Mexican Official Replaced Amid Charges of Corruption

Mexico’s controversial attorney general was replaced Tuesday after charges of corruption and human rights violations had escalated to the point that a major opposition party was calling for his impeachment.

Enrique Alvarez del Castillo, 67, was removed from the post five days after a drug war in a prison in the border town of Matamoros left 18 inmates dead. His successor is Ignacio Morales Lechuga, previously city attorney for Mexico City.

The announcement, made by President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, gave no reason for the change.

But Alvarez del Castillo--controversial since his appointment in December, 1988, at the beginning of the Salinas administration--was clearly becoming a political liability.

Last month, bugging devices were found in the offices of the National Human Rights Commission, which has been critical of the federal judicial police and which reports to the attorney general. A joint investigation of the commission and attorney general’s office found no evidence as to who planted the devices, but suspicions have lingered.

Earlier this month, the main, left-wing opposition to the Institutional Revolutionary Party--the Revolutionary Democratic Party--had presented the Chamber of Deputies with a bill of impeachment for Alvarez del Castillo.

“The human rights violations committed under his authority are so severe as to constitute malfeasance,” said Samuel del Villar, the opposition party spokesman on human rights issues.