( Spanish) — President Andrés Manuel López Obrador affirmed this Wednesday that in September 2024 he will present a new constitutional reform initiative so that the National Guard depends on the Secretary of Defense (Sedena), after the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico declared a proposal unconstitutional in this sense.
“On September 1 of next year, I will present a new initiative for constitutional reform to insist that the National Guard depend on the Ministry of Defense,” López Obrador said during his usual morning conference, emphasizing that by then he will have assumed office. new Congress “The new legislature is going to enter, which I hope with all my soul will be integrated by the will of the people, in a democratic manner, with a qualified majority of deputies and senators linked to our fourth transformation,” he said in this regard.
On Tuesday, the majority of the members of the plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico defined that the transfer of operational and administrative control of the National Guard to the Sedena is unconstitutional and invalidated a constitutional reform in that sense, which was approved by Congress in September 2022.
In his message this Wednesday, López Obrador also targeted the ministers of the Supreme Court, stating that they acted in a “factional manner” by not allowing the National Guard to come under the control of the Sedena.
“Eight ministers of the Supreme Court, with the exception of three, acted in a partisan manner yesterday and not with legal criteria, but political ones, defending the old practices of the authoritarian and corrupt regime,” he said.
In August 2022, López Obrador promoted a constitutional reform with the aim of consolidating the National Guard and maintaining its “discipline and professionalism”, according to what he said in his fourth government report in September 2022.
“And above all so that it does not become corrupted, as happened with the old Federal Police,” he said, ruling out that the change sought militarization, one of the points that his critics pointed out.
These legislative changes underwent changes in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, but were finally approved in September of last year. That reform was the one that the majority of the members of the Court declared unconstitutional on Tuesday.
With information from Florencia Trucco and Natalia Cano from en Español.
