Mexico’s Pena Nieto Taps Colombia Drug War Head for Cartel Fight

Mexican presidential frontrunner Enrique Pena Nieto named General Oscar Naranjo, the former head of the Colombian national police, as his top security adviser, pledging to launch a more effective fight against the nation’s drug cartels should he win the election in two weeks.

Sitting alongside Naranjo at a news conference in Mexico City last night, Pena Nieto also said he plans to work with the U.S., which assisted in Colombia’s assault on organized crime organizations, to improve security on both sides of the border. Naranjo helped engineer the crackdown that led to the demise of Medellin cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, and Pena Nieto credited him for reducing the homicide rate in Colombia.