Changes to the Security System are sent to the Executive

The Congress of the Union concluded its extraordinary session by approving reforms to the areas of disappearances, the National Guard, the Security System, telecommunications, new functions for the INEGI (National Institute of Statistics and Census) with the elimination of CONEVAL (National Electoral Council), money laundering, and the creation of the National Antimonopoly Commission.

Yesterday, the Senate approved the latest reform of the term with 88 votes from Morena, PVEM, PT, and MC (the PRI parliamentary group was the only one to vote against it). The decree issuing the General Law of the National Public Security System was approved. The new Law of the National Investigation and Intelligence System was approved by 67 votes from Morena, PVEM, and PT, against 29 from PAN and PRI, with three abstentions from MC.

Both decrees, which regulate the content of Article 21 of the Constitution, which establishes that the investigation of crimes is the responsibility of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Secretariat of the Public Security Branch of the Federal Executive, the National Guard, and the police, within the scope of their jurisdiction, which will act under the direction and command of the Public Prosecutor's Office in the exercise of this function, were sent to the federal Executive for promulgation and enforcement.

"Mexico needs intelligence because a country without intelligence is a blind, vulnerable, and reactive country," states the explanatory statement of the National Intelligence and Research System Law.

The creation and operation of the National Public Security Research and Intelligence System, which will be coordinated by the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), will enable the provision of information generated through intelligence systems from various government and private security institutions.

"In the specific context of cooperation between Mexico and the United States, strengthening a National Intelligence System represents an indispensable strategic tool. This system allows for the timely exchange of tactical and strategic information, especially in operations against transnational phenomena such as arms, drug, human, and money trafficking, which seriously affect both countries," he stated.

Espionage

From the podium, Francisco Ramírez (PAN) explained that his party's vote would be against the bill "not because we are against intelligence; we are against government spying, against espionage disguised as public policy, against a model that concentrates power without checks and balances, that allows disproportionate access to personal, sensitive, fiscal, biometric, and property data, and real-time geolocation without clear rules and without judicial oversight, which was mandatory from the outset."

For the PRI, Anabell Ávalos stated, regarding the National Intelligence and Investigation System Law, that "we are concerned that it is providing legal support for a system of espionage that will undoubtedly affect people's privacy."

Changes endorsed

During seven sessions of the federal Congress's extra period, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate approved reforms to the General Law of the National Public Security System; the Law of the National System of Investigation and Intelligence in Public Security Matters; the transfer of the functions of the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL) to the INEGI (National Institute of Statistics and Geography); changes to the National Guard; changes to the railway service and bureaucratic procedures; and the new Telecommunications Law.

In San Lázaro, amendments to the Social Security Law were also approved to regulate partial unemployment withdrawals from the accounts of Retirement Fund Administrators (AFORES).