Embarrassing

Five more of the arrestees of in last year's sweep of Michoacán officials were released, leaving the number of those remaining in jail at one, out of a total of 38 initially arrested. One of those released said that the arrests stemmed from a list of names found in a drug seizure, which could be a damning piece of evidence, or could be entirely circumstantial. Regardless of whether the reason for the collapse of the michoacanazo is the inability to build a case against guilty officials or the mass arrest of innocent officials, this episode is an utter embarrassment to the Calderón administration. Unfortunately, it's also an airtight demonstration to the millions of Mexicans who are suspicious of government declarations that the sky is blue that their skepticism is justified.