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Puerto Vallarta News NetworkEditorials | Issues | May 2009 

Roundup in Mexico Targets Narco-Protectors
email this pageprint this pageemail usNacha Cattan - The News
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(Notimex/Moisés Ortega)
For more than two years the federal government has been rounding up narco-criminals in a protracted war against drugs, all the while acknowledging that public officials played a key role in the problem.

On Tuesday it was the public officials' turn.

In an unprecedented move, federal agents and soldiers burst into government buildings in the state of Michoacán and detained 28 high-ranking functionaries, including 10 mayors, alleging that they protected various members of the powerful La Familia crime gang.

Many of the mayors from President Felipe Calderón's home state hail from towns where drug groups have become entrenched, such as Uruapan and Apatzingán.

They were rounded up along with a judge, a former police chief who heads the state's police academy and, most controversially, a security adviser to Michoacán Gov. Leonel Godoy.

Godoy, a member of the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, was not involved in the investigation and complained he had not been informed about the pending arrests.

The detention marks an important shift by the government to extend its drug war not only to traffickers but to people who protect them, security experts said.

"This is a new form of attacking narco-traffickers, by going after their political protection network," said Jorge Chabat, a security expert at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching.

"It doesn't work to keep detaining drug traffickers if their local protection network remains intact."

With midterm elections only weeks away, leaders of Calderón's National Action Party, or PAN, including Senate leader Gustavo Madero, were quick to dissuade the public that any ulterior motives were behind the timing of the arrests.

But some observers said that the sweep against politicians before the July 5 vote will likely boost support for the PAN by underscoring its tough stance on security.

"This will give [Calderón] more credibility," said Mexico expert George Grayson of the College of William & Mary. "The PAN will lose some seats on July 5 but this will have mitigated their losses."

The arrests netted two PAN mayors, which will help the government maintain appearances of impartiality, Grayson added.

Reforma reported that four of the other mayors were PRD and four were from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, while El Universal said that six were PRD and two were PRI.

A six-month investigation into the personal activities of the functionaries revealed that they had allegedly leaked information to the La Fami-lia organization, said Ricardo Nájera, a spokesman for the federal Attorney General's Office.

The PGR has said that La Familia is operating in more than half of the state's municipalities. When Calderón began deploying troops to fight cartels, he sent the first batch of soldiers to Michoacán in December 2006.



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