Mexico moves to curb drug crime wave

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Facing wide public indignation over Mexico’s crime epidemic, President Felipe Calderon on Thursday proposed new steps to fight kidnapping and other violent offenses, writes Ken Ellingwood of the Los Angeles Times from Mexico City.

He called for anti-abduction squads, special high-security prisons with separate areas for kidnappers, closer tracking of cellphones and more aid for local authorities to combat what he described as the ‘cancer of criminality’ that has developed in Mexico.

Calderon summoned governors and police officials from across Mexico to chart a way out of a crisis that has dominated the news and put the nation’s leaders on the defensive.

The crime issue has dominated the Mexican agenda since the killing this month of a 14-year-old kidnapping victim, Fernando Marti. The kidnapping, which appeared to involve at least two Mexico City police officers, tapped deep resentment over impunity and corruption.

Read the rest of Ellingwood’s report on anti-crime measures in Mexico here.

Click here for more on the drug trade.

For our special report on Mexico’s drug violence problems, go to our Mexico Under Siege page.

For more on Mexico in general, click here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City