Moving the National Guard to Sedena “is not militarizing,” AMLO insists

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that proposing that the National Guard depend on the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) is not an action to militarize the country but to take care of the country’s main public security institution.
In a morning press conference, López Obrador held the vote of the Chamber of Deputies where last Friday the president’s reform was approved.
“I think the approval in the House was very good, I thank the legislators in general very much because this first step has already been taken. We are defending this because we believe that it suits the people of Mexico, it has nothing to do with partisan interests,” he said.

In addition, the president stressed that “if the opponents, the conservatives, were responsible, they should be setting aside differences in the debate and give special treatment to security.”

.@lopezobrador_ insists that the Guard must pass to the Sedena. He says that if he stays in the Ministry of Security or the Interior, “the neofifis, trained in the neoliberal period,” who are “capable of everything, will go out to make decisions.” pic.twitter.com/zrtsufSc34
— Animal Politico (@Pajaropolitico) September 5, 2022

Read: More military in their ranks, jurisdiction and control of the Army: what the government proposes for the National Guard

“It’s to ensure the National Guard doesn’t get corrupted.”
According to the president, the reform seeks that the National Guard does not depend on the Ministry of the Interior (Segob) so that it is not corrupted as happened with the Federal Police.
“It is to ensure that public security is for everyone, but the adversaries are very limited, very dominated by factional interests, they cannot be called women or men of state, much less of a nation,” he said.
López Obrador explained that so far 242 of 500 barracks have been built that are expected to be held by the end of the six-year term.
“The National Guard is already almost consolidated, it already has more than 70% acceptance in the population. The reform is with the only desire that is consolidated, we do not want an authoritarian state, we have always fought against that, it is to maintain its discipline and professionalism, “he said.
Photo: Cuartoscuro
During the vote on López Obrador’s reform, the opposition, made up of members of the Va por México alliance (PRI, PAN and PRD) along with Movimiento Ciudadano, voted against the presidential initiative, while Morena voted en bloc in favor, had only two dissident deputies.
Although the president affirms that the National Guard must pass to the Sedena so as not to “corrupt”, the opposition, civil organizations and academics warn that this transition would confirm the new corporation as one of a military nature.
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Original source in Spanish