Mexico Under Siege

CORRUPTION HURTING MEXICO'S FIGHT AGAINST CRIME, CALDERON SAYS

Mexican President Felipe Calderon Says His Government Has Made Strides
in Combating Graft. But Police Corruption Remains a Big Problem in the
Battle Against Drug Trafficking.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Tuesday said his government was
making strides against corruption but warned that graft remained a
threat to the nation's efforts against crime.

Calderon, speaking on International Anti-Corruption Day, said 11,500
public servants had been sanctioned for corruption since he took
office in December 2006. Fines against them totaled more than $300
million, he said.

The president said his administration had broken up corruption rings
in the state-owned oil company and in Mexican customs and public works
agencies.

"This government is a government of open doors and without secrets,"
he said.

Mexico has long been rife with corruption, which ranges from the small
bribes that motorists pay traffic officers to the suitcases of cash
that drug traffickers have delivered to law enforcement authorities.
Ordinary Mexicans routinely pay bribes to get telephone service, loans
and even parking spaces.

A study this year by Transparency Mexico found that Mexicans paid
about $2.6 billion in bribes in 2007, or more than $24 each on average.

Police corruption is among the biggest hurdles facing Calderon's
2-year-old campaign against drug trafficking. Many police officers,
especially at the state and municipal levels, are paid by smuggling
groups to provide protection and tip them off to pending police actions.

That infiltration has reached into the top ranks of the Calderon
government. In recent months, more than a dozen ranking or former
officials have been arrested on charges of passing tips to drug gangs.

Noe Ramirez Mandujano, the nation's former top anti-drug prosecutor,
was arrested last month on suspicion of accepting $450,000 in exchange
for sharing intelligence with traffickers based in the northwestern
state of Sinaloa.

Calderon administration officials say the spate of arrests, part of a
drive called Operation Cleanup, shows that he is serious about rooting
out corruption in law enforcement.

On Tuesday, Congress approved some safeguards against police abuses
and voted to allow use of undercover agents and taped conversations
against drug cartels.

Calderon said the government faces international crime networks that
challenge its authority in regions of Mexico. He said corruption also
hurts Mexicans by undermining the country's competitiveness and
eroding confidence in government institutions.

Mexican government agencies operate more openly than in past decades
thanks to reforms, such as a 2002 freedom-of-information law that
gives residents the right to scrutinize officials' salaries and other
details of government operations.

But Calderon said too few government agencies had citizen oversight.
He also called on schools, civic organizations and the media to help
youngsters develop greater respect for the rule of law.