"Mexico candidate: Drug gangs contact all hopefuls."

Here is an excerpt from E. Eduardo Castillo's article in the Associated Press:

"A ruling party mayoral candidate in Mexico's richest city told his supporters that drug traffickers have contacted all leading political contenders in the country seeking their loyalty ahead of elections next month. Mauricio Fernandez's discussion with a group of supporters in a suburb of Monterrey — a leaked recording of which was broadcast throughout Mexico on Friday — is a remarkably frank description of how the brutal gangs try to control political leaders, which is a key concern of President Felipe Calderon in his fight against drug cartels. The candidate also acknowledged that the Beltran Levya cartel controls drug smuggling in his city of San Pedro Garza and suggested that as mayor he would avoid confronting the gang to maintain peace, comments that undermined Calderon's drive to show that the government and his National Action Party, or PAN, are tough on organized crime." Link to Full Article

Analysis: I'm currently doing some research on Al Capone's organization, Prohibition, and corruption in Chicago in the 1920s. I read this article, and was stunned at the similarities between the Monterrey now and Chicago back then. It pains me to see what an incredibly uphill battle Calderon is fighting. It's hard enough to eliminate corruption from police departments in towns and cities across the country, but things are made worse when the mayor of Mexico's wealthiest cities essentially says, "I'm not messing with that." Fernandez is definitely into self-preservation, as he knows many other Mexican mayors who have not "cooperated" with the predominant DTO in their city have been assassinated in short order. It's somewhat unfortunate for him that the conversation in which these feelings were expressed was recorded and made public, but he was frank in saying what almost every other public official in Mexico believes: you take the bribe or take the bullet - plata o plombo.

So how does Calderon deal with mayors like Fernandez and the coercion they have to live with? In some cases, Calderon has removed and arrested dirty mayors. However, this may only serve as a band-aid solution. Dirty mayors are replaced, and there's no guarantee the new mayor will be any better, and not likely he or she will be immune from or willing to defy any coercion attempts from DTOs. The best solution is to establish the rule of law, continue with the arrests, and do everything possible to portray to the public that (at least some) justice can be done. Calderon is a long way from reaching that point, but he has to start somewhere.