Mexican government statistics agency says it had to pay gangs to enter some towns to do census

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s government statistics agency says it had to pay gangs to enter some towns to do census work last year. The assistant director of the National Statistics Institute told a congressional committee that workers also were forced to hire criminals in order to carry out census interviews. Susana Pérez Cadena said one census worker was kidnapped while trying to do that works. She said the problem was worse in rural Mexico. Her committee appearance on Thursday came amid concerns based on anecdotal evidence that drug cartels and gangs are increasingly being left in charge of some parts of the country.