Thread: Crime issue haunts Mexican presidential hopefuls

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Crime issue haunts Mexican presidential hopefuls

Web Posted: 04/25/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Dane Schiller
Express-News Mexico Bureau Chief

MEXICO CITY — Given Mexico's problems with murder, robbery, kidnapping and other street crimes, if the presidential election were held today, none of the candidates would deserve people's support, two citizens' groups contend.

"Stop sticking your heads in the sand and pretending nothing is happening," José Antonio Ortega, head of the Citizen's Committee for Public Safety and Justice, said Monday of five candidates running in the July 2 election.

"If they really care, their platforms (and) their speeches must change," said Ortega, who believes this city is among the world's most violent.

Ortega challenged participants in tonight's candidate debate to reveal plans that have realistic chances of reducing crime. He said candidates so far have been nonspecific and trotted out the same useless solutions that others have suggested.

He was especially blunt regarding front-runner Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, who may not participate in the debate.

"No other public-safety plan could be as dangerous as that of (López Obrador.) And he is the most dangerous due to his ideological premises — the experience suffered by Mexico City," where he resigned as mayor to run for president.

In the wake of a July 2004 march that saw 1 million people protesting crime, López Obrador dismissed the demonstration as a "plot" by his enemies.

At the time, he said, marchers were members of the upper class and did not reflect the concerns of most Mexicans.

Ortega took issue with López Obrador's philosophy that the best way to reduce crime is to reduce poverty. Ortega said that, despite the candidate's social-welfare programs, the number of kidnappings and other crimes have not dropped, but soared.

In his 50-point plan for Mexico, López Obrador notes that reducing crime is not just the work of police, but requires taking on poverty, unemployment and the "loss of family values."

He also states that it is important to remove corruption from the police force and make local, state and federal police work together.

None of the presidential campaigns had immediate responses Tuesday.

One of Mexico City's highest profile crime victims agreed the candidates are not saying enough.

"None of the candidates offer real reform on how to combat crime. None of them are saying what they will do, how they will do it or when," said María Isabel Mirando, who gained attention when her family placed billboards around the city after her son was kidnapped and presumed dead.

Mirando's billboards included a photo of a former police officer who is believed to have grabbed her son and a phone number for other victims to call.

Guillermo Velásco, president of the group Better Society, Better Government, said none of the candidates' platforms "pass the test."

Velásco, who addressed a news conference with Ortega, said there are no plans for another citizens' march. The focus is not about making a public demonstration but trying to work with authorities to get them to take on crime.

In addition to the march, citizen outrage over crime gained attention with a dramatic television spot in which a kidnapping victim called on government officials to get serious about crime.

"If their hands are shaking, I can lend them mine," Pedro Galindo said as he held up his mutilated hands, three digits sniped off the left and the pinky from his right.



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dschiller@express-news.net

These Mexicans are mindnumbing. What planet are these people from?

Mexico can't control it's crime, but our government wants to import it