Surprise, surprise! One of Mexico's key anti-drug units has been infiltrated by a drug cartel. This suggests not only that Mexico's best anti-drug units are still at risk of losing even more credibility (government agencies can always lose more credibility), but also that the Mexican government should start to hire more historians. Indeed, this is not the first time that drug cartels gain access to specialized anti-drug units in Mexico. In February 1997, General Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, a regional commander and one of the most prestigious generals at the time, was arrested for protecting a powerful drug cartel. At the time of the arrest, General Gutierrez Rebollo was head of Mexico's anti-drug agency.
Eleven years after Mexico's drug czar was arrested, the government has disclosed that high-ranking officials at the Unit of Specialized Investigations on Organized Crime (SIEDO) , a pillar of the Attorney General's Office, had been providing strategic information to a violent and powerful drug cartel since 1997. The reports argue that the culprits have been receiving up to $450,000 dollars a month.
These events only contribute to the declining credibility of Mexican law enforcement agencies. These agencies also include the Civil Service Department and its Secretary, who is in fact part of the cabinet. Not even the highest-ranking public officials make $450,000 dollars a month. The Civil Service Department was precisely created to track the wealth of public officials in order to identify cases of corruption. So it is not only the Attorney General's Office that failed to identify informers within its ranks.
Today, Mexico's government seems like a robbing bandit: taxing the citizens and terrifying them at the same time. A few months ago, a teenager was kidnapped and murdered. One of the organizers of the kidnapping was a member of Mexico City's police forces. The failure of the Mexican government to fight drugs and crime in general, and even harbor informers is just another one of these cases.
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