Defense Minister Says Mexican Army Not Happy with Law-Enforcement Role Agence France-Presse
go to original December 9, 2016

Mexico's Defense Secretary Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda speaks to soldiers at the Number 1 military camp in Mexico City (Marco Ugarte/Associated Press)

Mexico's defense minister complained Thursday about his troops having to take part in the country's war on drug trafficking – a rare expression of criticism about the controversial, decade-old deployment.

Speaking at a news conference, Salvador Cienfuegos insisted the military was not suited for the job.

"We didn't ask to be here. We don't like it. We didn't study how to chase criminals," he said.

"Our function is something else and it's been made into something unnatural. We are doing things that don't correspond to our training because there's no one else to do them," the minister said.

Sunday is the 10th anniversary of an order by Felipe Calderon, the conservative president in office from 2006 to 2012, that harnessed the military as the pillar of a federal anti-drug operation.

His action drew harsh criticism from the opposition and civil society organizations.

But until now, top-level military officials have not publicly expressed much about the anti-drug operation amid documented human-rights abuses.

Cienfuegos insisted the wave of criminal violence cannot be stopped "by bullets" and that he would be the first to lift "not one but both hands" to get the army back to its original mission.

Read the rest at The Nation

Related: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto Says Troops Will Remain in the Streets to Combat Drug Violence (Agence France-Presse)

Related: Mexico Considers Legislation to Permanently Grant Extraordinary Policing and Surveillance Powers to the Military (FSRN)

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