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Fernando Marti might have been just another statistic in the fearful catalogue of kidnap-for-ransom cases in Mexico - hundreds are reported every year - but for a couple of things: he was 14 years old and his abductors killed him after his family paid up.
The discovery of the decomposed body of Fernando, the son of a business tycoon, in the boot of a car was enough to trigger the wave of popular disgust and impatience now engulfing the Government of the President, Felipe Calderon.
But it got worse. The perpetrators, it is now alleged, were police officers.
As the anger mounts, thousands of Mexicans are expected to join marches planned for this month in the capital and several other large cities to decry the endless kidnap cycle.
Calderon, who came to power two years ago after promising to crack down on crime, is racing to respond.
A flurry of anti-crime proposals put forward this week included plans for the creation of an anti-kidnapping police squad of 300 officers operating in five of Mexico's biggest cities.
Calderon is calling on Congress to pass laws to make kidnappings punishable by life imprisonment in cases where the abductors were or have been members of a police force, if they kidnap minors or if they torture or kill their victims.
"Society demands that we succeed in this challenge, that we end police corruption," Calderon said.
The Mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, has announced the creation of a police investigations unit to replace the existing detectives' unit, members of which are now suspects in the Marti case.
About 435 people were snatched last year, an increase of 35 per cent on 2006. Since Calderon came to power, 59 people have been killed by their kidnappers.
Fernando, whose father, Alejandro Marti, is the co-owner of Mexico's largest sports goods chain, was in a car with a driver and bodyguard in June when they were stopped at a fake roadblock.
His family paid the ransom. Fernando's body was found on August 1.
Officials said several police officers hads been arrested.
Jose Antonio Ortego, of the anti-crime group Y Basta (Enough is Enough), said: "Yet again, we see police officers implicated in abductions and other atrocious crimes, repugnant excuses and lies from ministry officials and prosecutors, and the fake consternation and empty promises of governors and politicians."
- INDEPENDENT
CORRUPT OFFICERS TARGETED
People have so little confidence in the police in Tijuana that the Army invited citizens to report crimes to soldiers instead.
Officers are so mistrusted that federal authorities even took their guns away for a time last year.
Now Tijuana is campaigning to regain that trust with an accountability campaign to break the officers' old, corrupt habits.
Public Safety Secretary Alberto Capella proudly points to a Tijuana policeman accused of murder who was promptly arrested by his fellow officers.
"If this scenario had happened nine months ago, he wouldn't have been captured. Or he would have asked for help, and they would have let him go," Capella said.
"That's a clear indication of the change of attitude taking place among Tijuana police."
A mobile office equipped with remote-controlled cameras, a small conference room and vigorous air conditioning has been deployed around the city to promote a community policing initiative, run jointly with state and federal officers.
The three agencies want to increase the visibility of police around the rough edges of a city growing by about 90,000 people a year.
- AP
