Military commanders endorse their subordination to civil power

Gustavo Castillo, Emir Olivares and Alonso Urrutia

Newspaper La Jornada
Saturday September 17, 2022, p. 4

The commemorative parade of the 212th anniversary of the beginning of the fight for the Independence of Mexico was the stage for the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) to show off the operational development, equipment and weapons with which the more than 100,000 troops of the National Guard (GN). It was also the occasion for the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena), General Luis Cresencio Sandoval, to point out that the armed forces are subordinate to the civil power headed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Likewise, the head of the Secretariat for Citizen Security and Protection (SSPC), Rosa Icela Rodríguez Velázquez, stated that the war times in those who fed criminal violence in the country, and now there is the GN, “a security body dedicated to building peace (…) a professional, honest and disciplined corporation. A body of citizen proximity with a permanent presence in our communities”.

Before thousands of citizens and representatives of the Legislative and Judicial powers, as well as foreign guests, the first woman in the country’s history to lead public security tasks stated: I am certain that the National Guard, under the leadership of the Secretary of National Defense, will consolidate its work to protect citizens throughout the national territory..

The head of Sedena pointed out that Since Mexico emerged as a free country, it has always sought to create and develop permanent institutions that transcend over the years and help guarantee order, security, and social and collective well-being. Today the Mexican State has the GN, the institution par excellence to guarantee the safety of Mexicans.

General Sandoval asserted that the Guard has the urgent need to improve the security conditions of the people of Mexico, and for this reason Sedena assumed shared responsibility in the creation, integration and consolidation of this public security force.

Regarding loyalty to the Executive, he asserted: Mr. President, this historical and transcendental date for the nation represents the ideal framework for the women and men who make up the armed forces and the National Guard to endorse before the legally constituted institutions that in the fulfillment of the multiple missions, functions and tasks entrusted to them, they act at all times subordinated to the civil power represented by the presidential institution.

Rodríguez Velázquez mentioned: Before this administration, from the different areas of public power, criminal violence was fueled in the country by undertaking failed strategies and wars that, far from eradicating crime, exacerbated the decomposition of police elements and generated an unprecedented social crisis, particularly on human rights.

He noted that Unlike in the past, today the Mexican government’s security strategy considers attention to the causes that generate violence a priority and we are proving, already with results, that addressing the social causes of insecurity is the most effective way to build peace.

He stated: the times of war are behind us, because Mexico is not condemned to war, it is destined for peace. Today we are building a peace that is born from the recognition of reality, sensitivity and humanism that puts people’s lives first..

Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Navy, Admiral José Rafael Ojeda Durán, stressed that in the short term the GN will be the security corporation that has the greatest trust among citizens, and stressed that together with civilian entities, the armed forces have decisively participated with human and material resources in the consolidation of an institution that fights for peace and justice.