MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Mexican President Felipe Calderon yesterday fired his interior minister, who angered political allies and upset Mexicans for downplaying the deaths of tens of thousands of people in the nation’s drug war.
Calderon said he will replace Fernando Gomez Mont with Jose Francisco Blake, Calderon’s fourth interior minister since he took office in December 2006.
Blake until yesterday was a senior official in the government of Baja California state, which borders California.
The switch of the No. 2 in the government is not expected to change the government’s military-backed drug war but appeared aimed at winning support for labor and security reforms.
Gomez Mont’s exit followed a falling out with Calderon over the ruling conservative National Action Party’s controversial alliances with left-wing parties in state and gubernatorial elections on July 4.