Author: Staff

Two months after President Enrique Pena Nieto took office promising to reduce violent crime, the killings linked to Mexico’s drug cartels continue unabated.Only the government’s talk about them has dropped.Eighteen members of a band and its retinue were kidnapped and apparently slain over the weekend in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon by gunmen who asked them to name their cartel affiliation before they were shot and dumped in a well. Fourteen prisoners and nine guards died in an attempted prison escape in Durango state. Nine men were slain Christmas eve in Sinaloa. In the state of Mexico, which borders the capital, more than a dozen bodies were found last week, some dismembered.via Mexico’s New President Mostly Mum on Drug Violence – ABC...

Showboating has long been a salient feature of Mexico’s criminal justice system. When major arrests occur, Mexican police and prosecutors often go into hyperdrive to publicize their law enforcement victory. Reporters are fed headline-grabbing stories of derring-do and splashy photos of the criminals standing alongside captured guns, drugs or big stacks of ill-gotten cash.This is how Mexican authorities convince the public that they’re winning the crime fight, but don’t confuse it with actual law enforcement or prosecutorial follow-through. The reality is abysmal: only 31 percent of drug busts lead to convictions, and 80 percent of murder cases go unpunished, according to official and academic studies.via Editorial: Mexico’s much-needed police changes | Dallas Morning News Editorials – Opinion and Commentary for Dallas, Texas – The Dallas Morning...