THREE RECENT EXAMPLES OF MEXICO’S POLICE FORCE COMMITTING HORRIBLE ACTS:

Sarah,

For the last 6 years Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s outgoing president, spent most of his time trying to clean up Mexico’s police force.  Unfortunately, drug cartels still pay better than the state and corruption remains omnipresent.  Here are three recent incidents in which the “Federales” have committed horrible acts:

1.  This month, an SUV with a United States diplomatic license plate was attacked by plain clothes policemen wielding machine guns.  The car was traveling to a Mexican army base south of Mexico City.  Inside the SUV were two CIA agents; both were injured but survived.  The Mexican Police maintain that the SUV did not stop at a police checkpoint.  Even if that were true, it is unclear if police procedure is to pursue the car and riddle it with bullets from an AK-47, which coincidentally, is not even the gun the Mexican Police use.  Further, ambushing cars at police checkpoints is a common gangland strategy in Mexico. Supposedly, the driver, A CIA agent, saved his passenger’s lives with impressive evasive maneuvers.

2.  Two months ago, two different groups of Mexican police officers engaged in a running shootout against each other in Mexico City’s airport.  One group of officers was trying to arrest the other group of officers for their involvement in a cocaine smuggling operation.  Three officers were killed and after a subsequent investigation revealed the level of corruption at the airport, the entire police unit attached to the airport was fired.

3.  Last September, a businessman in Ciudad Juarez accused police officers of kidnapping him and extorting money from him.  Recently, he was stabbed to death and his corpse was covered with gasoline and set aflame.

In a recent poll, only 8% of Mexicans said they felt confident in the police.

Bottom line: The airport story is blowing my mind.  I just imagine waiting for my Southwest flight and seeing a gunfight erupt between rival airport police in front of a CPK Express.