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Mexico City mayor promises to rein in crime or lose job

Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said on Thursday he should be fired if he does not rein in kidnappings, shootings and other violent crime in the capital of 20 million people.

Public anger is growing over an ineffective police response to rampant crime in one of the largest cities in the world.

The recent kidnapping and murder of Fernando Marti, 14, the son of a well-known Mexico City businessman, sparked an outcry in a country already hardened to shootings, muggings and widespread violence by drug cartels. Several police officers have been arrested over the kidnapping.

At a meeting of politicians to discuss security problems, the boy’s father challenged Ebrard and others to step down if they cannot make streets safer. Ebrard, a leftist considered a possible candidate for the 2012 presidential contest, said he accepted the challenge.

“We must improve security in our city and if we don’t, there are established procedures in the capital for revoking a mandate, which is what should happen,” said Ebrard, who is mayor of about half of the greater Mexico City area.

High crime rates are not exclusive to the capital.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, also under pressure to stamp out violent crime, hosted the meeting of state governors, lawmakers and security chiefs. The central government pledged to establish anti-kidnapping measures in cooperation with local authorities.

After meeting with provincial governors, top judges, mayors and lawmakers, Calderon signed an agreement to coordinate crime fighting across the nation on a day in which seven police officers were killed countrywide.

He pledged to pass legislation against money laundering and provisions to locate the mobile phones of kidnapping suspects. He also promised to keep the public better informed about anti-crime measures and scour police ranks for renegade officers.

Kidnappings in particular have been on the rise in Mexico, Mexican Security Minister Genaro Garcia Luna said. In 2002, 504 cases where registered, but the number jumped to 785 last year. Unofficial estimates indicate that the number is actually significantly higher. Kidnappings jumped almost 40 percent nationwide between 2004 and last year. Mexico ranks with Iraq and Colombia among the worst countries for abductions.

Kidnappings and blackmail are often organized out of prisons, Garcia Luna said. There have also been a number of reports of police involvement.
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