Security strategy review by the Senate, limited

The Chamber of Senators lacks “teeth” to demand “clear accounts” from the federal Executive in matters of public security, specialists Pablo Girault and Eunice Rendón agreed.

The expert from the civil association Mexico United Against Crime (MUCD) and the consultant on security issues, explained that the solution to insecurity in Mexico requires a “country strategy” because the problem is “multifaceted.”

Hence, they considered it urgent to do “everything at once” in the fight against the criminal phenomenon and for the three orders of government and powers of the Union.

Girault recalled that the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) has not even presented the Strategic Plan for Procurement of Justice to the Senate for approval, when the deadline to do so expired last May, and “legislators cannot do anything about it.

“The Senate could tell (the prosecutor) present it (the plan) but it does not have, and this is one of the defects of the law, the ability to say ‘since you did not present it to me, I will fire you, you no longer have a job, sir (prosecutor). ..”

And the same applies, he said, in the cases of the secretaries of National Defense and Citizen Security, obliged to also present to the senators the annual report of the National Guard (GN) and the security strategy.

The Senate has no powers to run them; he has an obligation, but he is toothless, ”he said.

Article 76, sections IV and XI, of the Constitution establishes the exclusive powers of the Senate to analyze and approve the annual report that the federal Executive presents to it on the activities of the GN, as well as the National Public Security Strategy.

The Law of the Attorney General of the Republic obliges the head of the FGR to present the aforementioned strategic plan to the senators.

hard work

Rendón opined that the Senate “is missing teeth and also needs to be more incisive on the subject and truly make a timely and periodic review of just the things that go there listening because we do suddenly see the secretary and security authorities appearing, but It is necessary to go beyond the political part”.

From his point of view, “rather than making the appearances a political act, the senators would have to set goals of where they plan to go and when.

“Because there is no plan that allows us to understand when there is supposed to be a drop in some of the crimes that hurt so much, such as intentional homicide or the six types of crimes against women and girls” .

But not only the senators “have to do a thorough job,” he clarified, but also the police, officials in the matter, the secretary of security and the president of the Republic.

“It is something that does touch as a country. The senators in their small preserve of power (over the responsibility they have by law), but it goes far beyond them. It is, I believe, a “country strategy” that is needed to face the problem of insecurity that exists in Mexico.

The Senate, he said, “has done a limited job in the sense of not observing” that “perhaps we have to rethink the strategy” on the matter.

“You have to call for accountability, to truly know where to strengthen the path. It’s not easy, but something has to be done.”

The fact of “not having a force with a lot of experience; that is to say, the GN is hardly a force in creation, ”he explained, the“ tortuous process has returned and that has not helped ”.

The specialist pointed out that “there is a weakness in several important institutions” since there is no “repositioning at the local level” or in the public ministries, that is, the FGR.

The Senate especially has some groups on this issue, he added, which should be vigilant and precisely encouraging the security strategy to gain new strength when necessary.

“But the main responsibility is, without a doubt, of the federal Executive on the one hand, and on the other also of the states and municipalities. For things to change, work is required from the three levels of government because the situation in this area is very complicated; particularly, in some states there is not even the rule of law.”

rolando.ramos@eleconomista.mx