Chamber of Deputies

Mexico City. This Wednesday, the credentialing process for the deputies who will be part of the 66th Legislature began, starting with the uninominal legislators of Morena, who announced that one of their priorities will be to promote the constitutional reforms of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in particular the one that involves the Judicial Branch.

One of the first to come to obtain her ID as a deputy was Dolores Padierna, who pointed out that Morena and its allies will exercise the qualified majority they will have in San Lázaro “with a great deal of responsibility. We have an agenda of 18 constitutional reforms for this session period, among which is the reform of the Judicial Branch, and they will have to occur in September. It will be an excessively heavy period and Legislature.”

Although he affirmed that there will be a “respectful treatment and dialogue, dialogue and persuasion” with the opposition, he also said that “we will exercise the qualified majority, of course, that is what we asked for and we worked very hard for, because this campaign was overwhelming.”

Padierna stressed that this is “the first time that the right has not even reached a third of the opposition in the chamber and I hope that they will show a new attitude of humility, dialogue and the will to reach agreements.

In this context, she confirmed that she is interested in obtaining the presidency of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Deputies, because she has “the experience for current times. It is not only about leading the plenary. It is, above all, about knowing the regulations. Very important documents arrive at the table, not only initiatives, invitations from all over the world.”

For this reason, she pointed out that although Ifigenia Martínez would initially be ratified as president of the Chamber of Deputies in order to place the presidential sash on Claudia Sheinbaum on October 1, as planned, she will seek to lead the chamber.

Ifigenia, “in addition to being the dean, is a bastion of democracy. She has been someone very significant for us. (…) She has a very great historical significance and she should wear the presidential sash, but it is very different” from carrying out the daily legislative work, where “documents of high relevance” are analyzed and work days of up to 15 hours are carried out.

Other Morena deputies who came to register today also expressed their commitment to the constitutional reforms proposed by López Obrador. One of them was Rigoberto Salgado, former head of the Tláhuac delegation.

“We are bringing an agenda that the President of the Republic presented on February 5th. We are going to make the famous Plan C that we campaigned on in the city and throughout the country a reality. The first of the initiatives that is already on the agenda is the reform of the Judicial Branch and we are ready to start working on it.”

César Cravioto also registered in San Lázaro, who indicated that he will immediately request leave from his position as deputy, to fully dedicate himself to covering the position of Secretary of Government in the cabinet of the elected head of government of the capital, Clara Brugada.

“I will ask for leave later. I did not even register to receive payment, my substitute, Emiliano Álvarez, will do that. On the first day of sessions I will present my leave, because the matter of Secretary of Government of Mexico City requires all my attention and strength.”

Mexico City. The Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies approved in general terms the ruling by which the operational and administrative command of the National Guard (GN) is returned to the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), and allows a division general to head said security agency.

In a discussion lasting almost two hours, the opposition warned that the aforementioned proposal “perfects the militarization of the country,” while Morena and its allies replied that in this way crime is fought with greater cooperation measures, and with the possibility that the GN conducts its own investigations.

The reform seeks to reverse the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, from April of last year, which ordered the withdrawal of the operational and administrative command of the National Guard from the Army and returning it, no later than January 1 of this year, to the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection.

The draft text states that “in Mexico, organized crime has had profound effects on the economic, political and social life of the country, particularly since 2007.”

In addition, organized crime groups “participate in the production, trafficking and marketing of illicit drugs; kidnapping and extortion; human trafficking, forced recruitment and exploitation of children, adolescents and migrants; theft of hydrocarbons” and other illegal activities “that seriously disrupt individual and collective rights and freedoms, and erode the social fabric.”

The text also points out that “on December 11, 2006, then-President Felipe Calderón initiated the security strategy known as the ‘war on drugs,’ in which he used the Armed Forces to confront organized crime. This failed strategy was developed without any respect for human rights and without considering the victims, whom the Calderón administration described as collateral damage.”

In contrast, the text noted, “the current administration has established a new Public Security Policy based on respect for human rights, peace-building and public security with highly professional and trained police forces, which could only be obtained from personnel of military origin to form the GN.”

The initiative states that, “in order to confront crime, the GN must have operational dynamics at the level required to protect the population,” which is why it should be placed under the control of the Sedena. In addition, it grants investigative powers to the GN.

During the discussion of the issue, PAN member Jorge Triana warned that the ruling represented a “new attempt to perfect the militarization” of public security, while warning that the GN “is administratively a disaster,” because its officers are paid by one institution, but are guided by the protocols of another.

For his part, the coordinator of the PRI bench in San Lázaro, Rubén Moreira, stressed that with the reform proposal sent by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador last February, “the Army is being weakened,” since a large number of its elements are sent to the GN.

At the same time, the new Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, is being left without personnel and without room to operate, he said.

Conversely, Morena’s vice coordinator, Leonel Godoy, said that the reform seeks “a new model to combat crime in general, not just organized crime,” and insisted that there is no militarization, because it is the SSPC – with civilian command – that “will formulate the security strategy, the respective programs, policies and actions.”

The proposal, he said, “is civilian. With military discipline, yes, but civilian, not like Felipe Calderón, who took out the Army without any rules,” which made the armed institution the main violator of human rights in the country.

Before the particular discussion of a total of 22 reservations, presented by MC, PRI, PAN and Morena, the initiative was approved in general by 32 votes in favor and 18 against.

The debate continues.