MEXICO CITY — Mexican security forces swept into President Felipe Calderon's home state of Michoacan on Tuesday and arrested a total of 27 mayors and other government officials, the largest operation to target politicians in Mexico's bloody drug war.
The officials, including 10 mayors, are being investigated for alleged ties to drug traffickers and other organized crime syndicates that in effect control large sections of Michoacan, the federal attorney general's office said.
Michoacan Gov. Leonel Godoy, in a brief, curt appearance before reporters, confirmed the arrests and said he had not been notified ahead of time.
Those detained include a key advisor to Godoy, a judge and several top regional public security officials, the attorney general's office said. Most were taken to Mexico City for questioning after being rounded up during the morning from their homes, offices and city halls.
Julio Cesar Godoy, the governor's brother and a congressional candidate, was questioned Tuesday by the army as part of the operation but was not arrested, the brother told a Michoacan newspaper.
Although Mexican authorities have frequently arrested corrupt security agents in drug-related cases, this is the first time they have gone after such a large number of elected officials. The sweep was significant because it represents an effort to hit the political cover that the traffickers enjoy, though it may not make much of a dent in the smuggling network, analysts said.
Michoacan is the base for a fast-growing, extremely violent drug-trafficking organization known as La Familia. The group, which in the last year has expanded its operations into three other Mexican states, is considered especially adept at infiltrating local governments by buying or scaring off mayors or members of city councils and police departments.
"Everything is so corrupt here, from top to bottom, the [federal] government had to show it was doing something," Reginaldo Sandoval, president of the state branch of the small Labor Party, said in a telephone interview from Morelia, the capital of Michoacan.
At least 83 of Michoacan's 113 municipalities are mixed up at some level with narcos, a Mexican intelligence source told The Times this month. The source, not authorized to talk to the press, spoke on condition of anonymity.
