CHON'S ROSY ASSERTIONS OF TAMPS. VIOLENCE "UNREAL"

Various Sources

As far as Francisco Rivas Rodriguez, director of the National Citizens' Observatory, is concerned, the assertions by Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, Mexico's Minister of the Interior, on the alleged successes in public safety security are at odds with the reality on the ground and
differ markedly with data compiled by local prosecutors and the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR), or Mexican Attorney General's Office.
Rivas Rodriguez asserted that his differences in analysis with that of Chon's lie in the use of methodology and sense of logic, since in the face of the spiraling indices of kidnappings and institutional insecurity, one cannot speak of supposed advances in public safety. “We cannot deny that it is a positive thing for criminals to be detained, that 14 out of the main 15 objectives have been detained in Tamaulipas. However, when one witnesses the number of kidnappings and the number of victims who are affected here, it is obvious that the government doesn't understand what true progress means."

The Observatory's director said he in not aware of where Osorio Chong's figures were attained to make his assertions, but said that the Mexican government's own Secretariado Ejecutivo del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Pública (SESNSP), there were 513 investigations for kidnappings in the last 26 months, and that Tamaulipas ranks number one in the country in that crime with a 700 percent rate over the national median.
In addition, Tamaulipas ranks fifth in in the country in the number of homicides, and third in auto theft; even as he agreed that the number of such crimes could be said to have decreased in comparison to previous years, those are minimal and could not be considered successes or credited to a successful national policy to combat delinquency and insecurity.
In contrast, he said that if the policies enunciated by the government in its three levels were actually implemented, he stated:
“We have never had a full accounting of the security situation here and, unfortunately, Tamaulipas has always followed a policy of omission when it comes to providing real information. For example, we would want that the government really address this problem head on and that the errors committed in Michoacan – where the people's civil rights were disregarded in favor of military security – and that conditions and situations be implemented that would allow for the fostering of reinforced institutions to be led at the state level."
The state government, he said, has failed to take the lead and its governor, Egidio Torre Cantú, should take the bull by the horns and inform the citizenry with an honest portrayal of the actual situation.
During the presidential term of current president Peña Nieto there have been more kidnappings than in the previous Felipe Calderón Hinojosa administration and the law has not been enforced.