For decades, Mexico has been characterized as mired in corruption, and the stain of lawlessness has indeed run deep. But recent events have underscored anew how Mexico--despite genuine signs of economic and political progress--remains a state lacking the rule of law. A new low point is the disappearance of dozens of students from a teachers college.
Conflict among drug cartels dominated the six-year term of President Felipe Calderón, who threw the military into the battle at great cost but did not uproot the cartels. His successor, Enrique Peña Nieto, came to office in December 2012 with a different emphasis, seeking to kick-start a series of bold economic reforms. His first two years in power have been promising.
But the scourge of violence has risen again in a way that cannot be ignored and that imperils the reform agenda. Late one September night, in the town of Iguala in the poor, rural state of Guerrero, buses carrying the students were attacked by police.
Protests have erupted across the country. Peña Nieto's government did not respond with alacrity. The president was silent for days, and then his attorney general, exhausted, carelessly dismissed repetitive questions about the case at a news conference, saying he was "tired" or "fed up." Those words have now become the signature slogan of the demonstrators; people are fed up with business as usual.
Peña Nieto cannot dodge this crisis. He must respond to public revulsion over the missing 43 students by making sure that a complete and transparent investigation is carried out, not only into the perpetrators but also into structural and institutional ills that have brought Mexico to this point. He can speed up implementation of important changes in criminal justice procedures, which has been slow. He must find a way to harness the public fury and use it to begin what will surely be a difficult struggle to firmly establish rule of law.
Editorial on 11/21/2014