The celebration of Independence Day on Friday had a special meaning for Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador because the National Guard is already under the command of the Army, an initiative that he promoted less than a month ago.
With the participation of the National Guard as the protagonist of the military parade, which took place in the center of the capital to commemorate the 212th anniversary of the beginning of Independence, the government celebrated with the new member of the Armed Forces.
Before a formation of several thousand soldiers, López Obrador thanked the Navy and the Army for their loyalty and affirmed that the National Guard will have as its mission “to guarantee public security with efficiency and respect for human rights.”
Defending the role of the military, the Secretary of Defense, General Luis Cresencio Sandoval, said in a speech that the armed forces “act at all times subordinate to civil power” and maintained that their behavior is “always attached to the current legal framework without aspirations or pretensions of any kind”.
Ignoring the concerns of the United Nations Interim High Commissioner for Human Rights and humanitarian organizations, the official majority in Congress last week approved a reform that allowed the National Guard to pass to the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) and be prepares to soon approve an initiative that will allow the military to remain on the streets until 2028.
Since its creation in 2019, the National Guard was managed by the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection.
Opponents and civil organizations have advanced that they will take legal action against the reform that they assure violates the constitution, which contemplates that public security must be under civilian control.
The debate on the participation of the military in security tasks is not new: since 2006, when the government decided to remove them from the barracks to confront criminal groups, different humanitarian organizations have warned about the risks of human rights violations that little Some time later they came true.
While the legal actions against the reform are finalized, the president continues with his plan to strengthen the Armed Forces, which he considers the key to confronting crime.
During his six-year term, which began in 2018, López Obrador has assigned the military an increasing number of tasks, including the construction of emblematic works -such as the new airport in the Mexican capital and a train in the south of the country- , the management of ports and airports and the distribution of vaccines.
The transfer of numerous powers, including public security, has strengthened the power of the military against other civilian corporations and has plunged Mexico into a process of “militarism,” Edith Olivares, executive director of Amnesty International Mexico, told The Associated Press. .
“We are changing that relationship of subordination of military power to civil power and rather the military power is acquiring more and more presence, more resources and more powers,” he added.
With the transfer of the personnel and financial resources of the National Guard to the Sedena, this unit will significantly increase its budget, which is one of the highest in the federal government, said Doria Vélez, research director of the civil organization National Observatory. Citizen, which is dedicated to the evaluation of security policies.
In the 2023 expenditure budget project, it was estimated that Sedena will receive some 5.6 billion dollars, while some 3.2 billion dollars were allocated for the National Guard, amounts that exceed by more than 2% those received this year.
Given the criticism that has arisen against the transfer of the National Guard to the Army and the extension of the permanence of the military outside the barracks, López Obrador ruled out that this represents the militarization of Mexico and assured that what he seeks is “the healthy growth of what should be the main institution of public security in the country”.
While López Obrador is confident that the integration into the armed forces of the more than 110,000 members of the National Guard -of which 80% came from the Army and the Navy- will allow strengthening the fight against criminal organizations, between analysts and activists raise doubts.
“We have had the armed forces on the streets of Mexico for 16 years and it has clearly been a failed strategy in terms of worsening security in the country in an abysmal way,” said Olivares, adding that homicides increased during that period. 218% and disappearances have increased, which now exceed 105,000.
Despite the extensive deployment of the National Guard, insecurity in Mexico has not diminished. In August, groups of criminals and members of drug cartels carried out attacks in five states of the country in a week, burning businesses and killing bystanders.
Vélez considered it worrying that the government continues to bet on strengthening the military forces while state and municipal public security, which is the one that is on the streets every day and deals directly with criminals, is weakening.
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