A challenge for Mexican president as parents wait for news of missing students

(The Christian Science Monitor) As tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Mexico to call for the return of 43 students who went missing last month, many demanded an answer to one simple question: Who is in charge?

In the state of Guerrero, it's a simple question with no clear answer. The governor is under fire for doing little to stop rampant crime and violence; a local mayor and police officers are accused of being in cahoots with organized crime syndicates; and nine mass graves containing at least 28 scorched bodies—some possibly the missing students—were recently discovered.

Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto addressed the nation last Monday, more than a week after the college students were abducted in the city of Iguala. He promised a thorough investigation and expressed outrage. Despite his tardy response President Peña Nieto has avoided being pulled into the center of attacks on the government, a place his predecessor Felipe Calderón often found himself.