Mexican government says official at head of federal police force resigns; no reason given

Manuel Mondragon (Wikipedia photo)

MEXICO CITY – The Mexican official in charge of the nation’s federal police force has resigned.

Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong says Manuel Mondragon is stepping down as head of the National Security Commission but will continue to work with the department on strategy.

Osorio Chong announced the resignation Sunday on his Twitter account but say why Mondragon quite.

Mondragon was in charge of forming a new gendarmerie proposed by President Enrique Pena Nieto to fight common crime. The 5,000-officer gendarmerie was supposed to have been on the streets by the end of last year but Mondragon announced last summer the force wouldn’t be ready until mid-2014.

Mondragon has said the gendarmerie would not replace the federal police, who would be assigned to fighting high-impact crime such as drug trafficking and kidnappings.