A police officer teaches a student from Technical High School 54, in Guanajuato, how to handle a firearm.RR SS
The images that have circulated in local and national media of uniformed students carrying firearms have shocked the State of Guanajuato and the country, in the midst of a discussion about the impact of weapons on the lives of thousands of children and adolescents, increasingly affected by the growing violence that prevails in Mexico.
Police from the municipality of Purísima del Rincón attended the Technical High School Number 54, Mariano Matamoros, on Monday to "guide against the consumption of dangerous substances and crime prevention."
As part of the activity, the students were allowed to carry and maneuver the weapons of the security agents.
A dozen civil organizations have already made their conviction public, while the municipality's Public Security has assured that an investigation is underway to find those responsible.
"We express our indignation and condemnation for the events that occurred (...) with the presence of school authorities, in which the exhibition, use and alleged training of various types of weapons were promoted during a course carried out with the slogan of 'imparting practical on the prevention of addictions and violence' as part of the
Planet Youth
program , in charge of the Government of the State of Guanajuato, which does not foresee or support putting children and adolescents in contact with weapons”, specify organizations such as Red por Children's Rights in Mexico (REDIM), and Weaving Children's Networks in Latin America and the Caribbean, among others, in a statement.
Although in the text, the signatories mention the
Planet Youth program
(
an Icelandic initiative focused on the prevention of addictions based on public policies), the State Government has distanced itself and assures that it has nothing to do with what was done in the municipality of Purisima del Rincon.
In 2021, the governor of Guanajuato, Diego Sinhue Rodríguez, presented the collaboration of this Icelandic initiative with his administration as "the most important project of the six-year period in addiction care that has been carried out in Guanajuato."
"The responsibility has been totally the municipality, no other state or federal institution was informed or participated in said initiative," sources from the state government assure EL PAÍS.
A student from Technical High School 54, in Guanajuato, holds a gun during the violence prevention workshop.RR SS
The Secretary of Public Education of Guanajuato has informed that the corresponding investigations are already underway to determine the responsibilities.
“According to the directors of the school campus, the work project presented by the Municipal Police of Purísima del Rincón did not contemplate this activity, so the municipal authority reviews the performance of its elements,” they say.
Civil organizations have recalled the publication, just a few days ago, of the report
Firearms in schools in Latin America and the Caribbean
, carried out by the United Nations Regional Center for Peace, Disarmament and Development (UNLIREC), in which assure that children and adolescents are the main victims of the serious human rights crisis facing Mexico.
Governor Sinhue Rodríguez assured local media that what happened was unfortunate: “How can they think of putting those practices in place.
I want to believe that the intention was good, but we are going to have some calls for attention and explain to them that what we need is precisely to keep the kids away from addictions and violence, ”he said.
In the municipality of Purísima del Rincón, it is also not clear where the decision was made in secondary school.
Benjamín Alejandro Vargas Hernández, director of Public Security, confirmed that last weekend the area he heads authorized the intervention of Crime Prevention in Technical High School Number 54, but that "at no time was the intervention of firearms authorized with the student population.
In his morning conference this Friday, President López Obrador said that what is done in other countries should not be imitated by teaching minors the use of weapons.
"I do not agree with that, they do that in other countries, we should not copy it."
Just this Thursday, in the Permanent Commission of Congress, it was denounced that more than 8,000 minors in Mexico have been murdered between December 2018 and May 2022, as a result of organized crime disputes.
According to information from specialized institutions and agencies, the States with the highest number of infant deaths due to organized crime are Guanajuato, the State of Mexico, Michoacán, Chihuahua and Zacatecas.
In addition, the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP) has revealed that, between December 2018 and May 2022, 8,336 children and adolescents were shot.
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