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17 regions across Mexico identified by crime rates for additional security

Mexico City, Mexico — Head of the country’s public security says that 17 regions across Mexico have been identified by their homicide rates and will see the addition of security accordingly as part of the new National Guard.

The head of the Secretaría de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana (SSPC) Alfonso Durazo, announced that members of federal forces will be permanently deployed to 17 regions of the country in order to reduce the incidence of crime and homicides.

During a press conference at the Palacio Nacional, Durazo said that current staff will be reassigned over the next two weeks so that each of the 17 regions has additional security, noting that the elements will be made up of members of the Policía Federal, the army and the navy.

He insisted on the importance of the permanence of these elements in each of the regions, unlike before when they were moved from one place to another responding to contingencies.

He said that in these regions, they will work with the government on 10 strategic actions to inhibit different criminal manifestations, since what is sought is to have regulations that prevents criminals from escaping from one zone to another.

Durazo reiterated the urgency and the “essential need” to have the National Guard, “an instrument that will allow us to recruit new elements and expand the state of force to cover with permanent public force each of the 266 administrative regions in which we have divided the country.”

He also stressed the importance of combating organized crime from financial, rather than operational capabilities, with the purpose of diminishing the abilities to operate these groups.

Alfonso Durazo said that next week, they will announce more specific actions to reduce the incidence of homicides.

The headquarters are Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Acapulco, Chilpancingo, Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Ecatepec, Tlajomulco, Irapuato, Guadalajara, Salamanca, Culiacán, Manzanillo, Uriangato, Celaya, Monterrey and the municipality of Benito Juárez in Quintana Roo, better known as Cancun.

Working Groups and UN-Human Rights Rapporteurs expressed their “serious concern” about a constitutional reform project that will lead to the creation of the National Guard in Mexico.

In a statement released Wednesday by the Mexico office of UN-DH, experts said that the creation of such a security agency “would give permanent character to a militarized public security scheme,” which they have repeatedly questioned in the past.

They pointed out that through the constitutional reforms approved on January 16 by the Chamber of Deputies and those that are currently under discussion in the senate, they would be “granting permanent powers to the Armed Forces to perform tasks of public security and criminal investigation.”

They made reference to the numerous recommendations made by independent bodies and experts of the United Nations “regarding the need to restrict the maximum participation of the Armed Forces in security tasks”.

In addition, to “duly separate police and military functions, as well as guarantee accountability for human rights violations committed by its members.”

The UN withdrew its willingness to assist the Mexican State in its efforts to strengthen the legislative and institutional framework of the country and thus guarantee the realization of the human rights of all people.