Mexican state of Nuevo Leon to boost pay of state police, try to compete with Zetas
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) - The governor of a Mexican border state said Wednesday he will give state police officers a 20 percent pay raise in an effort to deter them from being lured into helping drug cartels.
Nuevo Leon state Gov. Rodrigo Medina said the increase would be given only to officers who pass “confidence control checks” proving they had no links to drug gangs.
The low pay of Mexican police is often blamed for the ease by which cartels recruit officers.
Medina said state troopers in Nuevo Leon, across the U.S. border from Texas, now earn 8,800 pesos ($687) a month. Two-thirds of local police officers are paid $315 a month or less, according to the federal Public Safety Department. Mexico’s minimum wage is about $145 a month.
Medina’s announcement came a day after seven local officers were accused of working for the Zetas drug gang and helping kidnap and kill Mayor Edelmiro Cavazos last week in retaliation for the mayor’s attempts to cut corruption.
Nuevo Leon state Attorney General Alejandro Garza y Garza said the Zetas paid the seven officers monthly salaries of around 6,000 pesos, about $468.
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Meanwhile, in the border city of Tijuana, former local police officers have filed a complaint with state prosecutors against the city’s public safety chief and police director alleging the officers were tortured into confessing to having links to organized crime.
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