The National Guard fights irregular migration and drug trafficking. The unit is now placed under the control of the armed forces. Human rights activists are concerned: there are repeated accusations against soldiers.
Mexico has decided to militarize public security at the national level through a constitutional amendment. Despite criticism from human rights activists, 86 senators voted for the armed forces to take command of the National Guard – and not the civilian Ministry of Public Security as before. The unit is responsible, among other things, for the fight against the powerful drug cartels and against irregular migration.
Before the vote in the Senate, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concerns about the possible effects of the reform. Soldiers have repeatedly been accused of human rights violations in the past. In future, the National Guard will only consist of soldiers with police training. The military will also take over investigations into crimes.
The National Guard was created in 2019 through a constitutional reform as a civilian police unit and replaced the federal police, which was considered extremely corrupt. However, it consisted mostly of soldiers from the start. Last year, the integration of the unit into the military failed due to constitutional concerns. Since September 1, the party of left-wing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who ends his term of office next Monday, has had the required two-thirds majority in Congress, with which the reform has now been implemented.
Source: Stern
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