Mexico crime wave sparks political tussling

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With their countrymen up in arms over the nation’s crime crisis, Mexico’s political leaders are squabbling over a proposal to hold a meeting on the issue.

President Felipe Calderon, a conservative, says he’s happy to sit down with the leftist mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard. Ebrard, whose party has never recognized Calderon’s presidency because it insists the 2006 election was fraudulent, says he’d meet with Calderon -- but only as part of a larger crime summit that included governors from around the country.

Anti-crime activists have proposed a gathering of the nation’s political leadership on the security issue after the slaying of a 14-year-old kidnapping victim, Fernando Martí. The Martí case has galvanized widespread public anger over kidnappings, robberies and other crimes and the all-too-frequent involvement of police.

An anti-crime march is planned Aug. 30. The nation’s president and mayor of its largest city may get together before then, but they will have to agree on terms first. So far, no one has brought up the shape of the table.

-- Ken Ellingwood in Mexico City