MEXICO CITY (AP) — Long before Mexico came to power, Andrés Manuel López Obrador demanded that the military return to the barracks. Now, the president has changed his mind and, contrary to criticism, wants the armed forces to be on the streets in security work, as he has done for the past 16 years.
Following strong criticism from humanitarian organizations against the announcement made earlier in the week that a presidential decree or bill for the National Guard would be issued for the National Defense Ministry to pass, López Obrador said in his morning conference call that the legal demand Improvements will be made to extend the military’s stability on the roads, which according to a temporary provision of the Constitution is only authorized until March 2024.
The president’s decision to keep the military on the streets has been questioned by analysts and opponents, who believe that his position contrasts with the criticism he has made for years of security policies implemented by former President Felipe Calderón, who Governed from 2006-2012. Armed forces to confront drug cartels, a decision that led to a bloody war and several hundred deaths.
Amnesty International expressed concern over the president’s statement on Friday. Educator Edith Olivares, executive director of AI Mexico, told The Associated Press that it was “very serious” that the government failed to meet a commitment more than two years ago to withdraw the armed forces along with civil society organizations and civilians Is. roads and return them to the barracks in 2024.
Olivares stated that the military’s involvement in public security work violates all international standards on human rights and public safety, and recalled that the two UN bodies and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called for Mexico to withdraw the armed forces from the public. is invoked. security work.
“The armed forces have not given us public security. We live in a much more dangerous country,” the AI director said, referring to the acts of violence this week in the states of Jalisco, Guanajuato and Chihuahua, which killed and injured more than a dozen people.
For her part, María Luisa Aguilar, Coordinator of the International Field of Miguel Agustin Pro Juárez Human Rights Center, affirmed that various humanitarian organizations have documented how the presence of armed forces in public security operations has increased human rights violations and how These cases are generally not investigated, sanctioned and there is no accountability.
Aguilar told the AP that it is worrying that instead of thinking about strengthening the judicial system, there is talk of giving more functions to the military “whom we know are opaque, that they are not held accountable.” And many more investigations are still going on. Let’s delve into it.” in the context of human rights”.
Both the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and other humanitarian organizations have expressed concern that the military carries out public security functions in Mexico, and that the National Guard, which is coordinated by the Secretary of Security and Civil Protection, of the Ministry of Defense. Come under control, and have called for strengthening civil defense institutions.
“You have to think well. The term of office should be extended. That which establishes a transitory … A constitutional reform, that is the norm, but we have to find a way because they are stopping us,” said the ruler, assuring That he wanted the military forces to live under one on the streets. Maintenance legal.
In what stipulated in the fifth tranche of reforms to the constitution created in 2019, which included the creation of the National Guard, the armed forces could remain in public security functions until 2024, when the six-year term ends. Lopez Obrador.
The president’s announcement comes amid escalation of violence in Mexico that has forced the government to send thousands of troops to various states in the country to bolster security and combat the actions of criminal groups and drug cartels.
