New GIGA Focus Latin America | Mexico: Sheinbaum to Face Militarisation and Human Rights Concerns

Mexico’s president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum secured victory by pledging continuity to the outgoing López Obrador presidency. However, under his tenure, the military’s power was extended to civilian functions, leading to increased violence and persistent human rights violations. Accountability, civilian control, and transparency will be crucial in Sheinbaum’s term in office if violence is to abate.

• Since 2006 the militarisation of public life in Mexico has intensified. Soldiers and civil servants with military training are now taking on tasks largely outside their constitutional role, ranging from fighting crime to detaining migrants, building trains, and controlling airports. Claudia Sheinbaum has pledged to continue involving the Army and National Guard in civilian functions.

• Militarisation has thus far failed to create security, as in Mexico violence and human rights violations remain high. Documented consequences of increased militarisation include extrajudicial executions, escalating lethal violence, enforced disappearances, and violations of migrants’ rights.

• Civil society actors play a key role in defending human rights. They gather information on the ground, document, and denounce cases of human rights violations. In some cases, activists themselves have become victims of espionage, state violence, and criminalisation. With the repression of protests and the targeted killings of journalists and human rights defenders, civic space is shrinking.

Policy Implications

The key to addressing human rights violations is to support civil society actors calling for strengthening law enforcement institutions to protect the population, hold those responsible accountable, and provide justice and reparation to victims. The gradual withdrawal of the Army from civilian space and the implementation of a migration and security plan with a human rights focus must be ensured.

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