| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2008 
Mexico Launches Anti-Kidnapping Squad as Public Anger Mounts
 Agence France-Presse
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| | Federal officers take part in a practice rescue mission | | |
Mexico City - Mexican authorities on Monday launched an anti-kidnapping squad amid plans for countrywide protests against violence and kidnappings following the high-profile abduction and killing of a teenage boy.
The move came as at least 29 people were reported dead in 72 hours in drug gang-related violence in the border town of Ciudad Juarez, and hitmen killed a police chief and his bodyguard in the Caribbean resort of Playa del Carmen.
The anti-kidnapping group, involving 300 officers, is one of the first government moves to address the problem, after President Felipe Calderon last week urged Congress to pass a bill that would sentence kidnappers to life imprisonment without parole.
It includes 300 officers in five towns across the country, headquartered in Mexico City.
"Federal police are scaling up their capacities in the fight against kidnappings with an unprecedented effort," Luis Cardenas, from the federal police, told journalists in the capital.
The government also proposed setting up a national pact with the country's 32 state governments, legislators, businessmen and academics to fight kidnappings.
"We're proposing a pact, a national agreement that sets certain rules and commitments from each of the people involved," Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino told journalists, adding that a draft pact would be sent out next week.
Public anger broke out after the recent abduction and assassination of a 14-year-old from one of the country's wealthiest families, in which police officers were allegedly involved. The family paid a ransom, but the boy's body was discovered 10 days ago.
Experts say kidnappings have not only increased but have also become more violent with the involvement of drug gangs seeking extra money to survive a government crackdown, a claim the government has denied.
"There's no evidence that the increase in kidnappings is related to the fight against drug trafficking," Mourino said.
"On the contrary, the fight against organized crime ... has been reducing the financial and operative capacity" of criminal groups.
However, despite the security forces' operation launched in March - including the deployment of more than 36,000 soldiers across the country - the violence has persisted.
In Ciudad Juarez - where some 2,500 soldiers have been deployed - 15 people died Saturday, six on Sunday and eight on Monday in separate incidents.
An armed commando gunned down four members of the same family on Saturday, according to Cesar Ramirez, spokesman for the prosecutor of Chihuahua state. One family member, a minor, escaped and sought help.
Some 52 people died in drug-related violence in the town in August alone.
Meanwhile, a group of hitmen killed a police chief and his bodyguard in the Caribbean resort of Playa del Carmen on Monday, police said, without detailing the motive of the crime.
Up to 2,000 people have died across the country in turf war killings since the start of the year but that violence has not inspired as much public outrage as the increasing kidnappings.
Some 438 abductions were reported in 2007, 35 percent more than the previous year.
Citizens' groups have called for a protest march on August 30 in Mexico City, the northern city of Monterrey and Guadalajara in the west.
"We believe that we need to feel united on this torturous path that has cost so many lives," said the organizers on their website.
Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans took to the streets four years ago in protest at insecurity and kidnappings. |
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