Family business, part II
After Saturday’s post on the (ill-mannered, to put it mildly) sons of recently retired police commander José Manuel Ortega Saavedra, I had to post this other small item about another police commander with family connection to those on the other side of the law (well… sometimes).
The Governor-elect of Quintana Roo is getting praised by the state’s powerful tourism lobby, and the business sector for his offer to a retired general to take up the post of the state’s Secretary of Public Security (basically, super-chief of police for the entire state). The general has earned plaudits for his post-military career in law enforcement in northern Mexico and — while his “shoot to kill” attitude towards even “alleged” criminals is extremely troubling — I expect career military officers going into police work is likely to be more and more the norm in coming years. I wouldn’t have thought much of it, except for his family connections.
The former Parral and Torreón Police Chief’s family history with crime is rather… uh… checkered. Grand-dad, Jesús Arango had more than a few brushes with the law, as did great-uncle Doreteo… who later got right with the law, or rather, the law got right with him, after he changed his name to Pancho Villa — maybe the “shoot first and ask questions later” attitude is genetic.
Since I live in Laguna, I was really sorry to see the general leave. He did a lot of good for us.