Mexico’s Attorney General Arturo Chavez resigned Thursday, in the face of  harsh criticism from women’s groups that he did little to solve hundreds of rapes and murders plaguing the state of Chihuahua.
President Felipe Calderon announced the resignation but did not elaborate on the decision.
Marisela Morales has been nominated to

take Chavez’s place.  She would be the first woman to fill the post in Mexico’s history if confirmed by the Mexican Senate.
Chavez, who was nominated in 2009, is the second attorney general to resign since Calderon took office in 2006.
More than 35,000 people have been killed in cartel violence during the Calderon presidency.