Ex-PAN leader: Mexican president should sign peace agreement with cartels

Marisela Ortega Lozano / El Paso Times
Posted: 05/19/2011 02:55:10 PM MDT

One hundred years ago, peace was restored in Juárez after a gruesome battle in the Mexican Revolution.

Now, a former supporter of President Felipe Calderón is calling on Mexico's president to sign a peace agreement with the cartels while in Juárez this weekend. Calderon is coming to Juárez for the grand opening of the Mexican Revolution Museum and to help celebrate the anniversary of the end of the Mexican Revolution.

On Thursday, while speaking in El Paso, Manuel Espino Barrientos, a former congressman in México and former leader of the ruling National Action Party, warned that México is in real danger of being taken over by drug traffickers, who have already wounded the country. He is asking Calderon to take a different approach in the war against the cartels.

"(Calderón) needs to redefine his strategy against organized crime," Espino Barrientos said. "Deployment of federal police and Mexican troops is not the answer, since that approach has resulted in bloodshed in México."

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_18097304