Jalisco State Police Officers to be Fired After Refusing to Work Agence France-Presse
go to original December 31, 2012

Policemen walk beside broken glass after clashes between gunmen and police officers in state of Jalisco, Mexico, Dec. 23, 2012.  (Xinhua/Xolo)

GUADALAJARA, Mexico - Thirty-one Jalisco state police officers refusing to work amid Mexico's staggering drug violence will be dismissed Monday, a government official said.

The move comes on the heels of the resignation of 16 police in neighbouring Michoacan state.

In the Jalisco case, the pending dismissals will almost cut in half the size of the police force in the town of Ayotlan, which has 68 police.

The officers stopped working on Friday to voice their outrage at a December 23 attack by organised crime on the police station in which three police were slain.

Ayotlan police have a shortage of weapons and were appalled that they were unable to beat back the assault, only to see their colleagues killed.

Drug cartels fighting for control of lucrative trafficking routes are clashing around much of the country.

From December 21-24 alone, at least 24 people were murdered in drug-trafficking related violence in Jalisco and Michoacan states.

President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office December 1, has vowed to increase public safety in the face of a relentless drug war that has killed more than 60,000 people in the last six years.

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