Mexican president unveils reform bill to fight organised crime

Mexico City, Nov 28: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced on Thursday a 10-point reform bill that will unify Mexico's multi-layered police forces and stop collusion between government officials and local gangs.

The move is expected to defuse nationwide anger over the abduction and possible massacre of 43 students, Xinhua reported.

The anti-crime plan, which will be submitted to Congress for approval on Monday, came after the 43 students at a teachers college went missing Sep 26 after being handed over by police to a local gang in the violence-ridden city of Iguala.

Massive marches were held over their disappearance.

Beginning his address by referring to the mass abduction and likely killing of the 43 students, Pena Nieto said: "Two months ago, Mexico suffered one of the ... cruelest, inhuman and barbaric attacks from organised crime."

The penal system's failure, he said, stems partly from local, state or federal agencies passing the responsibility of fighting crime onto each other.

The president proposed establishing a unified police force in charge of each of the country's 32 states so as to relax the complex divisions between which offenses are dealt with at federal, state and local levels.

Once the reforms are in place, he said, "nobody will be able to use the complex system of penal agencies as an excuse to shirk their responsibilities."

IANS