Mexico Creates Civilian-Led National Guard Amid Fight Against Crime, Drug Trafficking
Fakhir Rizvi Published February 22, 2019 | 01:14 PM
New enforcement structure, a national guard, with the aim to combating a rising wave of crime will be created in Mexico after the relevant bill was unanimously approved by the country's Senate on Thursday
MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2019) New enforcement structure, a national guard, with the aim to combating a rising wave of crime will be created in Mexico after the relevant bill was unanimously approved by the country's Senate on Thursday.
The initiative focusing on avoiding further militarization of the country amid the fight against crime and drug trafficking came from Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The national guard will be composed of most trained members of Mexico's security forces. It will be controlled by Mexico's Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection instead of military.
According to Eduardo Ramirez, the head of the Senate's committee for legislative studies, the fact that the new body will be a civilian-led force will guarantee internal security with full respect of human rights, while the Mexican Armed Forces will have to stop activities on maintaining public security in the next five years.
The war against crime, unprecedented in its intensity, began in Mexico in 2006 under then-President Felipe Calderon, who summoned army units for operations against drug mafia, reformed the Mexican Federal police and announced a hunt for the most notorious leaders of the Mexican criminal world. The successor to Calderon, Enrique Pena Nieto, continued the policy of his predecessor. Under his rule, the police killed or arrested a number of famous drug lords, including the head of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquin Guzman Loers, nicknamed El Chapo ("Shorty"). The trial against him is now underway in the United States.
In late January, Lopez Obrador announced that Mexico ended the war against drug mafia to concentrate on ensuring public safety, and reducing the number of murders, robberies and kidnappings.
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