Will He Militarize the National Guard? AMLO Prepares His Last 4 Reforms

The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will present his last four constitutional reforms to his last legislature in Congress, which begins this Friday, among which is to try again the militarization of the National Guard.

The proposals also include lowering the age requirement to receive a pension for the elderly, revealed this Thursday the Secretary of the Interior, Luisa María Alcalde.

The government official anticipated legislators from the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) who will seek to make support for people with disabilities and the Sembrando Vida program mandatory by law, one of López Obrador's flagship projects to support peasants.

During the plenary meeting of the legislators of the ruling Morena, in the former headquarters of the Senate in Mexico City, Alacalde pointed out that these reforms do not seek anything new, but to consolidate the project of the so-called "fourth transformation".

“These are reforms that we will present, but already under a closure logic. We believe that this is not the time to promote new ones, but rather reforms that can consolidate what has been done so far”, she declared.

What changes do the reforms propose?

The first change named by the Secretary of the Interior was to reduce the age required for an older adult to access a universal pension from 68 to 65 years.

The so-called Welfare pension consists of an economic benefit of 4,800 pesos (about $282) every two months, an amount that, López Obrador announced, will increase by 25% for the next year.

In addition, the Mayor expressed that the universality of government support for people with disabilities will be sought, as well as changes to establish the "Sembrando vida" program as part of the financial obligations of the Mexican Government in the Constitution.

Besides, the Mexican official also pointed out that it was necessary to guarantee the operation of the National Guard by commanders of the Mexican Army, constituted in the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena).

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"We must give operational control (of the National Guard) to Sedena so that it allows us to have a strengthened Guard in the future," she said.

Alcalde recalled that a legal reform had already been approved to cede control of the National Guard to the Mexican Army until 2028. But it was stopped by a resolution of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, which declared it unconstitutional and ruled that it made mistakes in the process for changing civilian operational command.