These packages require Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0. Mexico Overview Mexico is a rapidly industrializing country with a growing division between its relatively affluent north and desperately poor south and an ever-tightening trade and cultural bond with the United States. A ranking official in the federal Attorney General's Office turns up dead a block from his house, an apparent suicide.
Assailants gun down members of the federal anti-drug police.
Many police officers in Mexico City and elsewhere shake down motorists and take bribes to protect illegal street stalls and other businesses. For years, police of every stripe have worn the most recognizable face of the corruption that plagues much of Mexican public life. But police malfeasance accounts for only a fraction of the deep-seated graft that eats at the very heart of Mexican society, experts say. But for there to be a corrupt policeman, there has to be a corrupt citizen. Corruption is in the essence of a community.