Jesus Murillo Karam Confirmed as Mexico's New Attorney General Xinhua
go to original December 5, 2012

Jesus Murillo Karam (diario.mx)

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Senate Tuesday ratified Jesus Murillo Karam as head of the country's Attorney General's Office (PGR), after he was appointed by President Enrique Pena Nieto last weekend.

The 65-year-old new attorney general was endorsed with 114 votes in favor, one against, and one abstention during the Senate's regular session.

Karam, the former Hidalgo state governor who helped launch Pena Nieto's political career, said he would seek to make the PGR a dependable institution.

The PGR should be "absolutely impartial, blind before the colour of politics, but completely aware to apply justice," said Karam, who has served as secretary general of Mexico's centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) since 2007.

Pena Nieto took office as Mexico's new president last Saturday for a six-year term, returning the PRI to power after a 12-year hiatus.

The rule by PRI in the decades before 2000 was marred by corruption and periodic economic crises.

Pena Nieto said it would be his government's priority to fight crime and forge peace in Mexico, following the violence-filled term of outgoing President Felipe Calderon, whose war on drugs has led to the death of more than 60,000 people.

The new head of state also announced more than 10 "decisions" that will serve to guide policymakers in his administration to tackle such issues as crime, education reform, welfare programmes for the elderly and single mothers, and infrastructure building to drive the economy.

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!