Thread: Mexicans to hold mass anti-crime protests

Aug 30, 12:31 AM EDT


Mexicans to hold mass anti-crime protests

By ALEXANDRA OLSON
Associated Press Writer






MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexicans called for mass protests Saturday against a tide of killings, kidnappings and shootouts sweeping the country despite the government's aggressive fight against drug gangs.

Frustration with rampant violence and organized crime presented a major test for President Felipe Calderon, who has made crime-fighting a centerpiece of his administration.

More than 13 anti-crime groups hoped for thousands of people to join marches in all 32 Mexican states Saturday evening, urging people to walk in silence with candles or lanterns. A similar march four years ago drew a quarter of a million people, and if anything, frustration with crime has only grown.

This week, a dozen headless bodies were found in the Yucatan peninsula, home to one of Mexico's most popular beach resorts, Cancun. Federal lawmakers responded by calling Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna to testify before Congress on Wednesday.

Calderon raised hopes when he made fighting crime a priority after taking office in 2006, deploying more than 25,000 soldiers and federal police to wrest territory from powerful drug cartels that smuggle the vast majority of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines into the United States.

Despite the arrest of top drug kingpins, little has improved on the ground. Homicides have surged as drug cartels battle each other for control of trafficking routes and stage vicious attacks against police each day. In the gang-plagued border state of Chihuahua alone, there have been more than 800 killings this year, double the number during the same period last year.

Kidnapping are up 9.1 percent, averaging 65 a day. Many more go unreported because victims fear police involvement.

Saturday's protests were inspired by the abduction and murder of a 14-year-old son of a wealthy businessman. The case provoked an outcry because prosecutors said a police detective was a key participant in the plot.

This week, another family's story shook the country. Silvia Escalera revealed that her 18-year-old daughter Silvia Vargas Escalera, whose father headed the National Sports Commission under the previous government, was kidnapped 11 months ago. The family agreed to pay a ransom but then lost contact with the kidnappers.

"I beg you to have mercy and return my daughter," Escalera said before newscameras after hanging a giant banner outside a public park with a phone number and photograph of her smiling daughter.

Having staked his presidency on improving security, Calderon wasted no time in responding to the rising anger. Last week, he summoned governors and mayors to a national security meeting, drawing up a a 74-point anti-crime plan.

It included developing better police recruiting and oversight systems within a year, and coming up with an anti-kidnapping strategy within six months. The Defense Department promised to equip police with more powerful automatic weapons.

Mexicans want swift results. At the meeting, Alejandro Marti, the father of the 14-year-old kidnap victim, demanded that Mexico's top law enforcement officers resign if the bloodshed does not subside.

"This a cancer that we are going to eradicate," Calderon promised during a televised address Monday. But he urged patience, warning that rooting out drug gangs and bringing security to the streets would not happen by decree.

Neither will cleaning up and bolstering Mexico's police.

In some northern towns, officers complain of having to share guns, and many have quit in terror after seeing their colleagues killed in front of their homes.

More than half of Mexico's state and municipal police officers have only a primary education, making it difficult for them to aspire for the highest ranks and salaries. Many are tempted to join the payrolls of criminal gangs.

Police are "illiterate, sick, fat, old and corrupt," said Herberto Ortega, public safety secretary in Aguascalientes, a small state north of Mexico City. "That's why their response time during operations are slow."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ ... TE=DEFAULT

I admit we have some of our own problems here in the USA with crime and drugs. But that DOES NOTmean we should stand for more of this lawlessness. We need to SECURE our SOUTHERN BORDER and keep out this DISEASE.

More than half of Mexico's state and municipal police officers have only a primary education, making it difficult for them to aspire for the highest ranks and salaries. Many are tempted to join the payrolls of criminal gangs.

Could you imagine our newspaper articles reading like Mexico's does!

Despite the arrest of top drug kingpins, little has improved on the ground. Homicides have surged as drug cartels battle each other for control of trafficking routes and stage vicious attacks against police each day. In the gang-plagued border state of Chihuahua alone, there have been more than 800 killings this year, double the number during the same period last year.

Some of this stuff is already happening here at home. There have been suspected cases of HITS by the CARTEL in the United States. There disease is spreading.

The people are actually protesting in their OWN Country...I am proud of them!!!!,,,now all the illegals should go home and help them protest THERE and improve you so beloved Country

The people are actually protesting in their OWN Country...I am proud of them!!!!,,,now all the illegals should go home and help them protest THERE and improve you so beloved Country

Exactly.......go home and help your people out!

