More on Fernández

More than a day has passed, and as far as I know, neither Germán Martínez nor Felipe Calderón has made any sort of declaration about Mauricio Fernández. Calderón's former pesonal secretary César Nava defended Fernández, saying that the PAN doesn't make pacts with organized crime. (In contrast, the PRI has predictably and correctly called for an investigation.) If they continue to remain silent, it will be all but impossible to accept the idea that Calderón's PAN has the market cornered on honest crime-fighting. 

Fernández says that there was no pact between himself and the Beltrán Leyvas, that his quotes were taken out of context, and that they are the product of political feud with Reporte Índigo's director. Perhaps so, but the quotes from the audio are pretty damning: 

Either we set up this security apparatus, that [the Beltrán Leyvas] aren't against, because it's for their own families...what I am going to try to do, at this point I realize that it's not as hard as I imagined, because the Beltrán Leyvas themselves are in agreement.

He also mentions that the sale of drugs in San Pedro won't be a huge problem, "as long as it's not obviously being sold." Even if Fernández's explanation is true, I'm not sure that's enough. A standard has to be set under which any appearance of collusion with organized crime won't be tolerated by party leaders. Given the level of government corruption, the goal for an honest politician and the demand of the Mexican public has to be a level of clarity that is beyond reproach, and beyond misunderstanding.