Breathe
By Laura Brugés, legislative journalist.
The fact that the Ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) have invalidated that the National Guard is under the command of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) makes me think that this military security corps has its (imaginary) parliamentary group no matter in which six-year term you read this: the legislative bombardment to militarize public security is the constant.
After President Andres Manuel López Obrador announced in his morning conference that one month before the end of his six-year term (September 2024), he will send to the new Legislature - resulting from the 2024 election - a Constitutional reform initiative for the National Guard to depend on the Sedena, this led me to the conclusion that, unlike his predecessors, he is obstinate in complying with his "military bench".
Convinced that his movement will win a qualified majority both in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate and with this it will have the numbers for a Constitutional reform, here are the incentives for the military leadership to be tempted to set its eyes on the electoral process for the renewal of both Chambers of Congress. Although this is not the first time this has happened.
Every president has the habit of creating his own security corps that ends up fading transsexennially; former President Felipe Calderón did it by creating the Federal Police, Enrique Peña Nieto did it with the Gendarmerie, but López Obrador wants to make sure that the militarized National Guard remains in place.
The current president bet on the legislative path to strengthen the National Guard through secondary laws and, of course, the Constitutional reform to create it. But I did not imagine that he would propose another reform to the Magna Carta for its permanence in the transition and that public security would have a military command.
And if the Executive sends the proposal to the legislature in the hypothetical case that it is approved with the qualified majority of Morena and its allies,there is concern that they will use the coveted Constitutional 129, that article that has represented a pebble in the shoe of the military since previous six-year terms.
The aforementioned article prohibits the military, in times of peace, from performing tasks unrelated to defense duties. And the creation of the National Guard was like that bridge to militarize public security, and to that add the legal band-aid that the PRI gave AMLO with the reform to the Fifth Transitory Article of the Decree regarding the National Guard to extend, until 2028, the permanence of the Armed Forces in public security tasks.
In short, the president all this time through Congress tried to undermine the 129th Constitutional, but not in the background.
Former President Peña Nieto also did something similar: just remember that on November 15, 2018, the Supreme Court also struck down his Internal Security Law by declaring it unconstitutional and in violation of international obligations by "normalizing the use of the Armed Forces in public security matters". But we did not see it coming that López Obrador would give continuity to that plan and intends to do so in the run up to 2024.
Under Felipe Calderón, the use of the armed forces was justified by a 1996 Supreme Court thesis, which indicated that the military could support public security activities when requested by civilian authorities. But that thesis established a key requirement: the Armed Forces were to play an "auxiliary" role in public security tasks and in no case could they replace them. And you know the rest of the story...
Hence my hypothesis : what if in 2024 the Constitutional reform goes for this article 129? We still do not know how it will come about, but just mentioning it is already a campaign promise that imposes the Morenista corcholata that succeeds him, and that may make the military even more interested in that election.
And I say even more because this is not the first time that the Sedena has been so interested in electoral processes. In the 2021 electoral process, it tracked at least 165 candidates, according to information leaked in the Guacamaya Leaks, where they systematized reports of rallies, leaders, social movements and state party influence, and risk analysis throughout the day. Wuao! Better than an electoral affairs consulting firm.
Not surprisingly, the military is interested in politics, lobbying, elections and having their interests represented in Congress, even though the Army and Air Force Discipline Act (Article 17) prevents them from doing so.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of Opinion 51.
More than 150 opinions from 100 columnists await you for less than one book per month.
Comments ()