Reports indicate the drug boss may have simply walked out of jail after paying large bribes. The incident prompted Fox to declare a frontal attack on organized crime and drug trafficking, but during a meeting to unveil the nationwide crusade in Sinaloa, the new administration offered few specifics. Law enforcement efforts meanwhile are hampered by low salaries, the open collusion of top officials and the brutal retaliation threatened by well-armed drug gangs. In chilling episodes that echo the violence in Colombia, drug traffickers have gunned down two former directors of Mexico's high-security prisons. One of the dead, Juan Pablo de Tavira, survived an attempted poisoning a decade ago, only to die in a commando-style attack in the state of Hidalgo in November.
Swiss prosecutors insist it was drug money.
Whether the new Mexico can emerge without re-examining the old one remains in doubt, and this is one reason for Mexican skepticism. Fighting this skepticism will be an uphill battle for Fox, said Rubio. But even though most Mexicans agree that expectations surged unrealistically high after Fox managed to beat the presidential candidate of PRI, the party that controlled Mexico for 71 years, the criticism remains. Other experts insist that the main problem is that the new government has not been able to focus on central objectives. He dispenses with presidential pomp, working in shirt sleeves, putting on cowboy boots even with suits.