Mexico’s Attorney General has microchip fitted in arm

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s attorney general said this week that he had had a microchip inserted under the skin of one of his arms to give him access to a new crime database and also enable him to be traced if he is ever abducted.

Attorney General Rafael Macedo said a number of his staff had also been fitted with chips which will give them exclusive and secure access to a national, computerised database for crime investigators that went live on Monday. “It’s an area of high security, it’s necessary that we have access to this, through a chip, which what’s more is unremovable,” Macedo told reporters.”The system is here and I already have it.It’s solely for access, for safety and so that I can be located at any moment wherever I am,” he said, admitting the chip hurt “a little”.The chips would enable the wearer to be found anywhere inside Mexico, in the event of an assault or kidnapping, said Macedo.And kidnapping is a huge problem here.From 1992 to 2002, Mexico saw some 15 000 kidnappings, second only to war-torn Colombia, according to the Inter-American Development Bank.Crime-fighting is a dangerous business in Mexico, where police are notoriously corrupt and where political figures and investigative journalists sometimes risk assassination.Mexico has seen a surge in violent crime recently, with an onslaught of headlines about murders and kidnappings prompting Fox to pledge in a national broadcast to crack down on crime.In June a quarter of a million people protested the government’s failure to combat crime.- Nampa-AP”It’s an area of high security, it’s necessary that we have access to this, through a chip, which what’s more is unremovable,” Macedo told reporters.”The system is here and I already have it.It’s solely for access, for safety and so that I can be located at any moment wherever I am,” he said, admitting the chip hurt “a little”.The chips would enable the wearer to be found anywhere inside Mexico, in the event of an assault or kidnapping, said Macedo.And kidnapping is a huge problem here.From 1992 to 2002, Mexico saw some 15 000 kidnappings, second only to war-torn Colombia, according to the Inter-American Development Bank.Crime-fighting is a dangerous business in Mexico, where police are notoriously corrupt and where political figures and investigative journalists sometimes risk assassination.Mexico has seen a surge in violent crime recently, with an onslaught of headlines about murders and kidnappings prompting Fox to pledge in a national broadcast to crack down on crime.In June a quarter of a million people protested the government’s failure to combat crime.- Nampa-AP