La Cartita - News from Mexico

Mexican Military Set To Formally Have Police Powers: 'Ley De Seguridad Interior'

Mexican Military Set To Formally Have Police Powers: 'Ley De Seguridad Interior' (12/12/2017)

La Cartita --- The Mexican military is lobbying through the executive branch and Mexican senate to gain police powers to control the country. The plan is held as an initiative to bring narcotraffickers to a tactical defeat as Mexico's Marines increasingly participate in police raids.

The rule of law is set to be subverted by the institutionalizing the use of military force. Already an outsized presence in the US-Mexico war on drugs, the Mexican military is now poised to be formally tasked with all domestic security, in a time in which they are more often cited as the main perpetrators of domestic human rights abuses. No other G-20 nation uses their army for internal matters either. The UN has officially listed its reasons for opposing this ambiguous piece of legislation.

State governors have come out in full force speaking on behalf of the much hated law. Many Mexican oppose using the military for internal security. Angel Aguirre, a former state governor of Guerrero, was notorious for using the Mexican military and federal police forces for repression.

The Senate Approves: Far Right Senate President Predicts Eventual Approval of 'Internal Security' Law

Ernesto Cordero Arroyo (PAN) predicted that the law would be set for Senate approval, with a clear majority. Mexicans are rallying against the law, however, holding protests at the Senate and many public commentators and media figures have recorded videos against the scheme of formally using the military for police tasks.

Mexican Military Commonly Misused As Cleaners For Local Chieftains

Though officially, the Mexican military and its federal civilian counterparts are under the purview of Mexico's Attorney General, unofficially, regional authorities have a lot of influence in their use within their localities, and are notorious for ordering disappearances, rape as a weapon and killings.

Historically, federal forces have been used against the Mexican student movement. In September 26, 2014, the notorious Ayotzinapa case took place in which 43 students of Ayotzinapa were forcibly disappeared, and it involved Mexican military personnel operating with the blessing of Angel Aguirre.

Aguirre has since receded from public view since the Ayotzinapa case rocked the world into paying attention to Mexico's human rights situation.

In apparent coordination with the well connected mayor of Iguala, Jose Luis Abarca, the Mexican military intercepted students who fleed Municipal police's intense automatic weapons fire. Local reports indicate that the Guerrero state police were withdrawn from all activities that night, likely in an attempt to avoid friendly fire during the incident.

Brutal Repression Could Be Formalized

Many Mexicans fear that Mexico's already too powerful military and political class will gain even more control over domestic politics. They fear that this is effectively a soft-coup in which the Mexican military can usurp civilian control and further excascerbate human rights conditions in regions where military personnel have carried out atrocious acts.

Rampant Violence Not Halted By Militarization

Entire families are being slaughtered by commando groups in rural Mexico. Many of these groups operate in conjunction with both military and civilian law enforcement. With a law instituonalizing military control over civil affairs, their blessing would empower brutal groups capable of paying quotas for military protection.

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Deported Mexicans In Danger of Drug War Recruitment

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Violence Increasing in Guerrero, Dozens Dead Over Weekend

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