Defense Secretary to Keep Army Troops on the Streets Until Police Improve Latin American Herald Tribune
go to original May 3, 2016

Members of the Special Forces of the Mexican Army take the subway to go to the celebrations of the anniversary of the Independence movement from Spain. (Agence France-Presse)

The army will continue to be involved in public safety operations across Mexico until municipal police departments do a better job, Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos said in an interview published Monday.

“Until the police departments are trained and ready to deal with crime, we’ll have to be in the streets,” Cienfuegos told the Milenio newspaper.

The defense secretary said that in the 10 years since former President Felipe Calderon launched the “war on drugs,” soldiers had learned some important lessons “for fighting crime.”

Cienfuegos acknowledged that the army had been the “subject of criticism” and not just because of the video posted on social networks last month showing security forces members holding a woman, who is being held at a prison, at gunpoint and putting a bag over her head.

The defense secretary had to make a public apology after the video’s release.

“We should not and cannot deal with illegality with more illegality,” Cienfuegos said, adding that criticism of the military comes “every day.”

The defense secretary, however, defended the work of soldiers, who have played a role in “80, 90, 98 percent of everything that has been done against crime.”

Read the rest at Latin American Herald Tribune

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!