Mexico's acting federal chief killed; drug cartel suspected
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MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's acting federal police chief was shot dead early Thursday -- a brazen attack as drug traffickers increasingly lash back at a nationwide crackdown on organized crime.
The homicide
Location: Edgar Millan Gomez, 41, was shot 10 times after opening the door to his apartment building in the Colonia Guerrero neighborhood, a poor section of Mexico City that associates say he chose because it was close to law enforcement offices. Millan died hours later at a hospital. Two bodyguards were wounded and are expected to survive. One suspect with a record of car theft was captured. Millan's family was under police protection at the time, a law enforcement source said.
Suspects: Police were investigating and had not determined a motive for the pre-dawn attack, a department official said. But suspicion immediately centered on the powerful Sinaloa cartel, a violent drug gang that has waged full-scale battles with federal police and the Mexican military. In January, Millan made headlines with his announcement that federal police had found a series of safe houses and captured 11 of the Sinaloa cartel's top hit men in Mexico City.
Life at risk: Even before then, associates say, Millan considered himself a marked man. "He knew his life was at risk all the time," Javier Ortiz, a federal police spokesman and his friend, said in an interview. "But he was absolutely convinced that pounding the cartels was the best thing he could do for Mexico."
Reaction
Mexico: President Felipe Calderon's government said Millan had played a vital role in the country's fight against organized crime and denounced "this cowardly killing of an exemplary official." He compared him to heroes of the Mexican Revolution. Calderon vowed to redouble efforts to crush drug cartels and called on the U.S. Congress to approve a $1.4 billion counternarcotics aid package for Mexico, known as the Merida Initiative.
U.S.: U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza sent his condolences to Millan's family. "Mexico has lost another hero," he said. "Another death which brings outrage to all who admire and respect the thousands of selfless officials who dedicate their lives to the betterment of their country."
What's next?
Emboldened cartels? The assassination could give new confidence to drug cartels blamed for 6,000 killings in the past 2 1/2 years and generate business that U.S. authorities estimate is as much as $23 billion a year. "This could have a snowball effect, even leading to the risk of ungovernability," said Luis Astorga, a Mexico City-based sociologist and drug expert. "It indicates terrible things, a level of weakness in our institutions -- they can't even protect themselves."
No end in sight: Mexico's drug and violence problem now engulfs the entire country and is piercing into the heart of national power in Mexico City. The capital, once relatively immune to such brazen drug killings, has been the scene of four assassinations of high-ranking federal police officials in roughly a week.
The fight ahead: While Calderon has dispatched more than 25,000 federal police and soldiers throughout Mexico to fight drug gangs, progress has been uneven. There is widespread resentment among local and state law enforcement offices plagued by corruption and ties with the cartels toward federal police sent by Millan to take over their crime-fighting responsibilities. Those field operations, often conducted with the military, are likely to be further hindered as a result.
This report includes material from The Associated Press and The Washington Post.
