Mexican President Felipe Calderon reached deep into his conservative political party Monday to name a new interior minister, replacing the senior official killed last week in a still-unexplained plane crash.
Fernando Gomez Mont, a prominent criminal lawyer and son of one of the founders of the National Action Party, or PAN, will assume the second-most important government post at an especially critical time in Mexican history. A raging drug war has claimed thousands of lives, and political forces are badly divided over economic reform and a host of pressing issues.Full_Story