Mayoress sends marines onto streets of Monterrey

Ninety Mexican marines began patrolling downtown Monterrey in northern Mexico on 1 November, in one of the new mayor's first moves to boost the crime-ridden city's security and to enhance, or restore, public trust in local security forces. Residents and drivers were said to have watched in surprise - or admiration - as armed and masked navy troops "slowly drove around" central Monterrey, stopping to inspect suspect vehicles, Guadalajara's 1070 Radio reported. Margarita Arellanes Cervantes, Monterrey's first female mayor since its foundation in 1596, said that day that "we are starting a new phase," even as she urged people to "call and inform" on suspects to help beat crime, Milenio reported on 2 November. She said she hoped people would trust patrols including troops and policemen, in a country where many local policemen are distrusted if not despised, and intermittently dismissed for ties to organized crime. Arellanes, a member of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), was elected mayor in July's general elections. She has vowed the "reconstruction" of Monterrey and vowed "absolute transparency" when taking office on 31 October at a ceremony in the city's theatre; "let me say very clearly, there will be no acts hidden from the law in my government. I shall watch over the absolute transparency of every one of our actions nor tolerate under any circumstance the stain of suspicion or the shadow of corruption," the website Terra cited her as saying. Earlier in October she declared that municipal employees accross the board in Monterrey would have to sit through "confidence" tests, and this seemed to have begun. On 1 November she said 80 city policemen had failed these tests and were expected to leave their posts before December. She also appointed a soldier, Rear-Admiral Augusto Cruz Morales, as the new police chief of Monterrey.