The Army and the National Guard will provide personal escorts to candidates at risk

The violence that affects candidates for elected positions, especially in the States, has forced the entry of the military as personal guards.

The National Electoral Institute (INE), political parties and various federal security agencies have agreed on a warning and coordination system to provide protection to candidates who are exposed to any risk.

The Army and the National Guard will provide vehicles and troops who will serve as personal escorts for the candidates in danger.

This protection service will be for candidates for governor, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate ahead of the elections on June 2.

Candidates for local elected positions must be protected by the security forces of the States.

The custody service will be activated based on a study that will consist of three criteria: the incidence of crime in the States, a risk analysis prepared by the National Guard, and the personal threats that the applicants have received and reported to the corresponding authorities.

Based on these elements, it will be determined whether a candidate is at high, medium or low risk.

If the risk level is high or medium, the protection service will be granted.

When it is high, the candidate will be provided with a personal escort of four official vehicles and 10 Army personnel;

When the risk is medium, three vehicles and eight members of the National Guard will be assigned.

If the risk level is low, the applicant will have a vehicle and two elements from the Security Secretariat.

Congressional candidates will only receive protection if the risk analysis is high and if, in addition, they have received express threats (and reported them to the authorities).

In these elections, 500 deputies and 128 senators will be renewed.

There will be hundreds of candidates from all political forces.

Of course, the candidates for the presidency of the Republic, Claudia Sheinbaum and Xóchitl Gálvez, will be guarded by federal elements, regardless of the risk analysis.

This protection scheme was agreed upon by the authorities and the parties on Wednesday afternoon, in a meeting at the INE.

The system works through an inter-institutional table in which the Electoral Institute, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Security, the Army, the National Guard, the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Special Prosecutor's Office for Electoral Crimes participate.

Operation in Fresnillo (Zacatecas) for the murder of Juan Pérez Guardado, director of Social Development in the municipality, on February 7, 2024. JESÚS FRANCISCO MUÑOZ (CUARTOSCURO)

To put the protection mechanism into operation, the candidate must first inform his or her political party of the risk to which he or she is exposed and then submit a formal request to the INE.

The Electoral Institute will send the request to the Secretariat of Security, which in turn will make the request to the Army and the National Guard.

These institutions will carry out the risk analysis.

If the need for protection is confirmed, it will be made available to the requesting candidate.

In the event that the INE receives protection requests for candidates for state election positions, these will be channeled to the Local Electoral Institutes (Oples) and the security tables of the States.

“For the first time, the Institute jointly carries out a monitoring table with political forces on security matters for the electoral process,” said the president of the INE, Guadalupe Taddei.

The official has also recognized "the commitment of the political forces to work from their internal procedures and avoid interference by people linked to criminal groups or organized crime."

The PAN and the PRD criticize the mechanism

The leader of the PAN, Marko Cortés, has described as “insufficient” the security mechanism presented by the INE and the federal government agencies.

The politician has stated that the threat of organized crime is not averted in all stages of the electoral process, not only in relation to the safety of the candidates' lives.

Cortés has stated that criminal groups participate in five moments of every election, according to evidence from past electoral processes.

First, he has stated, they intervene in the nomination of the candidates;

then, during the campaign, with direct threats to the life and environment of the candidates;

later, in the electoral ban, when criminals threaten political operators and polling station officials;

also, during election day, when criminal groups intimidate voters and steal ballot boxes;

and finally, he added, after the election, when organized crime pressures the candidates not to challenge the results.

“What is putting democracy in our country at risk the most is violence, it is insecurity, it is the intervention of organized crime in electoral processes,” he stated.

“That is why we are asking the INE to take all measures and, in addition, hold the federal government responsible for any intervention by organized crime in this process,” he added.

The president of the PRD, Jesús Zambrano, has indicated that election day “is at risk” due to violence and has asked that the parties, the INE and the federal government sign a National Agreement for Security, which guarantees the holding of calm elections. and democratic.

“A general scheme is required where the federal government demonstrates that it is willing to put organized crime bosses in jail.

If he is willing, he can do it, he has enough time,” he stated.

Attacks on politicians have been frequent in Mexico in each electoral process and have raised alerts from national and international organizations.

This Wednesday, in Zacatecas, the director of Social Development of Fresnillo, Juan Pérez, who was also the brother-in-law of the Morena senator and former presidential candidate Ricardo Monreal, was murdered.

At night, the brother of the mayor of Sombrerete was murdered.

At the same time, in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, the coordinator of the State Citizen Movement, Julián López Galeana, was kidnapped.

He was subsequently released.

Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS México newsletter

and receive all the key information on current events in this country