MEXICO CITY — An attorney who has defended bankers and businessmen in some of Mexico’s highest-profile cases rose to the powerful post of interior secretary Monday after a mysterious plane crash killed the government’s No. 2 leader.
President Felipe Calderon said he chose Fernando Gomez-Mont because the former lawmaker can build support in Congress for security reforms fortifying his fight against the nation’s powerful drug cartels.
Mexico’s interior secretary is the most powerful political figure after the president, the equivalent of a vice president and domestic security chief combined.
Gomez-Mont pledged to oversee an efficient and strong security Cabinet to confront increasingly violent drug cartels.
Gomez-Mont also must rebuild the Interior Department following last week’s crash of a Learjet that killed several officials, including former Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino, 37.
Officials still don’t know what caused the Nov. 4 crash, but have sent the plane’s two flight recorders to the United States for examination amid widespread speculation — but no evidence — that drug cartels were to blame for the crash.
