Mexico Congress allows military to keep policing powers despite outcry from human rights groups
The army was has been made to do the job of local forces since 2006 when it was realised that cartels were far too strong. But since then, accusations of executions and torture have surfaced
Mexico’s Congress has handed the military a legal framework that allows them to act as police, despite unanimous objections from human rights groups.
President Enrique Pena Nieto is expected to sign the bill into law after it was approved on Friday. The Senate made changes to the bill to try to calm fears that army troops could be used to crack down on protests or that local authorities would feel less pressure to improve their police forces.
The law lets the president issue a decree allowing military deployments for one year to certain states where there are “threats to national security” and police aren’t able to cope with violence.
But the president could also grant unlimited extensions, allowing the military to become a permanent presence, as they have become in the particularly violent border state of Tamaulipas for more than a decade.
Rights groups in Mexico and abroad were quick to criticise the legislation, saying deployments could be endlessly renewed and local governments would have no need to train and recruit competent, honest law enforcement.