Deputies approve ruling that returns GN command to Sedena

Mexico City. The Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies approved the ruling that returns the operational and administrative command of the National Guard (GN) to the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), and allows a division general to head said security agency.

In the debate, the opposition warned that the aforementioned proposal “perfects the militarization of the country,” while Morena and its allies replied that in this way crime is fought with greater cooperation measures, and with the possibility that the GN conducts its own investigations.

The reform seeks to reverse the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, from April of last year, which ordered the withdrawal of the operational and administrative command of the National Guard from the Army and returning it, no later than January 1 of this year, to the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection.

The draft text states that “in Mexico, organized crime has had profound effects on the economic, political and social life of the country, particularly since 2007.”

In addition, organized crime groups “participate in the production, trafficking and marketing of illicit drugs; kidnapping and extortion; human trafficking, forced recruitment and exploitation of children, adolescents and migrants; theft of hydrocarbons” and other illegal activities “that seriously disrupt individual and collective rights and freedoms, and erode the social fabric.”

The text also points out that “on December 11, 2006, then-President Felipe Calderón initiated the security strategy known as the ‘war on drugs,’ in which he used the Armed Forces to confront organized crime. This failed strategy was developed without any respect for human rights and without considering the victims, whom the Calderón administration described as collateral damage.”

In contrast, the text noted, “the current administration has established a new Public Security Policy based on respect for human rights, peace-building and public security with highly professional and trained police forces, which could only be obtained from personnel of military origin to form the GN.”

The initiative states that, “in order to confront crime, the GN must have operational dynamics at the level required to protect the population,” which is why it should be placed under the control of the Sedena. In addition, it grants investigative powers to the GN.

During the discussion of the issue, PAN member Jorge Triana warned that the ruling represented a “new attempt to perfect the militarization” of public security, while warning that the GN “is administratively a disaster,” because its officers are paid by one institution, but are guided by the protocols of another.

For his part, the coordinator of the PRI bench in San Lázaro, Rubén Moreira, stressed that with the reform proposal sent by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador last February, “the Army is being weakened,” since a large number of its elements are sent to the GN.

At the same time, the new Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, is being left without personnel and without room to operate, he said.

Conversely, Morena’s vice coordinator, Leonel Godoy, said that the reform seeks “a new model to combat crime in general, not just organized crime,” and insisted that there is no militarization, because it is the SSPC – with civilian command – that “will formulate the security strategy, the respective programs, policies and actions.”

The proposal, he said, “is civilian. With military discipline, yes, but civilian, not like Felipe Calderón, who took out the Army without any rules,” which made the armed institution the main violator of human rights in the country.

Greater coordination between GN and local governments

Following the approval of the general opinion, by 22 votes in favor and 18 against, a total of 22 reservations were presented, which were rejected, with the exception of the one presented by Salvador Caro Cabrera (Morena), so that state and municipal governments have greater collaboration with the GN.

In arguing against the reform, PAN and Movimiento Ciudadano deputies highlighted the “contradictions of the Calderonist left,” which previously opposed the participation of the Armed Forces in public security tasks, and now defends it.

“In fact, they are eliminating the Secretariat for Security and Citizen Protection, which will be a shell and will only be left with prevention tasks. In 2017 (the deputies who are now the majority) were against militarization and now they think completely differently,” Triana complained.

In response, Morena member Marcos Rosendo Medina exemplified that in countries like Italy, Spain, France and others there are security forces “with military training and police functions,” and emphasized: “I categorically reject the accusations that the Army is a monster. They forget that it is an institution formed by women and men of the people and at the service of the people.”

After more than five hours of discussion, the resolution was approved by 22 votes in favor and 17 against.