 |
A recipe for violence in Mexico City
Poverty, corruption and drug wars feed escalating crime
August 23, 1997
Web posted at: 8:00 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT)MEXICO CITY (CNN) -- The world's most populated metropolis is in the midst of a crime wave that has even the most jaded of residents shocked. By conservative estimates, the casualty scale has climbed to an average of 16 murders a day. And the police are widely perceived as too corrupt to tackle the crisis.
Robberies and botched kidnappings are commonplace. The city's poor neighborhoods remain the most crime-filled, with poverty fueling much of the violence. But wealthier areas are not immune either. Just last week, the brother of Mexico's finance minister was gunned down in his own driveway, in the posh Lomas de Chapultepec district. The government claims the motive was robbery. But given the tumultuous events in Mexico's recent history, there's speculation the real reason may be very different.
Shifting battlefields in Mexican drug wars
CNN's Chris Kline reports
Last month, the country's most notorious drug lord, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, was killed amid an ongoing power struggle between rival drug cartels. Carrillo's death triggered a killing spree, which, according to Mexican and U.S. law enforcement officials, is part of the battle for control of the Juarez drug cartel.
"The wars are going to increase until somebody emerges," says Phil Jordan, a retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who investigated Mexican drug cartels in the early 1990s. "In the meantime," Jordan said, "a lot of people are going to get hurt."
Drug wars are, of course, nothing new in Mexico. But authorities say the battlefield is now expanding from cartel strongholds such as Juarez and Matamoros to the capital itself. As that shift occurs, politicians who seek the support of drug lords may get caught in the crossfire as well. Jorge Chabat, a prominent political commentator, said, "There is violence that all modern societies witness, but clearly drug trafficking has been a catalyst for this violence."
Police corruption adds to the mix
There is another ingredient in the blend of carnage and fear. Police corruption, long a blight on the city's reputation, exacerbates the crisis. Over the past year, the government has deployed soldiers in some parts of the capital to bolster a sagging security network. But many observers say the status quo cannot change unless sweeping change occurs.
Jorge Fernandez, a crime analyst, put it this way: "Until there is police reform ... until we improve conditions for the police, until we clean up police corruption, we will not win the war against crime."
That is easier said than done. Mexico City's police have long complained that they are overworked and underpaid. And the very observers who decry police corruption admit that the reasons for the rot are largely economic.
A new mayor and new promises
Many city residents are looking to their incoming mayor, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, to address the situation when he takes office in December. During his bitterly-fought election campaign, Cardenas promised he would decisively confront crime and professionalize the police force. Cardenas, a prominent opposition figure, has long accused the government of fostering a climate in which corruption flourishes.
But the more cynical of Mexico City's residents say a single man cannot transform a system decades in the making. They point to the fact that Cardenas has yet to reveal a strategy. In the meantime, trends point to a steady worsening of crime over the coming months. And that will make the new mayor's task even harder, perhaps well nigh impossible, once he finds himself in charge of a city suffocated by despair.
CNN Mexico City Bureau Chief Chris Kline and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
|
Sound off on our message boards
You said it... |
|
© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.