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 MEXICO CITY (AP) - Soldiers waging a nationwide offensive against drug traffickers will get a pay hike of nearly 50 percent this year in a bid to insulate them from corruption, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced Monday.
The increase is the latest move by Calderon to deal with corruption in Mexican law enforcement ranks, where drug traffickers routinely buy off low-paid officers to protect their smuggling routes.
Since taking power in December, Calderon has sent more than 24,000 soldiers and federal police to areas ravaged by drug violence, including Acapulco, Tijuana and the western state of Michoacan. Calderon has also extradited four cartel kingpins to the United States.
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