The interviewees revealed that when they left the institution the mistreatment continued, as they saw their severance payments reduced in accordance with the law, or else they were fired due to age, which entailed economic and family effects.
With all this panorama, another of the conclusions of the study was the absence of job certainty and good working conditions, which generates an institution without the necessary stability to fulfill its functions.
In other words, the conditions in which the members of the National Guard find themselves today have a negative impact on their functions of providing citizen security.
hostile climate
“Those who come from Sedena want to be soldiers. Those who come from Semar want to be sailors. Those of us who come from the Federal Police are Federal Police. I have not spoken with any member who wants to belong to the National Guard. Just bringing Sedena staff together with Semar staff is hostile,” said one of those interviewed for the study.
Another reported the hostile climate towards everyone who is not in the military, which generates internal quarrels, fueled by the speech of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who always mentions the Army as the solution to everything and the federal police, in general, as the bad.
“Of course there is discrimination, hence the ‘voluntary casualties’ increase day by day, we are in a stage of security in Mexico where the police are the bad guys, and the military is the only person capable of combating it, which we know they don’t know how to do it.”
purge of civilians
The organizations that carried out the study demanded the strengthening of public policies on civil security, but without militarization.
They explained that the interviews sought to know the progress of the National Guard in the objective that was set in its creation: to be a civil body dedicated to guaranteeing citizen security.
However, the review carried out three years after its creation showed that the recruitment to its ranks has never been carried out by civilian elements, but by the military; its training and budget has always been in charge of the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) “without betting on the path of civil supervision.”
They also highlight that military orders prevail in decisions but without police professionalization.
For example, the former federal police officers (10 women and 22 men) interviewed had more than a decade of service, were part of the transition to the National Guard, but were forced to leave their careers.
“Over time, many accepted voluntary dismissal when they saw the opportunity, since the legal, administrative and operational conditions forced them to leave due to the unjustified dismissal of a newly created corporation,” it is explained.
According to reports, since the GN was created, attached to the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection, it offered “voluntary dismissals” to former federal police officers, but full years were not taken into account for compensation and payments were for less than what is provided by law.
Those who stayed also lost rights: they had a reduction in their insurance for major medical expenses, the benefit to direct relatives was eliminated, the annual bonus was changed for food vouchers with a lower amount and the economic compensation for services outside the hospital was eliminated. affiliation area (operating bonus and per diem); In addition, the individualized separation insurance was eliminated.
María Elena Morera, of Common Cause, assured that it is estimated that of the 20,000 elements of the Federal Police (that is, civilians) who were incorporated into the National Guard, it is probable that only 5,000 remain.
The rest of the organization is already military, so it is false to say that the GN is civilian.
“The problem is the unequal and inequitable treatment that is given to us in general, it is as if we existed within the National Guard first-class elements -SEDENA-, second-class elements -SEMAR-, third-class elements -Federal Police-“, said a interviewed.
