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On Tuesday, September 13 at 19:30 GMT:
Mexico’s Congress has voted to carry federal police forces below direct army management, in a transfer that critics say dramatically escalates the military’s position in civilian affairs and features.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador spearheaded the invoice to place the Nationwide Guard below the management of the nation’s army-led defence ministry – a volte-face on his earlier pledge to take the military out of policing and return many troopers to barracks.
The invoice cleared the Senate on September 9. However opponents say that placing the Nationwide Guard below direct army rule is one other instance of the creeping militarisation of the nation. Military and navy groups have lately been deployed in growing numbers to deal with duties that will normally be the accountability of civilian-led our bodies – from constructing airports and practice networks to stopping migrants and dealing with customs checks at seaports.
Whereas the Nationwide Guard is at the moment below nominal civilian management, about 80 p.c of its 118,000-strong drive come from army ranks. Lopez Obrador insists that placing the Nationwide Guard below formal army management will in the end assist Mexico deal with gang violence that has continued unabated.
However human rights teams against the fast-tracked invoice say the army will not be skilled within the sensitivities of neighborhood policing – and level out that the governmental Nationwide Human Rights Fee is inspecting greater than a thousand complaints of abuse by Nationwide Guard officers. They’re urging root-and-branch reforms of police forces, prosecutors and courts as a substitute.
On this episode of The Stream, we’ll have a look at what the invoice heralded by Lopez Obrador would imply for communities throughout Mexico if it turns into legislation, and ask what the growing visibility of the army in public life means for the nation.
On this episode of The Stream, we’re joined by:
Andalusia Soloff, @Andalalucha
Journalist
Ana Lorena Delgadillo, @analorenadp
Deputy Director, Basis for Justice
Catalina Perez Correa, @cataperezcorrea
Professor and Researcher, Middle for Analysis and Educating of Economics (CIDE)
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