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For the Global Thinker

Friday, October 22, 2010

The last police chief was beheaded. Now a 20-year-old student is stepping up



Violent Mexico town pins hopes on undergraduate given £400 a month to take on the deadliest drug cartel
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One reason Marisol Valles Garcia did not have much competition for the police chief job could be that her predecessor's head was left in front of the station a few days after he was kidnapped.
Another reason could be that a fifth of the population of Praxedis Guadalupe Guerrero, a dusty, sun-baked town on Mexico's border with Texas, has fled a wave of killings and burnings that have made this one of the most violent places on Earth.
It may also have been related to the fact that drug cartels tend to give police officers a choice of "plomo o plata", lead or silver, death or corruption – which is not much of a choice: if you take the plata, a rival cartel will likely fill you with plomo....
This girl is really brave, as I lived in this area of Mexico for a year, and it's nuts up there. In most towns the police left years ago...all I can say to this girl is good luck and I hope I'm not posting a follow-up story in a month...
Read More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/21/mexico-student-police-chief-drug-cartel


Photo gallery:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/oct/21/marisol-valles-mexico-police-chief?picture=367910453

Well that didn't take long...The girl has now fled to the United States and is seeking asylum after cartels threaten to kill her, read more here....

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Young+Mexican+female+police+chief+seeks+asylum/4380279/story.html 

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