Reforms Unveiled

Mexico Acts to Curb Crime, Corruption

After criticism over 43 missing students.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Thursday announced a series of measures to stem the infiltration of organized crime into municipalities and city halls around the country following the wave of protests over the disappearance of 43 teaching students two months ago in the southern state of Guerrero. In a national address, Peña Nieto revealed the 10-point plan aimed at reforming local authorities and stopping collusion among local governments, police, and gangs. The plan calls for redefining powers in the penal code and adopting a special crime-battling law. The president proposed empowering the central government to dissolve local authorities involved in organized crime and giving state authorities control over municipal police—often seen as corrupt. The measures also will standardize police training, bring forward a unified state police, and protect human rights. They are to be implemented first in four states considered the most troubled: Guerrero, Michoacan, Jalisco and Tamaulipas.