Ex-Police Chief in Mexico Known for Crackdowns Is Shot

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/09/world/americas/ex-police-chief-in-mexico-known-for-crackdowns-is-shot.html

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MEXICO CITY — The former chief of police in Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez, two border cities that once ranked among the most violent in Mexico but calmed under his tenure, was shot and seriously wound Friday in an attack in Juarez that appeared to be carried out by hit men, the authorities said.

The former chief, Julián Leyzaola Pérez, was shot as he arrived in a sport utility vehicle at a money exchange store with his wife and a daughter. Two gunmen approached and fired several rounds, striking him twice. He underwent surgery and was reported in delicate but stable condition, the newspaper El Diario de Juárez reported.

The authorities said the two men were arrested after a short chase and told investigators that someone had paid them to shoot Mr. Leyzaola, but that they did not know who he was. The Chihuahua State prosecutor, Jorge Gonzáles Nicolás, said they appeared to be gang members working for an unspecified organized crime group. The men were found in possession of cocaine.

Mr. Leyzaola, a former army officer, is a well-known figure in Mexico. He gained, and often cultivated, attention and some measure of controversy for aggressive crackdowns on crime in two cities that were among Mexico’s most violent.

He served in Tijuana from 2008 to 2010 and in Juárez from 2011 to 2013, presiding over steep declines in murders in both cities. The number of murders remains high in both places, but the decreasing level of violence has allowed for a rebirth in both cities, with restaurants and stores reopening and new ones, some of them written up in glossy magazines, coming in.

In a 2011 interview with The Times, Mr. Leyzaola spoke of receiving death threats and his refusal to negotiate with the criminal gangs he was trying to defeat.

“I don’t dialogue with delinquents,” he said.

But human rights groups criticized what they called heavy-handed methods, including reports of unjustified arrests and the beating of prisoners, including by Mr. Leyzaola himself. He denied the accusations.

Analysts debated the effectiveness of his policing strategies. While La Línea, a cartel in Juárez, fell apart in his time, another, the Sinaloa Cartel, grew more powerful, leading some to conclude that the violence abated more because one gang prevailed over its rivals than because of police tactics.