MEXICO CITY (AFP) — President Felipe Calderon said police corruption was a big stumbling block in Mexico's fight against organized crime, after hearing a report on the first 100 days of his "Operation Cleanup" crackdown on crime.
"To stop crime we must first clean our home of it," Calderon said Friday, after meeting with his National Security Council and going over the anti-crime initiative spawned by public outrage at thousands of murders and kidnappings in the country every year.
Calderon's government is also in the grip of a major corruption scandal that recently saw its anti-drug czar and several top police officers arrested for allegedly being on the drug cartels' payroll to the tune of 150,000-450,000 dollars per month.
Besides uncovering corruption at the federal level, "Operation Cleanup" also found widespread corruption on the state government level and wherever drug cartels operate.
"To win the war on crime we need honest and trustworthy police departments. That's why we must continue to purge and strengthen all the police forces in the country," Calderon said.
On Thursday, the government reported that 49.4 percent of 55,000 police officers evaluated so far were untrustworthy, and the security council on Friday issued a poll saying 87 percent of crimes went unreported, indicating public distrust of the police and justice system.
Calderon said that since Operation Cleanup began on August 21, a drug trafficking gang was disbanded every 48 hours and 184 kidnapped people had been rescued.
Public Security Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna, in turn, said kidnappings were down by 18 percent, 795 kidnappers were arrested and 53 crime syndicates were dismantled in the same period.
Nevertheless, since the start of the year there have been 964 kidnappings in the country, according to official figures.
And more than 4,500 people have been murdered in the country, mostly in drug gang warfare, despite the deployment by the government of some 36,000 troops and thousands extra police in high crime areas.
"Things are not much better than the last time we met here," said Mexico United Against Crime president Maria Elena Morera referring to the August 21 signing of the agreement that set Operation Cleanup in motion.
"Actions taken so far within the agreement are very important but don't go far enough to get a handle on violence and insecurity," she added.
Twenty-six people were killed Friday in the northern state of Chihuahua, including two girls aged 12 and 14, local authorities reported. The 14-year-old showed signs of having been tortured, they added.
Twenty-five of the murders took place in Ciudad Juarez, on the US border, where rival drug cartels have been waging a turf war despite the presence of 2,500 soldiers since March.
In the most dramatic incident, gunmen burst into a Ciudad Juarez restaurant Friday night and killed eight of its patrons before disappearing.
With more than 1,900 killed so far this year, Chihuahua has the highest murder rate of all of Mexico's 31 states.
"To stop crime we must first clean our home of it," Calderon said Friday, after meeting with his National Security Council and going over the anti-crime initiative spawned by public outrage at thousands of murders and kidnappings in the country every year.
Calderon's government is also in the grip of a major corruption scandal that recently saw its anti-drug czar and several top police officers arrested for allegedly being on the drug cartels' payroll to the tune of 150,000-450,000 dollars per month.
Besides uncovering corruption at the federal level, "Operation Cleanup" also found widespread corruption on the state government level and wherever drug cartels operate.
"To win the war on crime we need honest and trustworthy police departments. That's why we must continue to purge and strengthen all the police forces in the country," Calderon said.
On Thursday, the government reported that 49.4 percent of 55,000 police officers evaluated so far were untrustworthy, and the security council on Friday issued a poll saying 87 percent of crimes went unreported, indicating public distrust of the police and justice system.
Calderon said that since Operation Cleanup began on August 21, a drug trafficking gang was disbanded every 48 hours and 184 kidnapped people had been rescued.
Public Security Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna, in turn, said kidnappings were down by 18 percent, 795 kidnappers were arrested and 53 crime syndicates were dismantled in the same period.
Nevertheless, since the start of the year there have been 964 kidnappings in the country, according to official figures.
And more than 4,500 people have been murdered in the country, mostly in drug gang warfare, despite the deployment by the government of some 36,000 troops and thousands extra police in high crime areas.
"Things are not much better than the last time we met here," said Mexico United Against Crime president Maria Elena Morera referring to the August 21 signing of the agreement that set Operation Cleanup in motion.
"Actions taken so far within the agreement are very important but don't go far enough to get a handle on violence and insecurity," she added.
Twenty-six people were killed Friday in the northern state of Chihuahua, including two girls aged 12 and 14, local authorities reported. The 14-year-old showed signs of having been tortured, they added.
Twenty-five of the murders took place in Ciudad Juarez, on the US border, where rival drug cartels have been waging a turf war despite the presence of 2,500 soldiers since March.
In the most dramatic incident, gunmen burst into a Ciudad Juarez restaurant Friday night and killed eight of its patrons before disappearing.
With more than 1,900 killed so far this year, Chihuahua has the highest murder rate of all of Mexico's 31 states.
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