Briefly: Calderon aims to cement legacy with last address

MEXICO CITY — President Felipe Calderon said Monday that he has improved the rule of the law and armored the economy in his six years in office.

Mr. Calderon said his administration has made the largest security investment in Mexico’s history, purging and growing the federal police and reforming laws to better coordinate security operations.

Mr. Calderon delivered his final state-of-the-nation speech Monday, trying to cement his legacy as the president who stabilized the economy and took on the country’s entrenched organized crime groups, putting Mexico on the road to rule of law.

In his report to Congress, Mr. Calderon said the economy is “in a phase of growth” thanks to responsible public finances.

He also said foreign direct investment totaled $126 billion during his administration, reflecting “growing dynamism and competitiveness of our economy.”

Agents in attack were chasing kidnapper

MEXICO CITY — A Mexican official says that the 12 agents under arrest for shooting at a U.S. Embassy vehicle and wounding two U.S. employees inside were investigating a kidnapping.

Federal Police regional security chief Luis Cardenas said the kidnapping occurred hours before the agents fired at the SUV that was carrying the two Americans and a Mexican navy captain.

The Mexican navy said the three were headed to a navy training site in a rural area south of Mexico City.

Mr. Cardenas made the comments Sunday after announcing the detention of David Rosales, the man he said was the leader of the Gulf drug cartel in the northern state of Nuevo Leon.

He said the suspect, known as “Commander Devil,” coordinated attacks on bars in the city of Monterrey that killed several people.

CANADA

Separatists lead in Quebec campaign

MONTREAL — With separatists in Canada’s Quebec province poised to wrest power from the ruling Liberals in a provincial election Tuesday, the real contest is for second place, according to the most recent poll Sunday.

After nine years in the opposition, the latest figures show Pauline Marois’ Parti Quebecois winning with 33 percent of the vote.

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