Mexico City’s New Police Chief Ousted

Just five days after his inauguration, the mayor of this capital faced his first scandal as a top police official was forced Wednesday to step down amid allegations that the officer was implicated in cases of torture and was linked to Tijuana drug traffickers.

Jesus Ignacio Carrola, Mexico City’s investigative police chief, denied the allegations, which had provoked a storm of protest from human rights groups, politicians and others.

But Carrola asked for a leave of absence Wednesday night “to dedicate the time necessary to clear the allegations that have been made . . . about his good name,” said the city’s new attorney general, Samuel del Villar. A leave of absence is often used as a face-saving measure in Mexico when officials are ousted.

The police scandal created a rocky start for Cardenas, the city’s first elected mayor.

Many citizens regard the popular leftist as an icon of honesty, but he has limited experience with law enforcement.

The case also revived fears that drug traffickers could take over some of the key institutions in Mexico, which is a major channel for cocaine and other narcotics entering the United States.

In February, Gen. Jose de Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, the nation’s anti-drug czar, was arrested on charges he was working with drug lords.

Early Wednesday, authorities revealed that Carrola resigned from the federal police last year after being placed on a list of officers scheduled to be purged for problems that included corruption and drug trafficking.

Further, Mexican official sources said he was linked to the powerful Tijuana drug cartel, a major supplier of cocaine to the United States.

In an interview at midday Wednesday, Carrola said he resigned from the federal police last year for “personal reasons”--not to avoid being fired. He insisted that the accusations against him were an attempt to halt his efforts to break up gangs of corrupt police and criminals in the capital.

The city attorney general said Wednesday night that Carrola had proved to be “one of the best Mexican policemen” in his short tenure as investigative police chief. But Mayor Cardenas acknowledged to reporters that public pressure against Carrola had grown too strong.

“We are conscious of the sensitivities of public opinion regarding these problems. At the same time, we will be very attentive that no injustices are committed,” Cardenas said after leaving his office.

Carrola was replaced by Mauricio Tornero, 31, a Mexico city justice official.

The allegations against Carrola began to swirl shortly after he was named Friday to head the city’s judicial police--about 4,500 agents who investigate local crimes such as murder and robbery. With crime soaring in the capital in recent years, infuriating citizens, the police chief was a key appointment.

The Mexico City daily Reforma reported Wednesday that Carrola was on the list of more than 700 police to be purged last year as part of a major cleanup of the infamously corrupt judicial police. Most of those on the list were sacked on Aug. 16, 1996.

Two senior Mexican officials confirmed to The Times that Carrola had been on the list. It was drawn up by the attorney general’s office, using intelligence gathered by Mexican and U.S. agencies.

The allegations against Carrola included a Mexican intelligence report dated May 1996 that placed him and other police officials at a meeting with the Arellano Felix brothers, alleged leaders of the Tijuana cartel, according to a senior official.

The meeting allegedly took place in a house in Tijuana’s exclusive Chapultepec section, the official said. Carrola served as federal police operations chief in Tijuana in 1996.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration also told Mexican authorities that Carrola transported money and provided protection for the Arellano Felixes, the Mexican officials added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In Washington, a DEA official declined comment.

In Wednesday’s interview, Carrola denied all the allegations.

He knew the Arellano Felixes, he said, “only by the photos we had when we were looking for them.”

“During the time I was in Tijuana, I worked with the U.S. agencies all the time,” the 38-year-old chief said. “If they had any doubt about me, I couldn’t have worked with them.”

Sheridan reported from Mexico City and O’Connor from Tijuana. Times staff writer Ronald J. Ostrow in Washington and Robert Randolph of The Times’ Mexico City Bureau contributed to this report.