Bicamaral Commission that will evaluate the use of the Armed Forces gets stuck in the Senate

In 2022, legislators of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) gave their vote and allowed -together with some PRD supporters- the qualified majority necessary for the constitutional reform that extended the period of militarization until 2028, but subject to several locks.

These were that more resources be given to states and municipalities to strengthen their local police and, through a bicameral commission, the actions of the Armed Forces could be monitored, but up to now that body has not even been integrated.

In accordance with the reform, the term for the creation of the Commission expired on January 19; The Chamber of Deputies approved on February 14 to designate its seven members, one per parliamentary group, but the agreements were halted in the Senate.

Although it was expected that each bench would have one member, as in the Chamber of Deputies, Morena aspires to have double representation in the Senate, and have five positions along with his allies from the Labor Party (PT), Verde (PVEM) and Social Encounter (PES), that is to say with half, eight of 16 member senators.

“Originally that was not the agreement, but we are just reviewing the integration, I do not want to get ahead of myself,” declared the coordinator of the Citizen Movement in the Senate, Clemente Castañeda.

The senator of the Plural Group, Emilio Álvarez Icaza, indicated that the discussion in the Senate has to do mainly with the powers that this group will have, since the Constitution now orders that it may request the presence of the heads of the Armed Forces to receive explanations. in detail about his performance.

“We are urging that it be integrated as soon as possible and that a specific legal framework is also created so that it can exercise its control tasks, not complying with it would be a deception”, since it was a condition for the approval of the reform, he said.

“I think it is convenient to do something more elaborate and generate legislative precedents so that the heads of the Armed Forces come, today there is a big discussion about this body of military intelligence and that is one of the issues to be addressed,” said Álvarez.

The president of the Political Coordination Board (Jucopo) of the Senate and coordinator of the Morena parliamentary group, Ricardo Monreal, also considered it necessary for him to report on alleged cases of espionage when rendering his report.

This is in relation to the alleged espionage carried out in 2020 by the Mexican Army against the current human rights defender in Tamaulipas, Raymundo Ramos, through the use of the Pegasus malware, according to information hacked from the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) by the self-styled group of Macaw hacktivists.

“Espionage will be delicate and serious in any society and at any time. I have been spied on all my life and I obviously disapprove of any type of improper or illegal spying,” Monreal said.

The central objective of the Bicamaral Commission will be to analyze and rule on the reports submitted by the Federal Executive regarding the use it made of the powers to dispose of the Armed Forces in security tasks, as authorized in the amendment to transitory article 5 of the constitutional decree. that created the National Guard, amendment published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, on November 18, 2022.

Pursuant to the reform, in May the Executive will present its first report and the Bicamaral Commission will not only analyze it but will also have to review and issue an opinion based on quantifiable and verifiable indicators that do not exist today.

“The Federal Executive will present to the Congress of the Union (through the bicameral Commission) a semi-annual report on the quantifiable and verifiable indicators that allow evaluating the results obtained in terms of public security, as well as corroborating respect for human rights and of indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples and communities”, was established in the new 5th transitional constitutional law.

In addition, the Commission may summon the Secretaries of the Interior, Security and Citizen Protection, National Defense and the Navy to appear in order to report in detail on the actions carried out by the army in matters of public security.