mexico's military gets approval to take over national guard, but critics worry it's been given too much power
2024-09-27
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according to a report by china news agency on september 25, citing mexico's "universo", mexican president-elect claudia sheinbaum will hold an inauguration ceremony in mexico city on october 1.
less than a week before the current mexican president andrés manuel lópez obrador (andrés manuel lópez obrador) leaves office, on the 25th local time, the mexican senate voted in favor of 86 to 42 the negative vote approved a constitutional reform bill backed by lopez that would have allowed the military to take over the national guard. the bill had previously passed the house of representatives. the mexican media "yucatan times" reported that the senate's passage of the reform bill was "another legislative victory" achieved by lopez a week before leaving office. critics believe the move would give the military too much power.
according to previous reports, lopez has said that the national guard will operate more efficiently under the command of the military. mexican president-elect sheinbaum said that outside concerns about this change were "baseless" and said that human rights in mexico will continue to be respected and that the country's military will continue to be subject to public supervision.
the reform bill comes as organized crime violence is raging in mexico. gang clashes between drug cartels in the northern mexican state of sinaloa have left at least 53 people dead in recent weeks.
ernesto lopez portillo, director of the citizen security program at the iberoamerican university in mexico city, said in an interview with bloomberg that the new bill will allow the armed forces to fully participate in public security affairs. until then, the armed forces had been allowed to participate "only in exceptional circumstances".
"this is a decisive step in the militarization of the (national guard). this decision carries huge risks. the accountability and transparency of the armed forces have long been considered to have serious flaws." lopez portillo analyzed.
shortly after taking office at the end of 2018, in order to alleviate public concerns about the military's involvement in public security affairs, lopez ordered the establishment of the national guard, which was commanded by the administrative agency department of public security. in 2022, lopez began trying to have the army take over the national guard. the senate passed the bill with a vote of 71 in favor and 51 against, but the supreme court ruled that the bill was unconstitutional in 2023. the associated press previously reported that lopez had strengthened ties with the military during his administration. compared with other previous presidents, lopez has transferred more economic and law enforcement powers to the military, including railway and tourism infrastructure construction, customs duties and airport operations.
bloomberg reported that lopez’s party, the national renewal movement (movimiento regeneración nacional, also known as morena), currently controls more than two-thirds of the seats in the country’s house of representatives and nearly two-thirds of the seats in the senate. this also means that lopez and his political allies can achieve their political goals through constitutional amendments. on the 15th of this month, the judicial reform bill supported by lopez was passed and officially came into effect, making mexico the first country in the world where all judges are democratically elected. opponents and legal experts, however, worry that elected judges will end the political independence of the judiciary while undermining investor confidence.
the paper reporter huang yuehan
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