Mexico's elected president to seek negotiated peace against drug war

Diego Oré

MEXICO (Reuters) – Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the elected president of Mexico, unveiled Friday a plan to fight against crime

The concept of "transitional justice" is part of the strategy of Security of the new government, said Olga Sánchez, future interior minister, in an interview with Reuters before his team reveals the plan.

Transitional justice involves leniency for those who confess crimes, truth commissions to investigate atrocities and compensation of victims.

"It will not be just an amnesty, but a law that will reduce detention time." 19659006] "We will propose decriminalization, create truth commissions, tackle the causes of poverty, educate young people and work in the countryside to get them out of drugs."

Lopez Obrador, a leftist elected on Sunday, wants to rewrite the rules of the war on drugs, suggesting a negotiated peace and an amnesty for some people who are now targeted by security forces.

Sánchez said that the new government, which will take office on December 1, will soon reconsider the drug policies and the use of the army which, although it has captured some drug barons, could not prevent more than 200,000 homicides, in 2006.

(Additional report by Daina Beth Solomon)