William Finnegan worries about our neighbor's new government:
I myself find it hard to see how the Mexican state, so badly weakened by its own corruption, could regain even its old corrupt dominance over organized crime, which clearly holds the whip hand now. Profound institutional reforms at all levels of government are needed. Indeed, a new philosophy of governance, raising public service over private enrichment, is needed more urgently than anything. Unfortunately, the PRI is an unlikely vehicle for such transformation.
A primer of where the public stands:
According to a March 2012 poll by Consulta Mitofsky and México Unido, the vast majority of Mexicans believe that the government must bring organized crime under control and support the use of the military in this fight until effective police forces are available. But their central concern is reducing violence and crime, not drug trafficking, and less than a quarter of the public says that the government’s current strategy is working. That is understandable: Since Calderón took office in late 2006 and declared war on the country’s drug-trafficking organizations, Mexico has seen a dramatic increase in the brutality and frequency of organized crime–related murders (over 50,000 and counting) and an explosion of kidnapping, bribery, extortion, and robbery.
The Dish 