Deputies outline unchanged opinion to keep the armed forces on the streets

Georgina Saldierna and Enrique Mendez

Newspaper La Jornada
Friday, October 7, 2022, p. eleven

The army will not replace the competent civil authorities in public security tasks when the new term for their participation in the National Guard ends, raises the Constitutional Points Commission of the Chamber of Deputies.

In its draft opinion to endorse, without changes, the modifications included by the Senate, the commission considers that in 2028 the National Guard must be of a civilian nature.

As part of the review of the minutes returned by the senators, the president of the Commission on Constitutional Points, Juan Ramiro Robledo (Morena), indicated that a bicameral commission of Congress will define in which states the military participation should end.

Among the changes included by the Senate, it is proposed, in this regard, that the bicameral commission must issue a semi-annual report on the results of the participation of the permanent armed force in security tasks.

Within the controls in charge of the Congress, in said opinion it is They must indicate those entities where the permanent presence of the armed forces in these tasks is no longer required..

In the project, which will be discussed in the committee next Wednesday -and that same day in the plenary session of the chamber-, it is highlighted that the intervention of the armed forces will be carried out with the understanding that it will not replace the competent civil authorities.

As part of its considerations to the minute it received on Tuesday, the commission states in this regard that “the participation of the armed forces in public security tasks is of a residual and temporary nature… their actions will in no case be intended to replace civil authorities of other orders of government or exempt them from their responsibilities.

In its considerations, the commission highlights social utility to approve the minutes as sent by the Senate, with the aim of providing the armed forces with a precise, extended and legitimate constitutional basis to act in public security tasks, while the National Guard is consolidated.

The coordinator of the PRI, Rubén Moreira, expressed that beyond the extension for the participation of soldiers and marines in security, it is required a policy that confronts insecurity, where in a section the help of the Army can be.

Moreira expressed his appreciation to the nine PRI senators who voted in favor. The initiative that was voted on in the Senate is essentially ours for two reasons: the participation of the Army is extended and the interest in demilitarizing is endorsed, that is, we did not say forever, but we gave four more years.