Last week, in an unprecedented congressional session without opposition and without even a quorum, the Deputy Chamber approved 20 reforms that cancelled the Welfare and Health Institute (INSABI); the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT); and the Army was given a new airline.
This further increases worrying centralisation trends in Mexico and paves the way for a more intense and active participation of the military in areas beyond its traditional scope. MORENA and its allies, the Labour Party (PT), the Green Party (PVEM), and the ultra conservative, evangelist Social Encounter Party (PES) endorsed these changes proposed by AMLO in less than 15 minutes per reform. That is as little as it took for the Congress to fundamentally and permanently change Mexican educational, security and health landscape. Out of those 20 reforms, two are particularly worrying: increased civil powers delegated to the military, and the disappearance of CONACyT and its long-term consequences for Mexican education and research prospects.
The Army has seen a 52% budget increase since Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) became president in 2018. This has led to a rapid rise in militarisation: in 2023, the US Global Firepower Index, that measures the strength of the armies in 145 countries across the world, placed Mexico in the 31st place. In just one year, Mexico jumped 11 positions. This coincides with the September 2022 reforms when AMLO transferred the National Guard to the Secretary of National Defence.
AMLO continues to bet on increased militarisation to solve the worsening security crisis despite its high human rights costs and proven failure to address violence and organised crime. This stance contrasts sharply with AMLO’s initial pacifist approach “Hugs not Bullets” and it also goes against his presidential campaign promise to return the army to the barracks. AMLO had been a vocal critic of militarisation of previous administrations. However, he has implemented policies that have surpassed any decision his predecessors Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto took: he has successfully transferred the authority of the National Guard, an initially conceived civilian task force of almost 100,000 members, under the remit of the Ministry of Defence (SEDENA), and has gradually increased presence of the military in other formerly civilian tasks. Levels of military deployment and participation under AMLO have reached record levels in contemporary Mexican history.
Under his administration, he has granted more civilian functions and more power to the Army. The military is now in charge of fighting organised crime, administering customs, operating two civilian airports, and building priority infrastructure such as the Mayan Train and the refinery of Dos Bocas. AMLO has empowered the same military institution that he fiercely criticised years ago and that have been responsible for serious violations of human rights and abuses. The Army in Mexico has traditionally enjoyed a worryingly high level of autonomy, lack of transparency and accountability. AMLO, despite promises of bringing abusers to justice in the military, has not implemented any effective accountability process, nor the Army has been reformed to guarantee transparency and to build effective control mechanisms to prevent further abuses. AMLO exonerated the Army for its actions in the murder of the 43 students back in 2014.
The ever spiraling cycle of violence will not disappear with more soldiers in the street. It is the wrong path simply because organised crime cannot be defeated by following a war model approach. In doing so, AMLO is blatantly ignoring the real causes of violence. Mexico has not consolidated reliable, well-resourced, and capable legal and criminal frameworks and systems ever since its establishment as an independent state in 1823. Judicial institutions, at the three levels of government, operate with deep-rooted problems, lack of capacity, rampant impunity and corruption: 99% of the crimes committed in the country go unpunished. This is the real problem that requires urgent solution.
If this was not worrying enough, the new set of reforms approved paved the way for the military to now participate further in the decision-making process of educational and research policies in Mexico. The military will not only distribute textbooks across the country, AMLO effectively withdraw researchers from voting on important decisions for the newly created Council, and gave it the Army and the Navy participate in the Science and Technology Council. The reform createdthe National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies (CONAHCTI), a substitute for CONACyT, and the heads of SEDENA and MARINA (Navy) are included in the Governing Board of the new institution, with voice and vote.
The disappearance of CONACyT means a serious regression in the educational and research Mexican landscape. Higher quality in education, incentives for university and think tanks to produce research are central for economic development and fostering innovation and critical thinking skills in societies. When equal educational opportunities are available across gender, race, age, and ethnicities a society will gravitate towards higher equality, better income distribution and reduction of gender disparity. Education and research are fundamental drivers of personal, national and global development. Education and research can also contribute to long-lasting solutions in conflict-torn countries like Mexico. Education is a force for good as it is has the capacity to reduce violence.
Economic development and long-lasting peace are also closely related to the development of new ideas to solve old problems. This is exactly what research facilitates. Since the start of AMLO’s presidency, CONACyT had already stopped paying researchers, terminated them without justification and ended CONACyT professorships aimed at reducing brain drain. This programme was launched in 2014 to make up for the lack of full time positions at universities and research institutes across the country. The goal was to recruit 3000 researchers by 2018.
Since its inception, many Mexican researchers chose to stay and come back from abroad and carry out research in Mexico. As soon as he became president, AMLO started to refer to academicians and researchers as payroll freeloaders who were draining the economy. He bashed continuously on academicians, researchers and lecturers during his daily press conferences. By May 2019, he cancelled any further openings for new professorship positions and a few weeks later he stopped the programme altogether. This new reform that disappears CONACyT culminates AMLO’s fight against higher education, independent research and critical thinking. It makes knowledge hostage to the whims of the incumbent administration. This is not what Mexico needs.
AMLO is trying to restrict academic freedom of researchers, impose a hierarchical and centralised structure that relegates education, research, to non-essential areas for development. This new reform also eliminates the commitment of the government to allocate a stable budget for research every year. Education, research and critical thinking skills are essential for the betterment of society. They are also key drivers in innovation and progress. Conditioning funding to only those who adhere and support the government’s agenda, will constrain freedom of speech, access to information and subject research to the caprice of authorities rather than to the truth.
AMLO’s lean towards centralisation, and reduced autonomy across all areas highlights that he takes his cues from the past not the future. The last reforms approved mean a serious step backwards for Mexico’s development, security and independent research. This should be a serious warning for Mexico and what it could mean for the country to have six more years of MORENA in power, should they win the next presidential elections in 2024.
