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Mexico outraged over corrupt police, kidnappings
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-22 12:05 MEXICO CITY -- After kidnappers in police uniforms set up a fake checkpoint to snatch 14-year-old Fernando Marti off a Mexico City street, his businessman father paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom, and waited for his son's safe return. Instead, the boy and his driver turned up dead, their bodies found in car trunks. Days later, prosecutors alleged that a police detective was a key participant in the kidnapping plot.
"They should put their eyes out, so they can't commit any more crimes," said Ignacio Noriega, a 26-year-old university student who says he no longer feels safe anywhere. "Prison isn't a solution anymore. They just form their own gangs inside prison and come out stronger." On Thursday, police reported that 150 residents of a community just west of Mexico City savagely beat and threatened to kill two alleged thieves before handing them over to state police. Moved to action by the widespread outrage, the administration of President Felipe Calderon pledged Thursday to develop an anti-kidnapping strategy within six months, after a meeting with the country's top judges, congressional leaders, governors and mayors, The government also promised two new maximum security prisons with a special area for kidnappers within two years, trying to address concerns that new gangs arise in low security penitentiaries. In the meantime, the government said it will move all organized crime suspects to existing high security prisons within 30 days. Sitting in on the gathering, Fernando Marti's father, Alejandro, warned that Mexicans would be watching to see if the government keeps its promises. "If they can't, they should resign. But they should not keep occupying government offices and getting paid to do nothing," he said. |
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