Reshuffling at Attorney General’s Office but mayor denies there’s a crisis

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum is doing some reshuffling in the Attorney General’s Office to improve security in the face of continuing violent crime.

In an interview with the newspaper El Universal, Sheinbaum denied that there is a crisis of insecurity in the city, contradicting her attorney general, but said she is taking actions to reinforce law enforcement, especially in the areas of intelligence and training.

“There is not a crisis situation although it’s evident we need to reinforce security in the city,” she said. “The citizens are demanding it, and we are going to respond.”

Attorney General Ernestina Godoy said May 20 that violence in the city had reached “crisis” levels. “. . . we have a crisis situation in the city in terms of violence that is reflected in the number of intentional homicides” being recorded daily.

Sheinbaum said today the National Guard will begin working in the city in July, concentrating on Tláhuac, Iztapalapa-Nezahualcóyotl and Gustavo A. Madero-Naucalpan. Iztapalapa has been identified as the city’s most dangerous borough due to the high rate of intentional homicides.

Sheinbaum made no specific statements about her plans to reorganize law enforcement, but a Whatsapp message that was leaked on Friday indicates that Bernardo Gómez del Campo, head of the Mexico City police intelligence unit, will resign his post to take a job as security undersecretary.

Gómez’s departure comes at a time when his office is involved in three high-profile criminal investigations, including the kidnapping and murder of college student Norberto Ronquillo.

City police sources told the newspaper Milenio that Gómez will be replaced by Omar Hamid García Harfuch, who had previously served as head of the federal investigative police (AIC) before resigning earlier this month.

Sheinbaum said Mexico City will be a safe city, “that is what we are going to guarantee to citizens.”

Source: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp), Sopitas (sp), El Heraldo de México (sp)