| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2008 
Calderon Proposes Life Sentence for Kidnappers
 Jens Erik Gould - Bloomberg
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| | Mexican President Felipe Calderon | | |
Mexican President Felipe Calderon proposed life sentences for policemen convicted of kidnapping after officers were accused in the abduction and slaying of the 14-year-old son of Alejandro Marti, founder of sporting goods retailer Grupo Marti SAB.
Mexican police are the target of rising fury over corruption after officers were implicated in a spate of high-profile crimes. This week, a top radio host dedicated an entire show to Fernando Marti, Congress observed a minute of silence for the boy, and companies from Morgan Stanley to Costco Wholesale Corp.'s Mexican unit bought condolence notes in local newspapers.
Marti's death, and the execution of a family of six by officers in Jalisco state last week, show Calderon's campaign to fight organized crime and clean up the police may have a long way to go. Calderon is already calling for more legislation on security only months after Congress passed an overhaul of the judicial system.
"We can't allow organized crime to imprison our nation with terror and fear," Calderon said today in Mexico City.
Calderon said he will send a proposal to Congress to allow life sentences for kidnappers if they are or have been policemen, if they kidnap minors, or if they injure, torture or kill their victims.
The president's much-touted plan to weaken powerful Mexican drug cartels includes efforts to restructure police forces and root out illegal behavior. Congress approved a bill in March to revamp criminal laws in an attempt to make the judicial system more transparent and to hold authorities more accountable.
Six Killings
The public image of police continues to suffer. Last week, six members of a family that had worked for Agricultural Minister Alberto Cardenas were stabbed and shot to death in a home in Jalisco state formerly owned by the minister. A state investigator in the anti-kidnapping unit was arrested along with six other men in connection with the killings, prosecutors said.
Marti's body was discovered in the trunk of a car in southern Mexico City on Aug. 1, almost two months after the boy, his driver and bodyguard were stopped at a false police checkpoint. The boy's family paid a ransom to the kidnappers before his body was found.
The "principal actors" in the crime were policemen, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said yesterday. Two policemen have been detained in connection with the kidnapping. Neither has been charged.
"This kidnapping will trigger much more pressure on the federal government," said Jorge Chabat, a political science professor at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching in Mexico City. "This case could be the straw that breaks the camel's back."
To contact the reporter on this story: Jens Erik Gould in Mexico City at jgould9(at)bloomberg.net |
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