Consequences of indolence

The Army has more than 10 years carrying out security tasks on the streets of different regions of the country. Numerous voices have insisted on the need to return to their headquarters, but the indolence shown by local authorities (municipal and state) to have competent police makes it almost impossible for them to go back.

The Military Forces have been targeted for committing faults in their performance, especially for incurring human rights violations. From within the Ministry of Defense, mistakes have been acknowledged, apologies have been given, actions have been taken to train its members and, mainly, a law has been requested to regulate their actions outside the military field.

The task of the soldiers is again under questioning due to a video published yesterday and which allegedly reveals an extrajudicial execution carried out by an element in a confrontation with alleged pipesuckers in a little town in Puebla.

To these images - partial, perhaps spread with a biased objective - followed another recording of the same events that this time shows the death of a soldier at the hands of one of the so-called huachicoleros; Not having subdued or stripped him of his weapon had fatal consequences in the military lines.

For years, the phenomenon of fuel theft grew under the indolence of federal and state authorities.

All military abuse is always condemnable. The exact way in which the facts developed must be investigated.

The situation will revive the debate about the lack of a legal framework for military tasks in matters of crime fighting. Law initiatives, by the way, were presented in the Chamber and the Senate during the session concluded two weeks ago, but due to the lack of consensus, they didn't make it to the voting round. The rules that would give certainty to society - and to the soldiers themselves - about the Armed Forces' performance in security issues will have to wait because of legislative indolence.

In a decade, the advances in the professionalization of the police corporations are minimal. Just a week ago, the federal government pointed out that although there are 2 thousand 450 municipalities, only 1,800 security groups are formed; 900 have fewer than 20 police officers and only 50 municipal institutions could adequately carry out security work.

Once again, the lack of prepared police leaves the Army in the front line of the fight against crime, which exposes risks such as those presumably shown in the videos. This matter requires that everyone involved (states, municipalities, legislators) leaves behind the indolent attitude to begin making a change in national security.

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