MEXICO CITY, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Mexican President Vicente Fox said Monday he will fire two police officials in response to the lynching of three federal police agents Nov. 23.
Fox gave Mexico City Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador a deadline of 72 hours to find a candidate to replace the city's police chief, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon. Fox also ordered the dismissal of the commissioner of the Federal Preventive Police, Jose Luis Figueroa.
The firings of both police officials was the latest action by the federal government in response to the lynching of the three police agents and the death of two plainclothes federal agents in Mexico City's San Juan Ixtayopan area.
The three agents were tracking the movement of drug dealers, but were mistaken for kidnappers and subsequently beaten and doused with paint thinner before being burned alive. One of the agents was rescued by police just before he was to be set ablaze.
After the lynching, Casaubon and Figueroa both denied responsibility for the events.
