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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | December 2007 
Mexico President: Fighting Drugs, Crime Still Top Priority After Year in Office
 Associated Press
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| | Mexico's President Felipe Calderon attends a ceremony commemorating his first year in office at the National Palace in Mexico City, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
Mexico City - Fighting drug gangs and organized crime remains the top priority of Mexico's government, President Felipe Calderon said Saturday as he marked his first year in office.
"The biggest threat to Mexico's future is lack of public safety and organized crime," Calderon said in a speech at the National Palace. "But with one year in office, I am more convinced than ever that we are going to win this battle."
Calderon said that since launching a nationwide military and police offensive against drug gangs in January, security forces have arrested some 15,000 people with links to organized crime and made enormous drug busts.
Mexican authorities last month seized 23.5 metric tons (26 U.S. tons) of cocaine, in what they called the world's biggest single cocaine bust. In October, authorities seized 10 metric tons (11 tons) of cocaine in northern Mexico.
Calderon has deployed more than 24,000 agents to violence-wracked areas, but killings and crime remain rampant. The government has released no official figure for drug-related killings for 2007, although Mexican newspaper counts put the number at more than 2,000.
Among other accomplishments he has cited in the past are thawing diplomatic relations with Venezuela and Cuba, and the creation of a national anti-global warming plan.
Calderon's approval rating is 64 percent, according to a poll conducted by the Mexican newspaper Reforma and published Saturday. The survey of 1,500 people from Nov. 16 to 18 had a margin of error of 2.5 percent.
However, other recent polls have put Calderon's popularity below 60 percent.
Calderon took the oath of office Dec. 1, 2006, amid jeers and whistles after the Federal Electoral Tribunal declared him the winner by less than a percentage point in a disputed race against leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
During the swearing-in ceremony, lawmakers who for days had scuffled and staged sit-ins on the floor of congress threw punches and exchanged insults.
Just days earlier, Lopez Obrador had himself sworn in as Mexico's "legitimate" president and launched a parallel government. His supporters blocked Mexico City's main boulevard for two months.
"A year ago there was an atmosphere of division, rancor and uncertainty," Calderon said Saturday. "Today it's clear to me that Mexico will move forward."
About 100 Lopez Obrador supporters demonstrated outside the National Palace Saturday, angrily accusing the president of stealing the election.
"The people of Mexico aren't celebrating anything right now," protester Roberto Rangel said. |
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