Thousands march in Mexico against violent crime

By Mica Rosenberg Reuters - 2 hours 13 minutes agoMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Thousands of Mexicans marched in the capital on Saturday to protest against a wave of kidnappings and gruesome murders, putting pressure on President Felipe Calderon to meet his promises to crack down on crime.

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Holding candles and dressed in white, demonstrators on the capital's Paseo de la Reforma main street carried posters and pictures of kidnap victims and signs saying, "Enough Is Enough".

Protests were planned throughout the country, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border where increasingly brazen drug gangs are battling each other for control of smuggling routes. More than 2,300 people have been killed in drug murders this year.

"Everything is getting worse. There are more kidnappings and more murders," said Carlos Villasenor, 63, a camera store owner who held a white flower.

Long used to violent crime, Mexicans were nevertheless outraged by the kidnapping and murder of Fernando Marti, 14, whose body was found in a car trunk in Mexico City on August 1 even though his businessman father had paid a ransom.

That murder prompted Calderon, Mexico City's mayor Marcelo Ebrard and state governors to hold an emergency crime summit last week and vow to stamp out abductions and violent crime.

Mexico is one of the worst countries in the world for abductions, along with conflict zones like Iraq and Colombia.

Kidnapping jumped almost 40 percent between 2004 and 2007, according to official statistics. Police say there were 751 kidnappings in Mexico last year but independent crime research institute ICESI says the real number could be above 7,000.

Most crimes in Mexico go unsolved with corrupt police and justice officials often complicating investigations. Several policemen were arrested for Marti's kidnapping.

Drug violence has also exploded in the last three years as Mexico's most wanted man, escaped convict Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, takes on the Gulf cartel and other gangs for control of the drug trade.

Eleven headless bodies were dumped in a small town in the Yucatan peninsula on Thursday and another decapitated corpse was found nearby. Police suspect the Gulf cartel, and Mexican media say the victims were likely alive when their heads were cut off.

Calderon sent 25,000 troops and federal police against the drug cartels after he took office in December 2006 but killings have increased.

While much of the drug violence is between rival smugglers and does not affect ordinary Mexicans, kidnappings and robberies at gunpoint are common threats.

Protesters are angry both at Calderon and Mayor Ebrard, a leftist possible presidential candidate in 2012.

"The message is: Get to work or we'll hold you accountable. We're angry," said Eduardo Gallo, an accountant whose 25-year-old daughter was kidnapped in 2000 and murdered.

Hundreds of thousands of people held a similar anti-crime march in Mexico City in 2004.

(Editing by Kieran Murray)

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080831/ ... 08e31.html

Will this result in the overthrow of President Calderon's government and/or a civil war?

Will Mexico appease the drug cartels in exchange for less violence?

Mexicans hold mass protests against wave of crime

By Alexandra Olson
ASSOCIATED PRESS

9:14 a.m. August 30, 2008

MEXICO CITY – President Felipe Calderón faced one of his biggest challenges Saturday as Mexicans prepared for mass protests against the tide of killings, kidnappings and shootouts sweeping the country.
More than 13 anti-crime groups planned for tens of thousands of people to join marches in all 32 Mexican states Saturday evening, urging people to walk in silence with candles or lanterns. A similar march four years ago drew a quarter of a million people, and if anything, frustration with crime has only grown.

This week, a dozen headless bodies were found in the Yucatan Peninsula, home to Mexico's most popular beach resort, Cancun. Federal lawmakers responded by calling Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna to testify before Congress on Wednesday.
Calderón raised hopes when he made fighting crime a priority after taking office in 2006, deploying more than 25,000 soldiers and federal police to wrest territory from powerful drug cartels that smuggle the vast majority of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines into the United States.

Despite the arrest of top drug kingpins, little has improved on the ground. Homicides have surged as drug cartels battle each other for control of trafficking routes and stage vicious attacks against police nearly each day. In the gang-plagued border state of Chihuahua alone, there have been more than 800 killings this year, double the number during the same period last year.

Reported kidnappings are up 9 percent, averaging 65 a day. Many more go unreported because victims fear police involvement.

Saturday's protests were inspired by the abduction and murder of a 14-year-old son of a wealthy businessman. The case provoked an outcry because prosecutors said a police detective was a key participant.

This week, another family's story shook the country. Silvia Escalera revealed that her 18-year-old daughter Silvia Vargas Escalera, whose father once headed the National Sports Commission, was kidnapped 11 months ago. The family agreed to pay a ransom but then lost contact with the kidnappers.

“I beg you to have mercy and return my daughter,â€