Local businessmen and state legislators have called on the federal government to send in the army to prevent the violent gangs from turning the southern border into a no-go area. They say that the indifference shown by local police forces lead them to suspect that corruption may be at work.
Chiapas is certainly witnessing an increase in organised crime. National statistics show it ranking fairly low on the scale when it comes to 'common' violent crime (it ranks 17th among Mexico's 32 states), but considerably higher (13th) when it comes to kidnapping and other acts of organised crime.
Héctor de la O Santana, Chiapas delegate of the national chamber of commerce (Conaco), says that the local police concentrate almost exclusively on halting the flow of illegal immigrants from Central America on their way to the US [in a single weekend in July they detained close to 500] than to solving the 'executions' committed by the gangs. 'We are sending the message that Chiapas is no-man's-land,' he says.
End of preview - This article contains approximately 246 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options
