Organized crime is integrated into Mexico’s political and law enforcement institutions, particularly at state and local levels.
The vast majority of Americans probably have not heard of Ayotzinapa, a place in southern Mexico. Yet the abduction, and possible killing, of 43 teacher-trainees (“normalistas” in Spanish) from that remote town in the impoverished mountains of Guerrero has created the biggest political crisis that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has faced in his two-year old government.
“This is not ‘Mexico on the move,’” wrote Financial Times correspondent Jude Webber, referring to the newest slogan of the Peña Nieto government. “This is the bad old Mexico, where local officials are inept, corrupt or in cahoots with organized crime; where life is cheap and justice elusive; where newcomers are beseeched never, ever to ask a policeman for help.”
Until the abductions, Peña Nieto had won praise from the international investment community for pushing through 11 major economic reforms, including a historic energy reform allowing foreign companies to invest in Mexico’s lucrative oil sector for the first time in decades.
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