Military Changes Name of Mexico's Fight Against Drug Traffickers Ignacio Alzaga - Milenio
go to original February 12, 2013

MEXICO CITY - The government of President Enrique Peña Nieto has changed the name of its anti-crime strategy maintained by the Army and Air Force, calling it "Operations for Strengthening the Security of Mexicans". Thus, it eradicates the use of the language of combat against drug trafficking and organized crime that was used during the past six years by the government of Felipe Calderón.

Commanders of national defense told Milenio that the priority of military action is to protect the integrity of the population with absolute respect for human rights. Under this guideline, the deployment of an average of 45,000 troops continues continues to provide support to public security [police] throughout the country.

Although the federal government officially ceased to categorize their actions as "High Impact Operations" carried out in the context of the "Mexican State Comprehensive Strategy Against Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime" (as they were called by the previous administration), the work of the armed forces continues with almost the same intensity as in the last administration.

According to preliminary data from the Secretariat of National Defense [Army], in little more than two months of the current administration 1,318 people were detained [by its forces]. This represents almost a third of the arrests reported by the Army throughout all of 2007, the first year of the Calderón administration, which amounted to 3,687, in the context of a strategy in which Calderón had declared the "war" on drugs.

Last Thursday, Salvador Cienfuegos, Secretary of Defense, met behind closed doors with congressional deputies, who said that the General declined to give details about the continuity or permanence of the anti-crime strategy.

See Spanish original

Posted by Reed Brundage at Mexico Voices

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