López Obrador consolidates the transfer of security to the Armed Forces in the Independence celebrations

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's goal of transferring public security tasks to the Armed Forces has crystallized in the last two weeks.

The culmination has been in the celebrations of the Independence of Mexico in the capital: some troops showing muscle with a significant display in the military parade and other uniformed men lending their work tools —from assault rifles to bulletproof vests and helmets— to children and families as a sample of approach to the population.

The plan, published in a decree on September 9, has been taking shape in the direct changes in the security institutions, but they have also required legislative reforms that, incidentally, have complicated the balance in the opposition.

The smiling families posing for photos aboard a

in front of the Angel of Independence reflects what most surveys confirm: 65% of Mexicans have full confidence in the Armed Forces.

In some states of the country plagued by the violence of the drug cartels, it is even the local governments who ask that public security be in the hands of the Army.

Initially, López Obrador's decree transferred the administrative tasks of the National Guard to the military body without touching the Constitution, which demands that this security group be of a civilian nature.

Although the role still has some restrictions, in practice the guards have already marched under the orders of the military this September 16.

The measure generates mistrust in various sectors due to the amount of power, budget and presence in public life that the Armed Forces are accumulating.

The debate has already managed to fracture the opposition parties in Congress.

The first to change its mind has been the Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI), which has also proposed amending the current legislation so that the Army is in charge of security until 2029. The gesture has earned the old party the contempt of the other formations and an inevitable rupture in the opposition scheduled for the next few days, but which will last in the state elections of 2023 and the presidential elections of 2024.

A couple of children pose for a photograph with elements of the Mexican Army in the exhibition organized by the Secretary of National Defense. Rodrigo Oropeza

The resistance has also been in the government party, Morena, with the deputy Inés Parra who voted against the PRI proposal.

"I cannot be with the militarization in Mexico in exchange for impunity," she said to refer to Alejandro Moreno, leader of the PRI, investigated for illicit enrichment and who supposedly would benefit from the legislative negotiation.

The division has even touched the PRI itself in its guts: while its deputies have been willing to support López Obrador, its senators have announced that they will not accede to the presidential wish in a vote pending next week.

In the streets, the opposition has been deposited in civil society in various demonstrations.

The most visible in recent days has been the collective Until Finding You, formed by the families of the disappeared in Mexico, which on Thursday maintained tension for almost 24 hours with a peculiar protest.

Two of its members climbed the 100 meters of the Estela de Luz, a monument built on the Paseo de la Reforma by the Government of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012), to display a sign against the militarization of public security.

Activists have insisted that López Obrador's plan prolongs the military's presence on the streets just as Calderón began 16 years ago, without further curbing crime.

They also put their finger on the historical wounds of the military in Mexico:

The 118,000 National Guard members joining the Armed Forces also represent a change for budgets.

The Army is expected to receive around 146 billion pesos ($7.5 billion), a record figure for the Ministry of Defense.

His work is already visible in customs, airports, construction of emblematic works and, now, public security.

Mexico maintains an average of 100 intentional homicides per day and the criminal decrease still does not seem to be in sight.

López Obrador has guaranteed respect for human rights, despite doubts from various sectors.

Elements of the Mexican Army put a camouflage suit on a child. Rodrigo Oropeza

Endowed with new responsibilities, the heads of the Armed Forces - Army and Navy - have denounced a smear campaign against the military forces with "biased" comments expressed by those who "try to distance them from citizenship," according to the Secretary of the Defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval.

On the night of September 15, with the Zócalo lit up by the El Grito ceremony, those accusations were dispelled, some spontaneous cheered the Defense, “Se-de-na!

Se-de-na!”, while others repeated President López Obrador's mantra: “The soldier is a people in uniform.”

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