This October 1st, for the first time in the history of Mexico, a woman assumed the presidency: starting todayClaudia Sheinbaum also becomes the supreme commander of the country’s Armed Forces.
In line with her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the new president has rejected accusations of militarization surrounding the controversial constitutional reform, which puts the National Guard under military command, and has promised to continue the security policy of AMLO.
Militarization: yes or no?
For Javier Ulises Oliva, doctor in Political Science and professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), it is important to first define the concept of militarization which, in his opinion, occurs “when military power pressures civil power to obtain advantages ”.
Speaking to DW, The expert does not deny that there is “military visibility and prominence” in the country, but he insists that the Mexican presidents, in their capacity as supreme commanders of the Armed Forces, have ordered the military’s tasks.
“Yes, there is tangible progress in the influence of the Armed Forces in civilian life, but we still do not have the level of militarization that has occurred in other Latin American countries, which“They lived through dictatorships,” says security expert David Saucedo.
The interviewee points out that, today, the responsibilities of uniformed personnel no longer only cover security tasks, but, for example, also the construction of infrastructure works or the guarding of ports and airports.
Military, pillar of the 4T
In the opinion of political analyst Saucedo, López Obrador extended the power of the military to act as one of the pillars of continuity of his political project, the so-called Fourth Transformation: “It was not only a need to combat organized crime with the militia.”
Above all, under the AMLO Government, “we see the use of the military to carry out government tasks such as maritime, air and land communications, immigration control, construction of public infrastructure, conduct of tourism, education and even health activities,” details, in this regard, Lisa Sánchez, general director of the organization Mexico United Against Crime (MUCD), who speaks of a “militarization of the civil government”, since in her opinion “the FF. AA. “They have co-governed with the civil authorities.”
According to the National Inventory of the Militarized project, in the last ten yearsat least on 293 occasions they have been transferred to the FF. AA. functions, budgets and responsibilities that are typical of civil government.
Militarization process
However, militarization in Mexico, in the sense of an increase in the presence, power and powers of the FF. AA. Regarding the functions of civil authorities, it has been a gradual process.
After a successful demilitarization of politics after the Mexican Revolution in the 20th century, starting in the 1960s, the military began to take on tasks other than defense, such as drug control and social movements, Sánchez explains to DW.
The general director of MUCD also highlights the 1996 reform of former president Ernesto Zedillo, which allowed the secretaries of Defense and Navy to participate in the council that defined the national public security strategy.
At the operational level, the uniformed men were also incorporated into the federal police forces that emerged: from Zedillo’s Federal Preventive Police to López Obrador’s National Guard.
“There is a watershed in the 21st century, which is the declaration of frontal combat against organized crime in 2006 by Felipe Calderón,” says the MUCD expert, adding that the former president authorized the FF. AA. participate in operations against organized crime, gradually replacing public security forces.
National Guard Reform
With the approval of the reform to the National Guard last week, “federal security was completely militarized and that militarization was already constitutionalized as permanent,” Sánchez sentence. He adds that, to reverse this process, Sheinbaum would have to annul AMLO’s presidential decrees and obtain support for a constitutional reform that requires two-thirds of Congress and half plus one of the local Congresses.
Unlike the security expert, who predicts a “very dangerous future for Mexico in terms of democracy, transparency and accountability, human rights and politicization of the Armed Forces,” David Saucedo believes that, with Omar García Harfuch as new Secretary of Public Security, “the presence of the military in security tasks will be limited.”
The political analyst mentions, for example, that Claudia Sheinbaum is going to rescue the custody of ports and airports for civilians. In addition, the National Intelligence Center will once again be controlled by civilians.
“We will have to see if this is fulfilled,” Saucedo continues, “at least these are the manifest intentions of the Public Security Cabinet that takes office today.”
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