Mexico’s efforts to get to grips with spiralling drug crime and corruption suffered a blow at the weekend when one of the country’s top police officers resigned amid allegations that drugs cartels had infiltrated his department.
Gerardo Garay, the head of Mexico’s military-style federal police force, stepped down to head off suspicion that he was working for a major drugs cartel. “I am resigning because the bloody fight against organised crime makes it our duty to strengthen institutions, which means it is essential to eliminate any shadows of doubt regarding me,” Garay told a press conference. “I will put myself at the disposal of the judicial authorities.” He denied any wrong in the federal police force, and an official statement from the chief prosecutor’s office at the weekend indicated he is not under investigation…
Press reports have linked one of Garay’s closest lieutenants to the Sinaloa cartel, which is a major protagonist in the drug wars. On Saturday the daily newspaper Reformer said the federal police had effectively “sold” control of the customs operations at Mexico City’s international airport to the gang. So-called “narco banners” have also recently accused Garay of protecting Sinaloa-associated drug lords. Narco banners are propaganda messages purporting to be from different trafficking organisation that usually seek to discredit a rival gang, and are often hung from pedestrian bridges over major roads…
This is not the first time the federal police have been under suspicion. Garay took over as acting commissioner of the force six months ago, after his predecessor was killed by a hired assassin outside his parents’ home in Mexico City. The gunman not only knew the supposedly secret movements of the police chief; he also had a key to the external door.
People who believe that “democracy” somehow cures corruption are as gullible as those who believe the ideology of one or another economic system cures greed and the quest for political power.
That’s not cynicism. That’s symptomatic of my willingness to make the fight against crime all-pervasive, including public access to oversight.
Eideard 