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WORLD> America
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Mexico outraged over corrupt police, kidnappings
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-22 12:05 Mexico has one of the world's highest kidnapping rates, according to the anti-violence group IKV Pax Christi. Kidnappings are up 9.1 percent this year, averaging 65 per month nationwide, according to the Attorney General's Office, which blames a growing web of drug cartels, cops, former cops and informants who point out potentially lucrative victims. But most kidnappings go unreported, for fear of the police. The nonprofit Citizens' Institute for Crime Studies estimates the real kidnapping rate to be more than 500 per month. Alejandro Cesar Zamudio, a commander of Mexico City detectives, defended the innocence of the officer implicated in the Marti case, saying the allegations were motivated by rivalries within the department. But Mexico City's top cop, Public Safety Secretary Manuel Mondragon, acknowledged that "a spiderweb of corruption has penetrated many parts of our department." Rich Mexicans have long resigned themselves to hiring private security teams and negotiators to deal with the threat. But now, even middle-class people are at risk, and kidnappers are increasingly killing their captives, even if a ransom is paid. Just three days before Marti's decomposed body was found on August 1, a family of six was found dead in their home in western Jalisco state, allegedly targeted by kidnappers aided by corrupt cops. Four victims, including two children, were shot in the head. A teenage boy's throat was slashed. His mother was asphyxiated with a plastic bag. One of the family's sons had been kidnapped and released after a ransom was paid, but the gang, allegedly aided by a corrupt cop in the state anti-kidnapping squad, demanded they hand over more cash. The gang killed the family after they realized the police officer was part of the scheme, prosecutors say. |
