican senator says congressional initiatives to combat orgainzed crime are not likely to be passed this session

La Jornada; "The chairman of the (Mexican) Senate Committee on Public Safety, Felipe Gonzalez, acknowledged it will be very difficult in this session to adopt pending initiatives submitted by the President for combating organized crime, as there is no consensus among the political forces.

Asked about the demand that President Felipe Calderon made on Monday to PAN senators to do battle to carry out pending initiatives, particularly the constitutional reform to establish a unified command police (at the state level, eliminating municipal police forces) and a modification that creates a new offense, called the criminal chain (which would hold all members of a criminal group guilty for the acts of any one member), the senator said the two are stuck.

The PAN legislator stressed that the case for reform to create a police command for each entity of the Republic was opposed even by PAN legislators, as well as by mayors' associations in the country, and the National Governors Conference, which had spoken to favor of these changes, but which withdrew its support in the end. It is an issue, he stressed, that has been discussed for two years in the Senate, but without reaching a consensus. ... Amendments to the Code of Military Justice with regard to jurisdiction (the trial of military personel in civilian courts when charged with violating civilian rights) are also stuck."  Spanish original