Mexico Needs More Good Cops

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto clearly sees his epochal economic reforms as his legacy. Yet for the growing number of Mexican citizens taking to the streets, what stands out is his government’s failure to protect them.

That failure is reflected in the widespread anguish and outrage over the disappearance of 43 students on Sept. 26. The victims were kidnapped in Iguala, the third-biggest city in Guerrero, one of Mexico’s poorest and most violent states. The accused are a vicious, all-too-familiar cabal of criminal gangs, police, and local officials. Iguala’s mayor, who reportedly instigated the assault, and his wife, whose family belonged to a narco gang that supplies heroin to the U.S., have been arrested. So were 36 police officers suspected of being on the gang’s payroll.