MEXICO NOMINEE UNDER FIRE

Critics Fault Attorney General Pick for Not Solving Juarez Killings

President Felipe Calderon's pick for attorney general faced
questioning in Congress on Monday amid criticism by human rights
groups that he failed as a state prosecutor to solve the killings of
hundreds of women in Ciudad Juarez in the 1990s.

Calderon has named Arturo Chavez Chavez to be the nation's top law
enforcement officer at a moment when the government is locked in a
bloody war against drug-trafficking cartels and the public's
confidence in the justice system is low.

Chavez, 49, who belongs to Calderon's conservative National Action
Party, or PAN, would take over for Eduardo Medina Mora, who resigned
this month as part of a Cabinet shake-up. Medina Mora had come under
attack for what political foes called the faltering drug war.

Chavez, a private attorney and onetime federal prosecutor, testified
Monday before the Senate's 13-member justice committee, which will
recommend whether he should be confirmed by the full Senate.

He said he focused his agency's efforts on solving the Juarez
killings and that suspects responsible for 32 of the deaths were
convicted during his tenure. But he also acknowledged failures by
agents under his supervision.

The PAN holds a numerical advantage in the 128-seat Senate, but it
lacks an outright majority. Chavez needs votes from the main
opposition force, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, to win
confirmation, but it is unclear whether he'll get them. Members of
the leftist Democratic Revolution Party are expected to vote against him.

Rights advocates have lobbied the Senate to reject Chavez, taking aim
at his tenure as attorney general in the northern state of Chihuahua,
where more than 350 women have been killed in the border city of
Ciudad Juarez since 1993.

Critics say Chavez, who held the prosecutor's job from 1996 to 1998,
mishandled investigations. Despite some arrests, the grisly slayings
remain largely unsolved. Advocates also accused Chihuahuan
authorities of torturing suspects and manufacturing evidence.

A 1998 report by the National Human Rights Commission cited Chavez in
noting failings in the state's handling of the cases, which former
President Vicente Fox later put under the supervision of federal authorities.

Last week, demonstrators painted black crosses on the walls of the
federal attorney general's office in Ciudad Juarez to protest
Chavez's nomination.

Calderon has stuck by Chavez, an unknown in national politics, saying
he had a good record in Chihuahua and would be a successful attorney general.

Interior Minister Fernando Gomez Mont told reporters that Chavez had
improved the state prosecutor's office during his term. "He is a man
respectful of the law, a calm man, a brave man," Gomez Mont said.

Mexico's attorney general plays a key role in the drug war, which was
launched by Calderon shortly after he took office in December 2006.
Government forces have made high-profile arrests and seized large
amounts of drugs, guns and money. But critics say that effort has
done little to corral the violent trafficking groups, which smuggle
billions of dollars' worth of drugs into the U.S.

More than 13,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico
since 2006, largely the result of battles between rival gangs over
coveted smuggling routes and drug sales. The most violent spot is
Ciudad Juarez.