Guardia Nacional

The four missions of the National Guard: preserve public safety, prevent and combat the crimes of the federal, common and military orders; preserve security in the affected areas in case of disaster; assist the civilian population in case of public needs. The bulk of National Guard personnel consist of seconded army and navy elements that have an option to return to their services after five years. On December 31, 2019, the Federal Police was disbanded, and on May 4, all remaining assets and personnel were transferred to the National Guard.

On November 14, 2018 President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador presented the National Plan for Peace and Security 2018-2024 [Plan Nacional de Paz y Seguridad 2018-2024], which contemplates the recruitment of 50,000 people to form the National Guard in a period of three or four years, since Mexioc did not have the necessary number of elements to deal with the serious crisis of insecurity and violence in the national territory.

AMLO proposed to form this National Guard by integrating the Military Police, the Naval Police and the Federal Police into a single corporation: in the National Guard. That was the decision made. The Constitution already includes a National Guard since 1857 and that there is also a record of its actions during the United States Intervention (1847-1848) and the French Intervention (1862-1867). Currently, there is the Spanish Civil Guard and the French National Gendarmerie, both have the support of the Armed Forces.

The National Plan called for put "aside the fantasy that it is possible to overcome the circumstance of insecurityand violence through unique and one-dimensional solutions, such as strategyrepressive police-military, basic practice and almost unique in the previous administration and in thethat is about to conclude.

" ... by definition,organized crime can not exist without a degree of involvement ofpublic officials that offers a margin of protection and impunity and the size, extent and power of criminal groups such as those that exist inMexico can only be understood by a corruption of equivalent dimension in public offices, particularly - though not exclusively - in the apparatuses of prevention and combat of the delinquency, procuring and imparting of Justice. Thus, if the persistence and increase of poverty, marginalization and lack of educational and health services are at the base of the criminal boom facing the country, the prevailing corruption is the primary reason for its lack of control, its growth and the impossibility of counteracting it and even contain it....

"The blind alley of violence forces us to put solutions on the table applied in other countries to armed conflicts, with the difference that they have undertaken between governments and belligerent sides - that is, insurgencies and armed political or national oppositions - and not between an authority and groups purely criminal. But in today's Mexico these have organizational levels, power of fire and territorial control comparable, in various cases, to obtain in other latitudes by political factions in arms. It is necessary, then, start disarmament, demobilization and social reintegration processes with clear conditions: full cooperation with justice, demonstration unequivocal repentance and reparation of harm. The forgiveness of the victims and the sincere contrition of the perpetrators are indispensable preliminary steps for the talks...."

The request to the Congress of the Union was for the modification of the terms of fraction XV of article 76 of the Constitution and other provisions in order to establish the National Guard as the primary instrument of the Federal Executive in the prevention of crime, the preservation of public security, the recovery of peace and the fight against crime throughout the country. The National Guard of Mexico will act in a similar way to agencies like the French National Gendarmerie, an armed force responsible for the police missions, and the Spanish Civil Guard, armed military institute that fulfill public safety functions.

The troops of that body will come from the Military and Naval police, as well as from the current Federal Police, and additionally civilians and elements of Troop to integrate into the formation of new staff, which will receive training and training in military camps, according to a curriculum elaborated jointly by the Secretariats of National Defense, Navy, Governance and Citizen Security. To theoretical and practical training and to military training will be added an academic and practical training in police procedures, criminal law, human rights, perspective of gender, first aid, civil protection and other knowledge necessary for the good performance of the elements.This measure will resolve both the legal vacuum in which the armed forces have been participating in police work as the lack of a professional police institution and capable of facing the challenge of insecurity and violence.

The National Guard will therefore be expressly responsible for preventing and fight crime throughout the national territory and will be endowed with discipline and the hierarchy of the Armed Forces. The elements of the National Guard will have benefits similar to those of the military institutions. Once the new agency is formed, the troops coming from the Armed Forces will keep their seniority, benefits and conditions. A comprehensive program will be developed to homologate the income and social benefits of police, military and marine and of their families, based on the functions and professional competencies of eachelement.

The permanent tasks of the formation will depend on the System Military Education with civilian and military professors. That training maybe perfected through specializations in universities with postgraduate degrees in Public Security and Law Enforcement and Justice.

Each of the 266 regions will be allocated as many detachments of the National Guard for the prevention, investigation, detention and presentation of detained before the Public Ministry and providing the evidence required by law. The designation of the number of elements, specialized personnel and resources of research and intelligence to each region, will be carried out according to the number of inhabitants and considering the incidence of crime and the projections of criminality.

More than 21,000 women and men will be recruited in 2019. Call will adhere to deadlines and terms of Sedena and Semar. They will receive fair payment and benefits; this year, 2 thousand 500 million pesos were authorized for salaries.

The head of the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena), Luis Crescencio Sandoval Gonzalez said that, on the instructions of the Federal Executive, since December 1 the Armed Forces and the Federal Police deployed 35,745 personnel along 150 coordinations territorial with a view to the formation of the National Guard.

