During the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Mexican Army grew by nine percent in the number of available troops, reaching 412 thousand active soldiers this year, placing the country as the first in Latin America with the highest number of military personnel, above Brazil and Colombia, which have 360 thousand and 293 thousand elements, respectively, according to updated data from the International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), based in Stockholm.
Mexico is also among the five countries in the region with the highest military spending, only below Brazil, and also tops the list of those that have increased the economic resources to their Army the most in the last five years. This increase, however, according to SIPRI, has not translated into a modernization of military equipment or the replacement of existing material, or even into more training.
The Mexican Army has been well rated in international rankings such as that of the American platform Global FirePower, which in its 2024 edition recognized the military coverage that exists in the national territory of roads, railways and airports, but failed in terms of equipment, such as the reduced fleet of attack helicopters and helicopters in general, as well as submarines, war tanks and technology.
According to David Saucedo, a specialist in the Armed Forces, the injection of resources to the Ministry of Defense (Sedena) grew more than 40 percent since López Obrador came to power in December 2018, but most of these resources were allocated to public works that were entrusted to the Army.
“No other Latin American country increased the money for its military like Mexico, in such a short time, but, in fact, it was not invested in professionalizing the Army, or even in strengthening or equipping it well to effectively confront organized crime, but in public works, such as the Mayan Train, which were commissioned,” Saucedo considered in an interview.
No other Latin American country increased the money for its military like Mexico, in such a short time
David Saucedo, Armed Forces Specialist
According to SIPRI data, Mexico added 37,080 soldiers to its active troops since 2019, when the government of the Fourth Transformation (4T) began. Since then, the military has assumed control of Customs, the construction of the Mayan Train, the Trans-Isthmus Train, the Banco del Bienestar, the new Felipe Ángeles capital airport, as well as the custody and transfer of vaccines against Covid-19 and the implementation of emblematic programs, such as Sembrando Vida. In addition, they obtained the right to autonomously collect the profits generated, for example, by the Mayan Train, which will not only be built, but also managed by the military.
“President López Obrador’s speech as a candidate, criticizing the Mexican Army for human rights violations and promising to return to the barracks, is behind us, it changed radically and what he did was deinstitutionalize it to turn it into an arm of the 4T, militarize the country to guarantee the continuity of its transformation project,” added David Saucedo.
In public opinion, however, militarization is not perceived as something dangerous. The Army and the Navy are the country’s institutions with the highest level of trust from the population, with 63 percent approval, followed by the National Guard, with 60 percent, according to the latest National Survey of Civic Culture. In addition, 77 percent of Mexicans agree with a government headed by a strong leader and 40 percent with a government headed by the military.
The Army is preparing to face, in a couple of months, one of its most relevant tests: the arrival of a woman to command the Armed Forces.
Claudia Sheinbaum will assume the presidency of Mexico on October 1 and will thus become the first woman to command the Armed Forces. For specialists, this is a very relevant situation since normally the military structures of Mexico have been reluctant to allow women to reach positions of high responsibility.
”The transcendental thing is that in the Sedena there are no female generals, there has not been a female Secretary of Defense or a female Secretary of the Navy; nor are there female commanders in the National Guard, which speaks of the reluctance,” explained Saucedo.
The next president has reserved the appointment of those who will head the Defense and Navy for September, but in her press conference on June 24 she stressed that to be the head of these departments certain rank requirements must be met. When asked if a woman could be at the head of institutions such as the Army, Sheinbaum pointed out that this might not be possible. “Normally they are admirals and division generals. So far, there are no female division generals or female admirals. And the institution itself must also be respected,” explained the president-elect.
Source: elsoldemexico
