The Mexican reaction to the votes in three US states on propositions to legalise cannabis has been varied, with some officials saying that the results will impact policymaking while others tried to work out what the effect would be on Mexico’s role as the main supplier of cannabis to the US. Former interior minister Alejandro Poiré (the incumbent the time of the votes) said that the changes in the US make necessary a global debate on the legal status of marijuana in order to establish a “coherent stance”. The now former president, Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) said it demanded a ”fundamental…

President Enrique Peña Nieto’s security policy has continued to be made public through leaks to the media, possibly as trial balloons to gauge the reaction of political actors and the public. A report published in the newspaper El Universal adds to the details aired in October of two further initiatives that may have greater political repercussions. The 12 November report in El Universal, attributed to official documents to which the paper had access, says that Peña Nieto intends to downgrade the public security ministry (SSP) and incorporate it to the interior ministry (Segob) as a department presumably headed up by…

Critics of the government’s tallies of drug-war fatalities, and particularly of its ‘collateral’ deaths, have often pointed out that the count leaves out the large numbers of dead who have not been identified, nor has the cause of their demise been classified. The Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (CNDH) has come up with one huge figure; the federal chief procurator’s office, the PGR, has ducked the question, and an investigation conducted by a leading newspaper has resulted in an incomplete figure that is 51% higher than that of the CNDH. The CNDH, which functions as a public ombudsman’s office, has…