Enrique Peña Nieto Reduces The Number of Soldiers Combating Narcos

Source: La Policiaca

With the rise to power of Enrique Peña Nieto, the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA) reduced the number of elements involved in combating drug trafficking and organized crime, compared to the staff assigned to these duties during the administration of Felipe Calderón.  During the past six years, more than 50,000 elements were engaged daily in the war against drug trafficking, unlike today where there are only 32,253 elements.

According to official data, with the reduction of the number of soldiers that participate in the ongoing campaign against drug trafficking and the implementation of the Federal Act of Firearms and Explosives, in the current administration it also decreased, on average, the number of detainees, as well as the seizures of guns and drugs, with regard to 2006-2012.

Without even having a combat strategy defined, the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) also ceased “High impact operations” and instead made “25 operations to reduce violence.”

According to information gathered, a total of 9 soldiers died from December 2012 to January 31—it’s the only data available on this from the SEDENA website.  Within the context of fighting against drug trafficking: 6 by attacks with the use of a firearm, 2 by accident, and one who drowned.  Of these, one was a special force sergeant who died in the state of Sinaloa.

Meanwhile, from December 2006 to December 2012, 224 soldiers died during the war on drugs, of which 171 were killed by firearms, 31 were executed, 6 who were run over to death, 12 who drowned, and four more from electric shock.

Within the two months of Peña Nieto’s administration, the average number of soldiers who died with the use of the implementation of the Act of Firearms and Explosives was 4.5 per month.  During the 6 years of the Calderón administration, the average was 3.1 per month.

The information from the SEDENA claims that within the three months of the current administration, soldiers have arrested a monthly average of 625 criminal suspects.  During the previous administration the figure was 706 per month.

During this administration, the average monthly number of rifles, handguns, and grenades secured was 738 (rifles), 341 (handguns) and 126 (grenades) while during the previous administration the figures were 1,055 (rifles), 693 (handguns) and 146 (grenades), respectively.

Overall, in the previous administration the military arrested 50,897 suspected criminals and secured 75,974 rifles, 49,943 handguns, and 10,583.

With regard to the operations that replaced the “high impact”, the SEDENA realizes that it now carries out the following:

Michoacán

Coordinada Chihuahua

Culiacán-Navolato-Guamúchil

Noreste, in Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Veracruz

Laguna Segura, in Durango and Coahuila

Istmo, in Oaxaca, Veracruz and Tabasco

Veracruz Seguro

Aguascalientes-Zacatecas

Villahermosa

Morelos

Acapulco Seguro, Hurundal and Guerrero I, in Guerrero

Dragón, Valle de Bravo and Valle de Toluca, in the state of México

Mixteca, en Oaxaca

La Barca and Bloqueo, in Jalisco

Frontera México-Bélice 10-2012 and Frontera México-Bélice 1-2013, in Quintana Roo and Campeche

Maravilla Tenejapa and Tapachula Seguro, in Chiapas

Triángulo de la Brecha 1-2013, in Guerrero, Michocán and the state of México

Sierra Madre III in Sinaloa and Durango.

In information collected through requests, the SEDENA was questioned about changes in strategy with the arrival of Peña Nieto against organized crime and drug trafficking, which the government agency who heads General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda said:

 “It is made aware that the document that guided the activities of all of the national institutions involved in the fight against drug trafficking, within the context of the authority of the National Security Council, including the armed forces, during the previous administration was the National Development Plan 2007-2012, that “suggest channeling your request to the liaison unit of the Presidency of the Republic in order to provide the corresponding answer to your request."

Categories: arrests, Mexico's Drug War, SEDENA