Two High-Profile Cases Bolster Suspicion of Mexico's Justice System Richard Fausset and Tracy Wilkinson - The Los Angeles Times
go to original August 10, 2013

MEXICO CITY — They were two of Mexico's most flamboyant bad boys, symbols for many here of all that was wrong with this country in the 1980s and '90s.

Rafael Caro Quintero was a high-rolling drug lord sent to prison for the 1985 kidnapping, torture and slaying of an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Raul Salinas, the brother of a former Mexican president, was a free-spending playboy. He was convicted, and then acquitted, of the 1994 killing of a top politician. He was also suspected of stealing millions of dollars from the government.

But in recent days, the old criminal cases against these two characters have fallen apart, leaving many dismayed by what they perceive as the enduring dysfunction of the Mexican justice system.

Even though Mexican officials, with U.S. advisors and millions of dollars of U.S. aid, have focused in recent years on reforming the system, these two cases are likely to bolster the suspicion that the law still does not apply to the well-connected and the powerful — either because of their enduring influence, or the incompetence of those who pursue them.

Read the rest at The Los Angeles Times

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