This is hilarious. I wouldn't say it's "modeled" on our FBI.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/12/04/mexico.drugs.reut/index.html
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- Mexico created an elite force of federal agents modeled on the FBI four years ago, but now one in five members of the agency is under investigation for committing crimes, the attorney general's office said on Sunday.
In a report obtained by Reuters, the attorney general's office said 1,493 members of the Federal Investigation Agency, or AFI, are under investigation "for probably committing crimes," and 457 of those currently face prosecution.
Founded by President Vicente Fox in 2001 in an attempt to end rampant corruption among Mexican police, the AFI is increasingly seen as being infiltrated by the country's powerful drug gangs.
The AFI, which has about 7,000 agents, became the center of a scandal this week after the attorney general's office said it had charged eight agents in the kidnapping of four presumed drug hit men and the videotaped killing of at least one of them.
Amid mounting criticism of the institution, Mexico's Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said on Sunday federal agents had probably taken part in the kidnapping but he distanced the AFI from the videotaped scenes.
"It is not proved that personnel from the AFI participated in the events shown in the distributed video recording," he told a news conference.
He also defended the fight against corruption, saying criminal behavior was the problem of individual agents who would be prosecuted.
"Our achievements cannot be put in doubt by the behavior of a few bad elements ... we will apply the full force of the law to unloyal agents."
Eight agents were arrested in August after investigators got hold of a copy of the homemade DVD showing four battered and bloody men confessing to being members of the Gulf cartel of drug traffickers. One of them was then shot in the head.
Authorities say the federal agents charged were in the pay of a rival gang led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is battling the Gulf cartel for control of lucrative drug routes along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Five of the agents implicated in the case, which has shocked crime-hardened Mexico, were released by a judge for lack of evidence. Mexico is seeking their recapture. Three other agents wanted for the crime are on the run.
Local media also have linked the agency to the 2004 murder of Enrique Salinas, brother of former president Carlos Salinas. The attorney general's office denies any link to the killing.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/12/04/mexico.drugs.reut/index.html
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- Mexico created an elite force of federal agents modeled on the FBI four years ago, but now one in five members of the agency is under investigation for committing crimes, the attorney general's office said on Sunday.
In a report obtained by Reuters, the attorney general's office said 1,493 members of the Federal Investigation Agency, or AFI, are under investigation "for probably committing crimes," and 457 of those currently face prosecution.
Founded by President Vicente Fox in 2001 in an attempt to end rampant corruption among Mexican police, the AFI is increasingly seen as being infiltrated by the country's powerful drug gangs.
The AFI, which has about 7,000 agents, became the center of a scandal this week after the attorney general's office said it had charged eight agents in the kidnapping of four presumed drug hit men and the videotaped killing of at least one of them.
Amid mounting criticism of the institution, Mexico's Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said on Sunday federal agents had probably taken part in the kidnapping but he distanced the AFI from the videotaped scenes.
"It is not proved that personnel from the AFI participated in the events shown in the distributed video recording," he told a news conference.
He also defended the fight against corruption, saying criminal behavior was the problem of individual agents who would be prosecuted.
"Our achievements cannot be put in doubt by the behavior of a few bad elements ... we will apply the full force of the law to unloyal agents."
Eight agents were arrested in August after investigators got hold of a copy of the homemade DVD showing four battered and bloody men confessing to being members of the Gulf cartel of drug traffickers. One of them was then shot in the head.
Authorities say the federal agents charged were in the pay of a rival gang led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is battling the Gulf cartel for control of lucrative drug routes along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Five of the agents implicated in the case, which has shocked crime-hardened Mexico, were released by a judge for lack of evidence. Mexico is seeking their recapture. Three other agents wanted for the crime are on the run.
Local media also have linked the agency to the 2004 murder of Enrique Salinas, brother of former president Carlos Salinas. The attorney general's office denies any link to the killing.
