It is reported this morning that President Hipolito Mejia is planning to veto the decision announced earlier this week as part of the new law on police reform that would transfer some duties from the transport police force AMET to the command of the general police. AMET director General Pedro de Jesus Candelier, who is opposed to several items included in the reform law, welcomed the President’s stance. Candelier thanked the President, saying he had made “a wise and brave” decision. Hoy’s main editorial applauds the President’s position: “We think he has done the right thing in not approving this distortion of the original police reform bill.. Thursday’s newspapers carried diverse reactions. Writing in Hoy newspaper, Rafael Molina Morillo says that AMET “managed to create an image of discipline, firmness and incorruptibility never achieved by the police, and will now lose its independence in the blink of an eye.” Morillo brands this decision a retrograde step, and asks if AMET has worked better than the police ever did, why should it not be the other way round – with the police going under the command of AMET? The Diario Libre, for its part, has said that the creation of AMET was a foolish extravagance, and that the problems in the traffic situation are caused by the drivers themselves and the poor transport infrastructure: road signs, traffic lights, and the large number of dilapidated vehicles allowed on the roads. “Before wasting so much money on a type of police force that does not even exist in the developed world, it would make more sense to impose stricter licensing requirements, provide independent electricity supply to traffic lights and prohibit vehicles in poor condition, while ensuring that the police impose the traffic laws.”