Mexico names first woman to coordinate war on drugs

(File photo) Members of the National Guard remain near the crime scene where 24 people were killed in Irapuato, Guanajuato state, Mexico, on July 1, 2020. – An armed attack at a drug rehabilitation center in Irapuato, a town in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, left at least 24 dead and seven wounded on Wednesday, local authorities reported. (Photo by MARIO ARMAS / AFP)

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday nominated the country’s first female security minister in charge of coordinating the fight against drug cartels and other criminals.

Lopez Obrador offered the post to Rosa Icela Rodriguez, who currently oversees sea ports and merchant shipping, after Alfonso Durazo resigned to run for governor of Sonora state.

Rodriguez, a former journalist and close ally of Lopez Obrador, has not yet formally accepted the role as she is recovering from the coronavirus, the president said.

Lopez Obrador put Rodriguez in charge of supervising the ports in July as part of a strategy to fight drug trafficking, smuggling and corruption in customs.

As security minister, she would face one of the most complex jobs in the cabinet, in a country plagued by organized crime and cartel violence.

© Agence France-Presse