MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Embattled President Enrique Pena Nieto called on Mexico’s states yesterday to swiftly adopt steps to modernize the justice system as he tries to defuse mass protests over the apparent massacre of 43 trainee teachers.
Pena Nieto is facing the deepest crisis of his presidency after the students’ abduction in late September by rogue police in league with drug gang members shone a light on chronic corruption and impunity.
Those woes have been compounded by a conflict-of-interest scandal after his family home was found to belong to a company that was part of a Chinese-led consortium awarded a major high speed rail contract.
“Society is rightly sick of feeling vulnerable. It is tired of impunity and crime,” Pena Nieto said yesterday, vowing to push for a more transparent, trustworthy justice system in Mexico.
“The Mexican state has a decades-old debt with its citizens, and it’s time to pay it.”
