Law and Order in Mexico [View all]

[cbayer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/opinion/murder-in-mexico.html?_r=0

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
NOV. 11, 2014

The disappearance, and presumed murder, of 43 college students six weeks ago has brought parts of Mexico to a tense point. On Monday, thousands of protesters blocked access to the airport in Acapulco, and last week tens of thousands more filled the streets of Mexico City.

They are understandably outraged at a government that has failed to provide security, respect the rule of law, hold criminals accountable and ensure justice for victims and their families. In short, when gang members, security forces and others kill, they know there is a good chance they can get away with it.

The 43 students from a rural teachers college disappeared on Sept. 26 in Iguala, 120 miles south of Mexico City. They had traveled there to collect money and steal buses for transportation to a demonstration. According to authorities, the town’s mayor feared the students would disrupt a speech by his wife, so he told the police to stop them. The police ambushed them, engaged in a shootout that left six people dead, and then turned the students over to members of a drug gang who killed them, burned their bodies and erased much of the evidence.

Although the attorney general, Jesús Murillo Karam, announced on Friday that authorities had arrested at least 72 people, including the mayor and his wife, questions remain, including whether some students may still be alive. The government has said it will send some incinerated remains to a lab in Austria for identification. There may have been more to work with if the federal authorities had not delayed in taking over the investigation.

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