López Obrador announced that the National Guard will pass, by decree, under the control of the National Defense and will restructure the functions of the SSPC.
On October 15, 2020, the United Mexico Against Crime (MUCD) organization announced that it had won an injunction against the militarist agreement, which is intended to regulate the use of the armed forces in public security tasks.
How was this protection against the militarist agreement given?
This protection against the militarist agreement occurred after a district judge confirmed that it does not comply with the objective of limiting the participation of the military in police tasks and that it also violates the Constitution, the decisions of the Supreme Court, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
This case, promoted by the MUCD with the aim of preventing “further abuses against the population and achieving better regulation of the actions of the Armed Forces,” was also supported by the judge, according to the organization, because he considered that the president did not justify its use in security tasks nor did it guarantee controls to limit its actions.
“ The judge considered that arguing that the National Guard is under construction is not a sufficient justification to indiscriminately use the military and marines in public security, nor does it constitute an extraordinary situation that allows concluding that their participation will have clear objectives, determined times and places of action. specific”, MUCD points out in a statement.
What else did the judge decide for the militaristic agreement?
MUCD also reported that the judge decided that the agreement does not meet the requirements of temporality and geographical delimitation established by the Constitution.
In addition, he warned that by ordering the “coordination” between civilians and the military, the requirement of subordination to the civil forces that the constitutional text orders is violated.
The organization adds that the requirement to strictly regulate the participation of the military in public security tasks was established with the aim of preventing abuses and violations of Human Rights.
“For this reason, at MUCD we urge the president to abrogate this agreement and the Congress of the Union to issue the legislation that allows us to protect the population and build a safer, fairer, and more peaceful Mexico,” they finally declare.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reported this Monday that through a decree he will cede control of the National Guard (GN) to the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) while undertaking a restructuring of the powers of the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), headed by Rosa Icela Rodríguez.
“I tell you in advance that by agreement of the Presidency the security that has to do with the National Guard passes, completely, it already passes to the Secretary of Defense. The operational issue is already in charge of the Defense”, reported the federal president in his press conference from the National Palace.
“But I am going to issue a decree so that the National Guard passes to the Defense and we only wait for the result of the reform. I anticipate that on September 16, the Military Parade will be predominantly oriented to public security and the main actors will be those of the National Guard”, he said.
With this change, the SSPC will no longer have operational activities in the field of Public Security and its job will be to prosecute crime, clean up prisons, and also coordinate justice actions to prevent torture.
The passage of the National Guard, which was created to be a civil body, to the Sedena, must be discussed in the Congress of the Union to modify its constitutional framework, however, given the need for agreements, López Obrador said that within his faculties will have to act within the margins of what the law allows him to guarantee the results in Public Security.
For this reason, he affirmed, that regardless of what the legislators decide, regarding the restructuring of the SSPC and the transfer of the National Guard to the Army, he will launch a decree or a reform of the secondary law so that these changes in the public administration are accelerated.
“I am going to send the agreement to the dependencies this week and I am going to restructure the Ministry of Public Security and I am going to include this special function (of justice) in the Ministry of Public Security. Because I have been issuing pardons, amnesties, giving freedom instructions for a long time and we are not moving forward and of course, it is not just a matter of the Executive, ”he detailed.
Asked if this decision lacks democratic attributes, the President of the Republic affirmed that he will never violate the Constitution, but must act to advance the results and in the face of the paralysis that the opposition has decreed in the Congress of the Union.
“Yes, because if I do not violate the Constitution, which I will never do, there is no problem, I must use the legal margins to advance, first resolve, deliver good accounts to the people and I have an opponent that does not help at all, just as before they approved everything to impose the regime of corruption.
“Conservative legislators approved everything that harmed the people, now everything is the opposite, they reject everything that benefits the people and are in favor of what it means to maintain privileges for minorities, we saw it very clearly with the rejection of the reform to the electricity law”, he added.
