[JURIST] Mexican President Felipe Calderon [official website, in Spanish] on Monday made a public call for greater adherence to the rule of law, more transparent elections, and increased business competition in Mexico, during a speech [text, in Spanish] at the annual Mexico Business Summit [summit website]. Calderon criticized monopolistic business practices in Mexico, and said transparency was sorely lacking in elections conducted in the country. He also emphasized that only with rule of law can the economy flourish and orderly social life can exist. "The most important task of the state, friends, is this: to respect and enforce the law," he said. "It's the first thing that we commit to rules. And here the Federal Government is absolutely clear: enforce the law only by way of the law itself, which is the source of all legitimacy." Earlier in the summit, Mexico's Secretary of Public Security Genaro Garcia Luna [official profile, in Spanish] said that media had overemphasized drug violence [Xinhua report], claiming that theft is a bigger concern to public safety.

In August, Mexico qualified for $1.4 million in aid [JURIST report] from the US within the framework of the Merida Initiative [DOS materials], after the US State Department [official website] sent a report [text, PDF] to Congress indicating that Mexico was making progress in addressing human rights issues. report finds that Mexico is making progress in promoting police transparency, engaging civil society groups, investigating allegations of human rights abuses by police and military personnel, and prohibiting the use of coerced evidence in trial proceedings.