| Federal Investigations Agency Agencia Federal de Investigación |
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| Abbreviation | AFI |
| Shield of the Federal Investigations Agency | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | November 1, 2001 to May 29, 2009 |
| Preceding agency | Federal Judicial Police |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Federal agency | Mexico |
| Constituting instrument | Decree of the Union Executive on November 1, 2001 |
| General nature |
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| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Mexico City |
| Website | |
| http://www.pgr.gob.mx/ (Spanish) | |
The Federal Investigations Agency (in Spanish: Agencia Federal de Investigación, AFI) was a Mexican federal agency that existed to fight corruption and organized crime, through an executive order by President Vicente Fox Quesada. The AFI replaced an earlier agency, the Federal Judicial Police. The agency was directed by the Attorney General's Office (PGR) and may have been partly modeled on the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Allegedly, the AFI was differentiated from other Mexican law enforcement agencies to prevent possible "contamination" or corruption by senior personnel of other government organizations.
AFI agents in action often wore masks to prevent themselves from being identified by gang leaders. While AFI agents were uniformed when carrying out raids, "street-level" uniformed federal police patrols and transport terminal security were handled by the Federal Police.
Public Safety Secretary Genaro García Luna hoped to reform the nation's long-troubled police. Among other steps, he consolidated several agencies into a Federal Police force of nearly 25,000.[1]
On 29th May 2009, the Agency was reorganized as the
Federal Ministerial Police (or PFM, in Spanish: Policía Federal Ministerial) under the leadership of Nicandra Castro Escarpulli.
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Some agents of the Federal Investigations Agency were believed to work as enforcers for the Sinaloa Cartel. The Attorney General's Office reported in December 2005 that one-fifth of its officers are under investigation for criminal activity, and that nearly 1,500 of AFI's 7,000 agents were under investigation for suspected criminal activity and 457 were facing charges.[2][3]
In November 2008, Rodolfo de la Guardia García, the No. 2 official in the AFI (from 2003–2005), was placed under arrest as investigators looked into the possibility that he leaked information to the Sinaloa Cartel in return for monthly payments.[4]
On 29 May 2009, the Federal Investigations Agency was restructured and renamed the 'Ministerial Federal Police'.[5]
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