The Mexican government invested more money in the Army’s foreign trips than in shelters for women victims of violence, according to an analysis by the organization Intersecta.
There is money to reduce violence report, but what does the State invest it in? details that “the resources exercised by the Armed Forces and the personnel they have, are much greater than in the institutions to attend to women, inequality and the victims of this country.”
An example of them is that in 2021, it was up to the Ministry of Welfare to manage the expenditure for the “Support Program for Specialized Shelters for Women Victims of Gender Violence, their children.” The amount was 415.9 million pesos. However, the Armed Forces spent that year 459.9 million pesos on travel expenses abroad.
Photo: Cuartoscuro
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Main findings
Another result highlighted by the report is that in 2021, spending on daycare services of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) was 11 thousand 192 million pesos, lower expenditure of the Armed Forces in salary bonuses for its members which was 16 thousand 804 million.
When talking about the National Institute of Women (Inmujeres), the organization points out that the budget it exercised in 2021 barely amounted to 727 million pesos while that of the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar) is 50 times more and that of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) 183 times larger.
“Only the budget that Sedena exercised in its own ‘Program of equality between women and men’, that is, 418 million pesos, is more than half of the entire budget of Inmujeres. According to the budget base, half of this money goes to “training services for public servants,” the report explains.
On the 48 places in 2022 that the National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women (Conavim) had, it highlights that the General Directorate of Social Communication of the Sedena had 127 places in the same period, that is, in Mexico there are more places for those who generate military propaganda than for those who administer the Gender Violence Alert.
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More money for the Army than for reproductive health and missing persons
Intersecta also points out that not only is more money going to the military than to women’s shelters.
The National Center for Gender Equity and Reproductive Health, attached to the Ministry of Health, in 2021 exercised one thousand 364 million pesos, a lower investment compared to the “Scholarship Program for the Children of Armed Forces Personnel” of the Sedena that spent one thousand 431 million pesos.
While the National Center for the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS (Censida), has only 90 places and spent 351 million pesos last year, the Armed Forces spent 523 million on uniforms.
“In Mexico, more is spent on uniforms for the military than on strengthening the institution that directs HIV public policy,” the report says.
It is also mentioned that what the Armed Forces spent on the “dissemination of messages” about their programs — 158.4 million pesos — was more than the entire budget of the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred), which had 139 million pesos.
“Only what Sedena spent on food for its animals – 75 million pesos in one year – is more than half of the entire budget that Conapred exercised,” the organization says.
Photo: Cuartoscuro
It is also mentioned that the Executive Commission for Attention to Victims (CEAV), was assigned one thousand 191 million pesos, while Semar spent on “fuels, lubricants and additives” for its vehicles in 2021 – one thousand 72 million pesos.
For its part, the National Commission for the Search of Persons (CNB) had a budget in 2021 of 616 million pesos, the same as Sedena spent on the purchase of raw materials, such as “leather, leather, plastic and rubber products.”
“The same investment is made in the purchase of raw materials for the military as in the institution responsible for the search for disappeared persons in the country,” the report states.
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