Gustavo Castillo Garcia
Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, October 9, 2022, p. 4
The deals between the government of Zacatecas and US agencies to combat the violence that exists in that entity violate provisions of the National Security Law and the agreement that regulates the powers of the High Level Security Group and the Operational Coordination Group, since that any agreement with foreign agencies must first be approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), federal officials commented.
On Thursday, in a joint conference, the governor of Zacatecas, David Monreal, and the United States ambassador, Ken Salazar, reported that United States agencies will intervene with concrete actions
consisting of the provision of high-tech equipment, as well as the training of police officers and local officials in the areas of public security and personnel of the state prosecutor’s office.
For its part, the US embassy has said that Salazar and Monreal did not sign any cooperation agreement at their meeting in the Zacatecan capital.
In this regard, high-level Mexican authorities indicated that the representatives of the accredited missions in Mexico can hold meetings with public servants of the three levels of government, but not establish agreements or commitments without being sanctioned by the High Level Security Group, and in the meeting at the seat of the Zacatecan government there was no representative of the federal government, as established by national legislation.
The agreement that establishes the general provisions that govern the organization and functioning of the High Level Security Group and the Operational Coordination Group indicates in the third article, section two, that these instances will be the ones that correspond authorize the holding of meetings between public servants of the three levels of government and public entities with foreign agents
.
The third and fifth sections provide that it will be these instances of the National Security Council to which it corresponds propose to the competent authorities the actions that are necessary to achieve the signing of international conventions on security matters; and keep a record of the meetings held by public servants of the three levels of government and public entities with foreign agents and representatives of missions accredited in Mexico in matters of their competence.
.
Similarly, the consulted officials explained, article 70 of the National Security Law approved in December 2020 establishes: The public servants of the three powers of the Union, of the organisms endowed with constitutional autonomy, of the federal entities, of the municipalities and of the territorial demarcations of Mexico City, in their relationship with foreign agents, must adhere to the norms , parameters and obligations provided for in this law and in the guidelines issued by the Council for this purpose. Failure to comply will be cause for administrative or criminal liability, in accordance with the respective laws.
.
It also defines that The public servants of the federal entities, the municipalities and the territorial demarcations of Mexico City must deliver to the Secretaries of Foreign Affairs and Security and Citizen Protection, within three days after the celebration of any meeting, exchange of information, telephone calls or communications with foreign agents, a written report of the same. Meetings held with foreign agents must be authorized in advance by the High Level Security Group. A representative of the SRE must be present at these meetings.
.
