Mexico arrest prosecutor fired, suspect in murder cases

Washington Post:

Federal law enforcement officials have arrested an assistant state prosecutor suspected of involvement in the murder of a state political party leader, a federal drug investigator and two pilots in the violence-torn border state of Durango.

The prosecutor, Hugo Armando Reséndiz Martínez, is also being investigated for allegedly protecting drug cartels and funneling advance notice of raids and investigations to notorious traffickers Sergio "El Grande" Villareal and Arturo "El Chaki" Gonzalez Hernández, the Mexican attorney general's office said in a statement late Monday.

Mexican leaders have long been accused in the United States of failing to crack down on corrupt public officials in the northern border states, where drug cartels are suspected of using bribes and coercion to control police officers, judges and city leaders. Victor Clark, an organized crime analyst and human rights activist in Tijuana, said Tuesday that it remained to be seen whether Reséndiz Martínez's arrest signaled a new approach to drug corruption.

...

The investigation of Reséndiz Martínez, 63, led to a mass grave where authorities found the body of Jaime Meraz Martínez, director of the Durango branch of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, or PRD, as well as the bodies of the federal drug investigator and the two pilots, the attorney general's office said. Investigators said one of Reséndiz Martínez's weapons might have been used to kill Meraz Martínez.

The prosecutor was immediately fired, but has not been charged.

...

Calderon has brought new seriousness to the rule of law in Mexico and I suspect that this case will go forward as will others. It is hard to recall any Mexican President who has had such a positive effect in such a short period of time.