Activities in the Senate do not stop after approving the reform on indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples, the joint commissions of Constitutional Points and Legislative Studies of the Senate of the Republic approved the initiative for the National Guard to be transferred to the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena).
After four hours of discussion among legislators, the bill was approved by 25 votes in favor, Morena and allied partiesand 10 votes against, from the opposition. The constitutional reform It will go to the Senate plenary session where it will be discussed during the week.
The reform establishes that the Sedena will control the presumptive and personal of the National Guard. Likewise, the approval of the reform opens the door for the Armed Forces to carry out, on a permanent basis, public security tasks and civil tasks.
The president of the Senate’s Constitutional Affairs Committee, Ernestina Godoyassured that the modifications to the constitution represent a necessary and urgent response to the insecurity problems that are registered in the country.
“This reform will provide the State with a disciplined and professional national public security force, capable of facing the challenges of organized crime and other threats to security,” Ernestina Godoy said.
Opposition senators such as Alejandra Barralesof Citizen Movement, and Ricardo Anayafrom the National Action Party, emphasized that the reform is a clear militarization of public security.
“We have witnessed a real spectacle of mental acrobatics here, to say that they are not militarizing public security,” said PAN member Ricardo Anaya.
The President of the Senate, Gerardo Fernandez Noronareported that access will be prevented to citizens who do not work in the Senate in order to guarantee the free and safe development of the sessions of the Upper House.
What does the reform to the National Guard propose?
The reform of the National Guard was part of the package of proposals presented by President López Obrador in February of this year. One of the main objectives of the initiative is to guarantee “the professionalism, discipline and honesty” of the elements of the organization.
The ruling establishes that crimes will not only be investigated by elements of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and police forces, but also by members of the National Guard. It also establishes that the organization’s personnel will be of military origin with police training and will be assigned to the Sedena and will carry out the investigation. National Public Security Strategy.
It is also decreed that the National Guard will carry out security coordination and collaboration work with state and municipal authorities. Likewise, it will carry out work to safeguard the nation’s assets and resources.
According to figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), more than 80 percent of the 130,000 members of the National Guard come from the Army and Navy.
With information from Eduardo Ortega
2024-09-24 05:32:19