MEXICO CITY (EFE).— The think tank México Evalúa presented a report reflecting that in 2022, the states in the country whose security depended on the Armed Forces had an annual homicide rate of 80 per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 34 per 100,000 in states with civilians at the helm.
The report, entitled “The Other Militarization, Armed Forces at the Head of State Public Security Institutions in Mexico, 2011-2024,” highlights the increasing importance of the role of the military forces, especially the Navy (Semar), as guarantors of security in many of the country’s federal entities.
“There is a high turnover in the heads of state public security secretariats, which makes it difficult to maintain long-term security policies,” the report explains, citing that states such as Michoacán and Guerrero, two of the most violent in the country, had an average of at least one different head per year.
According to the document, entities with security secretaries from the Armed Forces “exhibit, on average, higher rates of homicides of men compared to those entities with secretariats headed by civilians or career police officers.”
This confirms that the homicide rate is higher where the Armed Forces are in power.
The report found that the rate in those entities where security is controlled by the military is more than double that in those where the police or civilians are in charge.
“Every day, on average, 85 people are murdered in Mexico,” said Estefanía Vela, director of the feminist organization Intersecta, who highlights “the failure of security policies.”
According to Estefanía, “in Mexico there is a process in which civil institutions voluntarily cede power to the military” to which she adds that military logic is “permeating” the way administrations proceed.
The state of the various police forces, which in many places have been replaced by the army or the Semar, and the perception that Mexicans have of them were also discussed.
“The institution that people perceive as most corrupt is the police,” said the director of Intersecta, who attributed this lack of confidence to the different public exposure they suffer compared to the military.
To this end, 2020 was used as an example, a year in which the number of people arrested by state or municipal police was 2.5 million compared to only 12,000 arrested by the military, which does not contribute to the good opinion of the former.
Army Total Control
During López Obrador’s six-year term, the Armed Forces acted in various areas.
With “extra” tasks
From 2018 to 2024, the Armed Forces have not only been dedicated to security tasks. They have been given control of projects such as the new Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), the Olmeca refinery in Dos Bocas, in the state of Tabasco, and the Mayan Train. According to the reforms approved by the Mexican Congress in 2022, the army will continue to support these tasks for another four years.
#Militarization #reduce #violence
2024-08-01 10:07:41
