Some in
Led by parents of the victims in the
“”For the very, very first time, people, civil society as a whole, have come together and decided, this is enough,”” said
Calderon, an often aloof leader seemingly impervious to criticism, has responded by apparently heeding the complaints and making the remarkable concession that his military-led war on drug cartels has proved insufficient.
He traveled to
“”President, I cannot welcome you here,””
It was a highly unusual rebuke from a humble woman in a country that retains paternalistic tendencies and demands a certain reverence for presidential figures.
Almost since its inception when Calderon took office in
Even as 10,000 army troops and federal police were deployed, someone was killed in
Calderon now has been forced to offer a mea culpa and act. Embracing the citizens’ slogan, “”We are all
“”By hearing the demands and the indignation directly,”” political analyst
Skeptics accuse Calderon of moving now because it’s an election year. Both the governorship of Chihuahua state, where
Whatever his electoral calculations, however, Calderon is also keenly aware of the corrosive political damage of the
A poll out this week showed a dramatic decline nationwide in support for Calderon’s government. An overwhelming majority said violent crime had increased substantially in the last six months, and solidly half the nation said the president’s war on drug cartels was failing. The poll by Buendia & Laredo sampled 1,000 people in face-to-face interviews and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
And there has been a busy confluence of voices of criticism from segments of society, such as the Roman Catholic Church, that had remained until now largely on the sidelines.
A member of Calderon’s own National Action Party, legislator
So far the citizen outcry in
Many Mexicans have in effect become complicit by failing to speak out. But there were signs of that changing too.
“”We have to assume our own portion of blame as well,”” Galindo said. “”It is not always the government that is responsible for the killing of a child.””
The only other recent incident that provoked a level of outrage similar to that generated by the deaths of the young people in January was the 2008 kidnapping and killing of a boy from a wealthy
It is possible that once again, the furor — this time over the killing of the youths in
“”The first step is to regain the public’s trust,”” said