May 17, 2012

Two Mexican generals detained for alleged drug gang ties




Two Mexican generals detained for alleged drug gang ties

An official at the attorney general's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the generals would be held for several days to give testimony and then could be called in front of a judge.

"The generals are answering questions because they are allegedly tied to organized crime," an official at the attorney general's office said, on condition of anonymity.

If the generals were convicted of drug trafficking, it would mark the most serious case of military corruption during Calderon's administration.

About 55,000 people have been killed in drug violence over the past five years as rival cartels fight each other and government forces.

Worsening drug-related attacks in major cities are eroding support for Calderon's conservative National Action Party, or PAN, ahead of a July 1 presidential vote.

Over the weekend, police found 49 headless bodies on a highway in northern Mexico, the latest in a recent series of brutal massacres where mutilated corpses have been hung from bridges or shoved in iceboxes.

Opinion polls show Calderon's party is trailing by double digits behind opposition candidate Enrique Pena Nieto from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which says the government's drug strategy is failing.

Traditionally, the military has been seen as less susceptible to cartel bribes and intimidation than badly paid local and state police forces, who are often easily swayed by drug gang pay offs.

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