Mexico's Chihuahua governor says federal help needed to fight cartels

March 28 (UPI) -- Javier Corral, the governor of Mexico's Chihuahua state, said his government does not have the resources to combat organized crime and accused the ruling party of abandoning opposition party politicians.

Corral on Monday said the PRI, or Institutional Revolutionary Party, to which President Enrique Peña Nieto belongs, has failed opposition governments nationwide, including Corral's own National Action Party. He said the PRI wants to make the security situation in Chihuahua a political issue to distract the public from the PRI's own failures.

Corral's comments come days after the slaying of Miroslava Breach, a local journalist dedicated to the connections between organized crime and state politicians who was shot dead in her car on Thursday outside of her home in Chihuahua City. The gunmen left a note at the crime scene reading: "For being a loud-mouth."

Following Breach's killing, Mexican Interior Secretary Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong‎ said the security situation in Chihuahua has "greatly decomposed," suggesting it occurred under rule by opposition parties and adding that there is dialogue with Corral to allow federal authorities to "enter the state" to avoid the state's "decomposition."

The Chihuahua state borders the United States and is used by criminal organizations to transport drugs through the border, Enfoque Noticias reported.

Corral criticized Osorio Chong‎'s comments as "unfair and irresponsible," adding that Mexico has decomposed under Osorio Chong and the PRI's leadership. He said he had previously requested the government's help to fight organized crime.

"In Chihuahua, we face organized crime alone," Corral said.

The Juárez Cartel is headquartered in Chihuahua state and the Sinaloa Cartel, though based in Sinaloa state, uses routes through Chihuahua.