According to Secretary Sandoval González, once the Congress of the Union approves the constitutional reforms put forward for consideration by the president, both the personnel already deployed and those expected to be recruited will receive "a solid training in human rights matters for to act as forces of social proximity and, at the same time, to take advantage of their values ??and military virtues in which discipline will constitute the backbone of the operation of this force ".

The integration of the National Guard occurs in three stages, being the first one already mentioned, which began on December 1st. In the second phase will extend the invitation to military, marine and police active and finally, from 2019 to 2021 will be recruited to 50 thousand elements.

During 2019 the entrance of 21,170 personnel was expected, of which 14,000 would be under the command of the Sedena and the rest of the Secretariat of the Navy. He added that the convocation will work through the same terms and procedures currently coordinated by both institutions, that is, examinations will be carried out (physical, medical and psychological and verification of no criminal record, etc.).

The proposal for the creation of the new Mexican security component was approved in January 2019 in the Chamber of Deputies between opposition claims and experts.

The Senate of Mexico will discuss on Thursday the creation of the National Guard proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to face crime in the Central American country. The proposal of the Mexican president has received the rejection of the sectors of the political opposition as well as specialists in the subject.

"It will help us a lot, will be decisive to calm the country. (...) With the creation of the National Guard , that way we will ensure the peace and tranquility in the country , " said Lopez Obrador during a meeting with soldiers in the state of Coahuila (north).

The project was approved in January in the Chamber of Deputies between opposition claims and experts, who believe that the country's militarization is granted constitutional status , which began in 2006 and which is partly responsible for the high rates of violence in Mexico and continued attacks on human rights.

According to official data in 2017 there were 28,866 murders. By 2018, the number increased to 33,341, the highest number since records began in 1997. In spite of the opinions against, López Obrador hopes that the Congress approves the creation of the National Guard.

"The National Guard will respect human rights and will be like the Peace Army of the United Nations (UN)," said Andrés Manuel López Obrador Wednesday, insisting that his approval is required to combat insecurity. The Guard, he said, will have as its main foundation to guarantee public safety with respect for human rights and the regulated use of force.

Senators from the National Action Party (PAN) believe that the proposal repeats the strategy of the government of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) and Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) when using military for public security.

Although Lopez Obrador's party has a majority in Congress, two thirds of the senators' votes are required to approve the constitutional reform that gives rise to the National Guard, which is known as a qualified majority. This forced reaching agreements with opposition parties.

All the political forces of the Senate and the federal government agreed, in the last minutes of yesterday, to demilitarize the National Guard, so that the proposal of a Military Joint Chiefs of Staff disappear and replace it with an Interinstitutional Coordination.

The National Guard will be integrated, as well, by the Military, Naval and Federal police forces, as well as by new elements of upcoming recruitment, but will have a civil command, both administrative and operational, forced to coordinate with the military and naval commanders, depending on the operational needs of the new security corps.

They also confirmed the decision that the military only be in security assistance for a maximum of five years, in addition to the opposition bloc composed of the PAN, PRI, MC and PRD accepted that the crimes committed by elements of the Guard will be judged by military courts in the case of sailors or soldiers, but if they are elements of federal police will be subject to civil penalties.

The civilian command of the National Guard is substantial: it will be a police institution attached to the secretariat of the public security branch and it will be governed by a police doctrine and there is no joint command nor a junta of heads of state or a similar entity; On the other hand, instances of institutional coordination with the Armed Forces are established, besides establishing among the requirements of the management commands will be not to be part of the armed forces, and that all the elements that pass to the national guard will be civilians.

Mexican lawmakers were one step closer to approving President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s (AMLO) controversial National Guard as 17 states voted 06 March 2019 to approve the nation’s newest security force. The creation of the guard required a constitutional reform, and because of that it needed approval from at least 17 state legislators to move forward. So far, Sinaloa, Puebla, Guerrero, Tabasco, Campeche, Chiapas, Nuevo Leon, Colima, Zacatecas, Hidalgo, Queretaro, State of Mexico, Durango, Baja California Sur, Tlaxcala, Tamaulipas and Quintana Roo have all said yes to the changes to the nation’s constitution.

Opposition party members stated that the latest version of the law is “regressive” as AMLO’s party that controls both houses, Morena, eliminated the 60-day deadline for three important laws that would further outline the National Guard rules and responsibilities. Also, the originally ‘civilian’ guard is now set to be overseen by military branches for at least five years.

AMLO conceded to national and international human rights organizations that say the formation of another security force will only increase violent crime in Mexico, by signing an agreement last week with the United Nations promising to train the newly instated National Guard in matters of human rights starting in April. U.N. Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet said the accord showed "the highest standards in human rights."

Even prior to his December inauguration, (AMLO) proposed creating a 60,000-strong National Guard comprising army, navy and other federal police to curb Mexico’s soaring rates of homicide and other crimes. Local media says this number will rise to 150,000 members by the end of Lopez Obrador’s six-year term. Mexico's Senate and House both approved the new guard which will have legal powers to combat all crimes at the federal and local levels.