Mexico’s lower house votes to extend army’s street presence until 2028 to tackle rampant violence

(Corrects to indicate army can be on streets till 2028, not 2029, in headline and paragraphs 1 and three)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico’s decrease home of Congress on Wednesday voted to maintain the military on the nation’s streets till 2028, elevating fears concerning the president’s efforts to militarize public safety.

It’s the second enhance to the army’s energy this month, after the higher home final week authorized giving the military management over the Nationwide Guard, a army police power created in 2019.

The brand new movement on the army’s deployment, authorized with 335 votes in favor and 152 in opposition to, had been resulting from expire in 2024 however will now carry via to 2028.

The transfer follows outbreaks of cartel violence throughout the nation, with not less than 20 comfort shops set alight in an evening of unrest within the central states of Guanajuato and Jalisco final month.

Ignacio Mier, the decrease home’s coordinator for the ruling social gathering Morena, mentioned the military’s continued presence on the streets would “assure the protection of households” and search to “recuperate peace and tranquility.”

Nonetheless, opposition member Jorge Romero was amongst critics who mentioned it was a political transfer.

“It isn’t on this authorities’s curiosity to have a civilian police. What pursuits it’s to militarize citizen safety,” Romero mentioned.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador promised to return the army to their barracks whereas operating for workplace in 2018, however later mentioned he had modified his thoughts because of the have to deal with organized crime.

Whereas the military has excessive approval amongst Mexicans, at near 80% in response to some polls, it has been concerned in a number of instances of alleged human rights abuses and violations.

Numerous our bodies, together with the United Nations, have mentioned that growing the military’s energy in Mexico may set off extra human rights abuses and was a step backwards for public safety.

Lopez Obrador not too long ago boasted of getting diminished the month-to-month variety of homicides, however his six-year time period (2018-2024) remains to be set to be probably the most violent in Mexican fashionable historical past.

Within the coming days, the brand new movement can be moved for last approval within the Senate, the place Morena and its allies have the bulk required to move the regulation.

(Reporting by Diego Ore, Writing by Isabel Woodford; Modifying by Leslie Adler)