Mexican domestic security evaluation on the way, says top PRI government official

An analysis is promised for March 2014

Guadalajara -
During last year's long and arduous presidential campaign, PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto promised he would dramatically reduce violence, especially homicides, in the first 100 days of his administration - up to 50%, he said.

On Mar. 21, 2013, less than four months after he was sworn in, Peña Nieto abandoned that theme and said measurable drug war results were at least a year away. "By then we should begin to see a sensible reduction in violence," he told the press while in Rome. Mexicans divided on drug war effort of new government.

In a Nov. 7 speech, the president told his audience, "the stats are encouraging, what they indicate is that there has been a sensible reduction of violence." Not all may agree with that analysis. Are 1,555 drug war deaths a month encouraging?

Today Peña Nieto's chief cabinet officer, Secretary of Government Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, told reporters in Mexico City there will in fact be a comprehensive security evaluation in March, although it's unclear just what form it will take. Osorio Chong continues to maintain, as does his boss, that the new government is making significant strides in domestic security. Some in the press have strongly disputed that claim. Mexican press: PRI government is lying about drug war deaths.

Federal agency reports have confirmed that organized crime murders remain high. Mexico admits 52 daily drug war deaths in EPN administration. Critics maintain more people are dying on Peña Nieto's watch than did during the previous administration of National Action Party president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa (2006-2012). Más ejecutados en Gobierno de Peña.

Meanwhile, kidnappings have reached alarming proportions. The president himself admitted so while presiding over a meeting of Mexico's National Public Security Council on Dec. 20. He has directed Osorio Chong to develop and implement policies specifically targeted at the problem, which will be unveiled in January. Mexico the world leader in 2013 kidnappings for ransom.

Oct. 25 - Drug war deaths on Enrique Peña Nieto's watch: 15,552
Dec. 19 - Mexican Attorney General hands over domestic security reports to Associated Press
May 8, 2014 - Mexico says insecurity costs it $16.6 billion USD annually, and 50 lives a day

"Mexico is going to change - that's my promise." An Enrique Peña Nieto 2012 campaign spot.



Dec. 10 - Foreign Policy names Peña Nieto a top Global Thinker
Dec. 2 - Enrique Peña Nieto at one year: a marathon, not a sprint
Oct. 28 - EPN on Michoacán: "Parts of the state have passed into the hands of organized crime"
Sept. 7 - Ambush of Mexican army leaves 11 dead near Acapulco
July 11 - Mexican army kills 13 sicarios in Zacatecas shootout
Feb. 19 - In Mexican drug war, Enrique Peña Nieto = Felipe Calderón Hinojosa
Jan. 7, 2013 - Peña Nieto: no option but to follow Calderón strategy
Dec. 19, 2012 - The first mass killing on EPN's watch
June 11, 2012 - New York Times got Mexican presidential candidates' drug war strategies wrong
Apr. 30, 2012 - Economic inequality the primary cause of Mexico's insecurity, says López Obrador

Guadalajara, 2012. Such sights remain ubiquitous in Mexico.

© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.