Photo: Sáshenka Gutiérrez / EFE
From the National Palace, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, presented the so-called “Participatory exercise” where citizens will be asked whether or not they want the Mexican Army to continue carrying out public security tasks until the year 2028 and if the National Guard is formed and controlled by the Secretary of National Defense.
“It will not be called a consultation because we have to act within the framework of legality, yes there is a legal procedure that can be carried out in this case that is like a consultation but has another name… It will not be binding but what matters to us is that progress is made in participatory democracy”, he clarified.
“Representative democracy is fine, but we also need the permanent participation of citizens to improve our democracy. Democracy is a way of life, so we need participatory democracy, this issue is not just anything ”, he said .
For his part, the Secretary of the Interior, Adán Augusto López, gave details of this new Participatory Exercise on which, he said, is supported by the Organic Law of the Federal Public Administration.
“It is not really a consultation, it is a exercise of social participation, of which the Ministry of the Interior, in accordance with the provisions of article 28 of the Organic Law of the Federal Public Administration has the powers to organize it, for which in the third week of January next year it will be held A great day has been held in which the people of Mexico will be asked if they agree that the Army and the Navy continue until March of 2028 participating in public security tasks”, he pointed out.
“You can participate, according to the National Electoral Institute, there are 68,800 electoral sections. The objective is that at least one center be installed to collect the opinion of citizens in each of the electoral sections , which we call points that receive the public opinion of the participatory exercise in each one of them”, he commented.
“The organization of all This participatory exercise will be in charge of the Ministry of the Interior and an honorary citizen committee , which will determine the mechanisms for the implementation of actions at the national level, will also be replicated at the state level, will be in charge of the Ministry of the Interior, each of the states and citizen committees of a state nature, “he specified.
In this participatory exercise, which will take place on Sunday 22 of January of 2023, Mexican citizens will be able to attend this conference only with p Submit your CURP (Unique Population Registry Code) and a valid photo ID.
“The people will be invited to join this participatory exercise both for carrying out the promotion and for them to become receivers of popular opinion. The participatory exercise will take place at 8: 00 at 18: 00 hours on Sunday 22 January 2023. All citizens can participate using the CURP and an official photo ID. It will be done in a format that will contain 3 questions and at all times the secrecy of the opinion issued by citizens will be taken care of, “he reported.
Within the three questions asked will do to people are:
1. Do you agree with the creation of the National Guard and its performance so far?, yes or no
2. Do you consider that the Armed Forces, the Army and the Navy should continue doing public security work until the year 2028 or that they return to their barracks in March 2024? Should they stay until 2028 or not, should they return to their barracks in March 2024?.
3. What is your opinion that the National Guard becomes part of the Ministry of National Defense or reports to the Ministry of Defense? Government or the Ministry of Public Security?.
Answer option 1: That it remain in the Secretariat of National Defense; Option 2: Go to the Ministry of the Interior; Option 3: That he return to the Ministry of Public Security
Adán Augusto López said that a portal will be set up by the Ministry of the Interior so that , including Mexicans residing abroad, may express their opinion.
“The opinion may be issued in person or electronically to facilitate this participatory exercise to the people and the portal of the Ministry of the Interior will be implemented, a platform in which citizens must register their CURP and issue their opinion that will be added to the final accounting, even this option can be used by Mexicans residing abroad who have their respective CURP”, commented Adán Augusto.
“To gather the opinion electronically, the portal of the Ministry of the Interior will be enabled from 16 until the 22 from January. And to complement this participatory exercise we will convene for October 4 the heads of government , the governors, governors, the Head of Government to a meeting where they will be invited to help organize the process and will be presented to the citizen committee. Later, on October 6, we will do the same with the municipal presidents, the municipal president, so that they can help organize the process,” he insisted.
This exercise after failing last week, in the Senate of the Republic, a constitutional reform will be carried out that would extend up to 2024 the powers of the Armed Forces to carry out public security tasks.
“The day of promotion, diffusion, debate, will start on the day of October and in the possibility that the public squares in which it can be disseminated invite the public to participate in this democratic exercise and that day of dissemination will end on the day 10 of January of 2023. As the president has mentioned, it is not a binding, binding exercise, nor is it a popular consultation as such because we are from the legal system and that is perfectly defined in the Constitution and in the event that the minute that is now in committees in the Senate If it were not approved, a new initiative would be presented in the first days of February to take into account the opinion of the citizens”, concluded the Secretary of the Interior of Mexico.
You can interest:
– AMLO will not “fold” the Ayotzinapa case 8 years after the disappearance of the 43 students
– AMLO holds an intense debate with Jorge Ramos on violence in Mexico: “I don’t agree with you”– AMLO says that Julian Assange is a “Don Quixote of freedom of expression” and does not deserve be in jail