Mayor Getting Too Close to Cartels

Mayor Mauricio Fernandez has only been mayor for six month, but those months have been clouded with controversy and moral conjecture. For instance, on his inauguration day he shocked critics by announcing the death of a notorious local drug dealer. The shocking part was that the police were not even aware that he was dead. Hector Saldana was found in the trunk of car hours after Fernandez’s speech.

Fernandez has used his wealth and questionable courtship to drug cartels to keep his people safe. “If the devil gives me information, I buy it,” he said recently, explaining how a well-known drug dealer came to be his informant.

Reportedly, Fernandez has appeased the Beltran Leyva, one of the country’s most powerful cartels, in return for protection from the Zetas, another drug organization. But his defenders say that whatever the means, Fernandez has made the city safer. Fernandez has used a network of paid informants and spies to weed out corrupt police officers and to remove gangsters from the streets.

Detractors of Fernandez say that he is too close to the cartels, but the Mayor argues Mexico must use new tactics to fight drug warfare. He has said he would support legalizing drugs and makes no apologizes for making deals with bad people.