Mexico City's Police Chief, Joel Ortega, resigned today under pressure from the city's mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, to reconstruct the police force. Ortega's firing is a direct result of a botched police operation to catch underage drinking at a nightclub, which prompted a stampede that killed 12 people in late June (see story). Mexico D.F.'s human rights commission recently released a report that concluded the tragedy occurred from bad planning and excessive use of police force, implicating Ortega.
