An iconic Mexican military commander was murdered in the streets of Polanco in Mexico City Friday.
General Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro is reviled by the Mexican left for his involvement in the Dirty War as commander of the Mexican Army garrison in Acapulco where, critics claim, he ordered the murder of hundreds of political opponents of Mexico's ruling party, charges of which he was later acquitted.
As dark as his military record was during the 1970s, his final legacy may well be a last, failed mission he had during the early part of Mexican President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa's war against Mexican drug cartels.
Rantburg.com correspondent Chris Covert examines the life of General Acosta Chaparro on Rantburg's Sunday Morning Coffee Pot.