General Alberto Reyes Vaca Sent to Quell Michoacan Drug Violence in New Strategy Lizbeth Diaz - Reuters
go to original May 20, 2013

Alberto Reyes Vaca (Iván Sánchez/La Jornada Michoacán)

Mexico City - A Mexican general took over all police and military operations in a chaotic western state on Thursday in a test run of President Enrique Pena Nieto's new security strategy to tame raging drug violence.

Alberto Reyes assumed control of all federal, state and city police forces, as well as military units in Michoacan, one of the most violent states in the country, after he was named the state's new security minister.

Big swathes of Michoacan have fallen under the sway of criminal gangs who are fighting among themselves and against authorities. Former President Felipe Calderon launched his military-led crackdown on drug cartels there in 2006.

Pena Nieto, who took office in December, has vowed to reduce the violence that has exploded in Mexico in the last decade by battling crime rather than hunting down drug lords.

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