Mexico City, October 5. The Senate last night approved, with amendments, the bill extending the presence of the armed forces in public security tasks until 2028. Morena and its allies secured 11 votes from PRI and PRD senators to achieve the necessary qualified majority , as this is a constitutional reform.
The bill was returned to the Chamber of Deputies, the original legislature, after being approved by 87 votes in favor and 40 against, two more than the required number to achieve the two-thirds majority required by Morena.
Only PRI member Claudia Anaya was absent from the session. From her party, the coordinator Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, and Beatriz Paredes voted against. On the PRD side, Juan Manuel Fócil opposed, and the coordinators Miguel Ángel Mancera and Antonio García Conejo voted in favor .
The new ruling included changes proposed by the opposition, including establishing parliamentary oversight mechanisms for the actions of the Army and Navy and creating a permanent fund to support states and municipalities in professionalizing their police forces.
The PAN, Citizen Movement, and the plural group rejected the proposal and criticized the PRI for their support of the reform, which, they insisted, advances the militarization of the country .
Tense debate
For nearly eight hours, the Blue and White Party (BLC) and members of the Nationalist Movement (MNEC) reiterated the danger of a repeat of events like the 1968 massacre or the disappearance of the Ayotzinapa student teachers . They also maintained that nothing guarantees compliance with the new provisions included in the fifth transitory article of the 2019 decree that reformed the Constitution to create the National Guard.
According to the new provisions, the heads of the Ministries of National Defense, Navy, Public Security, and the Interior must submit semiannual reports to the bicameral committee of Congress, which may summon them to appear .
The debate was filled with insults. Even PAN coordinator Julen Rementería asserted that there was political and economic pressure from the federal government , "which offered money in exchange for votes" to approve this expansion of "a security strategy that has been a failure."
