Calderon Changes His Cabinet, Not His Policies
On Monday, President Felipe Calderon of Mexico replaced three of his cabinet members, including one of the top anti-drug fighting officials in the country, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora. The sacking of Medina Mora should not be seen as a change in course in Calderon’s war against the drug gangs. José Cárdenas of El Universal has pointed out that the replacement of Medina Mora has more to do with bureaucratic infighting and politics.
Furthermore, the news that Medina Mora is gone is not likely to come as a surprise to anyone in Mexico. It has been rumored for quite some time now that Calderon wanted to get rid of him (perhaps making him ambassador to Britain).
First, Medina Mora was a dead weight in the Calderon administration. The Attorney General was seen as responsible for the “suspicious tardiness” in bringing to justice those responsible for a childcare fire in the state of Sonora. Medina Mora also received a lot of bad publicity for the flimsy case made against three indigenous women accused of kidnapping six federal agents back in 2006. One of the women is just now set to be released this month after three years of sitting in a jail cell.
Second, and more importantly, Medina Mora has been at odds with Mexico’s top police official and a close ally of Calderon, Secretary of Public Safety Genaro Garcia Luna. The dispute goes back to when the two fought over what role the police would have in investigating federal crimes. According to Cárdenas, Garcia Luna did not believe that the Public Ministry under Medina Mora should have a monopoly on all investigations. Garcia Luna won the turf war this year when Calderon changed the structure of the federal police force, granting them more responsibilities. Medina Mora, on the other hand, simply never gained the respect from Calderon that Garcia Luna currently enjoys.
Whatever the case, Medina Mora was not dropped because of great ideological differences with his boss. Therefore, this cabinet change may not lead to many policy changes.
