Julian Leyzaola Pereza is a Mexican police chief known for taking on drug cartels. He recently became police chief of Ciudad Juárez, a city said to be among world's the most dangerous. William Finnegan reviews Leyzaola's record:
He was most proud, he told me, of his anti-corruption campaign. Unfortunately, there was extensive evidence that that campaign proceeded largely by torture, and not by investigation. Amnesty International found twenty-five police officers who have claimed credibly that they were seized and tortured by soldiers on Leyzaola’s orders. The Baja California state human-rights commission released a report detailing Leyzaola’s personal participation in torture and recommending that he be suspended. He was not.
(Photo: Candles lit by university students stand beside a sign reading 'No mas Sangre' (No more blood) during a protest against violence at the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City on February 17, 2011. The battles between drug lords have claimed more than 30,000 lives across the country over the past three years, according to official figures. By Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images)