Army Pushes to Return to Base and Let Civilian Forces Control Fighting Drug War Lizbeth Diaz - Reuters
go to original May 12, 2017

A female paratrooper of the Mexican Army jokes moments before her jump at the Santa Lucia Air Base in Tecamac, in the State of Mexico. (MilitaryPhotos.net)

After more than a decade on the streets of Mexico battling ruthless drug cartels, the nation's battered armed forces have thrown their weight behind a law that would force them to return to barracks and put the fight back in the hands of the police.

Since former President Felipe Calderon sent out the army to bring the gangs to heel at the end of 2006, about 150,000 people have died in the violence, including hundreds of soldiers as well as scores of police and members of other security forces.

The bloody struggle has also taken a heavy toll on the reputation of the armed forces, exposing one of Mexico's most respected institutions to the corrupting influence of organized crime and the risk of extrajudicial killings.

General Alejandro Ramos Flores, head of the defense ministry's legal department, told Reuters in an interview that a bill currently in congress known as the Law of Internal Security would oblige civilian authorities to retake control of fighting organized crime.

"We're not going to resolve the problem. It's a problem with more social and economic aspects. Everything has to converge to resolve the problem and return it to the authorities responsible for taking charge of this situation," Ramos said.

President Enrique Pena Nieto replaced Calderon in December 2012, vowing to return the military to base, but it has remained stuck in the struggle without any strict legal formalization of the division of responsibilities between the various forces. This has often proven a recipe for trouble.

Read the rest at Reuters

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