Link to article: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-supreme-court-strikes-down-law-put-national-guard-under-army-control-2023-04-18/
Mexico has been considering transferring control of the civilian-run National Guard over the government-controlled Army. However, Mexico’s supreme court ruled the transfer as unconstitutional in an 8-3 ruling. Most civilians reported their opinion on the transfer as siding with the Supreme Court, concerned about the militarization of public security within the country. The president (Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador) is on the other side of the argument, and this decision basically ruined his congressional reform that passed last year (to put the army in charge). Obrador actually created the National Guard in 2018, as he considered the former Mexican police force to be corrupt/ineffective. Obrador has also slowly and subtly increased the power of the military during his time in office, giving them various projects and powers (managing airports/ports, etc).
The Mexican national guard was actually accused of killing two civilians this Sunday, including a pregnant teenager, sparking protests. This isn’t the first controversial and highly publicized wrongdoing of the national guard, and this could’ve either hurt or helped Obrador depending on how he played the situation politically. On one hand, the national guard—whether civilian-run or not—is a direct form of armed military power. The public has experienced first hand the abuse of power that comes from this, and will likely see their integration into the national Army as an expansion of power that they are already abusing. However, Obrador could make an argument that the national guard will be better regulated after the transfer of power. This would likely be difficult, as the country relies heavily on the military to control drugs and fight organized crime, which has led to human rights violations from military abuses. The national guard as it is is also largely led by, trained by, and made up of military officials. Not to mention, the internal military culture is systematically flawed, as the officers committing human rights violations are never prosecuted or punished. I personally think that it is good the supreme court ruled the way they did, and glad the court has enough autonomy/political impartiality to make the best decision for the citizens.
In class we read and discussed the human rights watch world report of 2022. That is where I got most of the background information regarding Mexico’s military human rights violations.