Just a few days before the end of the year, the security results in 2022 have been devastating. As I have expressed in previous columns, the numbers of homicides in this six-year term have been the highest recorded in the contemporary history of this country, closing four years of government with approximately 137,500 murders, according to data from the federal administration, which Which is evidence that, during this period, the records of the six-year terms of Calderón and Peña Nieto have been exceeded… What can we say about it?
Throughout the months, the presidential speech by the representatives of the Secretariat of Citizen Security and the Federal Forces have made efforts to maintain that in their rhetoric of “hugs and not bullets”, the results have been given, but where? At least in the real perception of citizens and in numbers, this perspective is not what is felt in some states such as Zacatecas, Colima, Guanajuato, Chiapas, Guerrero, San Luis Potosí, Michoacán, Baja California Sonora, among other places that they experience violence in their day to day.
On the other hand, a few months ago, the National Defense Secretariat reported the implementation of 33 strategies and 209 specific actions to consolidate the secretariat as a strategic and relevant actor in security matters, where among its results, in the month of In December, the arrest of approximately 1,076 priority objectives was announced, with information from the same federal administration, which shows a 106% increase in strategic arrests of criminal agents, compared to the 522 priority objectives detained in the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto . Indeed, these are positive actions, but the question that arises is: does this ratio of arrests influence or not the increases or decreases in the levels of violence in the country?
It is important not to lose sight of the fact that security strategies are not only to provide security to the State, but also to its citizens. If these two variables are not considered in a national security strategy, the results can be devastating, especially for those who cannot defend themselves and depend on others, in this case the authority, to provide them with protection. On the other hand, it will be necessary to think that much of this strategy, outside of the discourse, does not end up being consolidated, and we can see clear and terrible examples, for example, in a subject that is rarely touched on, but that happens every day, in forced displacements. of thousands of families from Chiapas and now from Guerrero who have had to leave everything they had behind to survive the violence that is experienced in their territories, due to territorial disputes, armed groups and/or criminals.
To get an idea of this problem, between 2010 and 2021, according to records from the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Center for Human Rights, in Chiapas alone, approximately 14,476 people have left their homes to survive, mostly women and children. . On the other hand, between 2016 and 2020, according to the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, there have been more than 36,000 forced displacements in Chiapas and Guerrero, and where only in 2020, the abandonment of their homes of at least 9,741 people due to violence, affecting approximately 25 municipalities in the two entities, surviving 24 violent events, which, beyond the coldness of the figures, is living hell for these families that in the face of violence They have no one to protect them and give them back their lives. This is the reality with which we close 2022, even though we close our eyes to what is obvious. Could it be that in 2023 we can expect something different, beyond speeches that minimize what is obvious? I have argued for years, without security there can be no solid democracy, and without it, the governability of any nation is at risk.
