MEXICO: Mexican President Vicente Fox dismissed Mexico City's police chief yesterday after a mob beat and burned to death two police officers and severely injured a third last month.
The country was shocked by television images of dozens of drunken, laughing youths punching and kicking the undercover officers. Reinforcements took three hours to arrive in the slum on the edge of the city.
Mr Fox invoked special executive powers to dismiss the police chief, a move sure to rekindle a long-running feud with Mexico City's leftist mayor and presidential hopeful, Mr Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
"These measures are designed to contribute to the security that Mexicans legitimately demand from their government officials," Mr Fox said in a television address.
Mexico City Police Chief Marcelo Ebrard was already under fire for a crime wave that has seen widespread kidnappings and murders. At least a quarter of a million Mexicans marched through the capital in June to protest about official failures.
Mr Fox also said he had removed Mr Luis Figueroa, the head of a federal police force that was slow to respond.
Despite the police delay, television crews arrived in time to film the beating on November 23rd. With blood streaming down his face, one of the officers pleaded for his life and said he and his colleagues were on a drug investigation. He survived, but the other two policemen were burned alive and their bloodied bodies were left under a street light.
The policemen had been taking pictures outside a primary school, and residents accused them of trying to kidnap children. Many Mexicans believe that police are accomplices in a current rash of child abductions.
The next day, about 1,000 police raided houses close to where the lynching took place and arrested 33 people on charges related to the killings.
Mob vengeance is frequent in Mexico due to the public's mistrust of the police. Private studies show only about 4 per cent of crimes in Mexico result in convictions.
However, Mr Ebrard blamed his dismissal on the rivalry between Mr Fox and Mexico City's mayor, which has increased this year due to a legal case that could prevent Mr Lopez Obrador from running for president. "The political decision made by the president is a serious error for this country," Mr Ebrard said. - (Reuters)