It is no longer a secret that Michoac\u00e1n is the biggest flashpoint regarding security issues in Mexico. This state became the stage of a complex and explosive blend of factors that have led to lawlessness, among these factors are criminal organizations, self-defense groups, social protests and, in addition, an interim governor. After months of delay, the federal government has announced the mobilization of State forces to the state. Faced with such information, it\u2019s inevitable to remember the first security act in Calder\u00f3n\u2019s government: the deployment of Federal Army throughout Michoac\u00e1n. Given the similarities, are we at the verge of a discouraging d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu or are there elements to think about a different outcome?
\nThis week, the Interior Secretary announced \u2013 in a brief manner \u2013 the basis of the operation. Keeping with the \u201ccoordination\u201d policy that the Federation has so greatly uttered, Osorio Chong explained that the operation shall be conducted by a single chain of command led by the Defense Secretariat and which will look forward to the participation of municipal authorities. This is an important difference with Calder\u00f3n\u2019s strategy, which was known for its complete distrust of local governments (sometimes with a strong justification). The downside is that it could never formally support those suspicions; it suffices to recall the Michoacanazo ridicule. For now, the army deployed has headed towards communities protected by self-defense forces with the purpose of pacifying the region and substituting them. This will not be a simple task, ever since these groups refuse to disarm by arguing that they would be left unprotected when criminal organizations attack. The government\u2019s dilemma consists on forcing them to turn in their weapons or \u201ctolerating\u201d them with the risk of it becoming a larger problem. It is worth to recall that self-defense forces have been linked with criminal organizations in the past.
\nOn the other hand, a group of PAN Congressmen has raised the possibility of exercising the faculty that allows Senate to disappear local governmental powers. However, which ones are they referring? The current powers are \u201cde facto\u201d gone. Even though six years ago, criminality was a serious issue in Michoac\u00e1n, nowadays insecurity has risen to scandalous levels. Military intervention \u2013 which was supposed to solve the problem \u2013 resulted in the fragmentation and spread of cartels and the subsequent creation of self-defense groups. Six years ago, military display generated positive expectations, but now it\u2019s a different story. Even though Osorio Chong warned that the army will not leave Michoac\u00e1n until peace is obtained, the truth is that soldiers will not be able to ensure continuous and permanent security throughout the state. Let us remember that, in the first instance, it was argued that the presence of army forces would help strengthening the institutions of local security. Nowadays, that argument is still in force, even when the evidence of its efficiency is not apparent. The pacifying that the army might be able to enforce will not be sustainable if local institutions are not purged and strengthened.
\nIt\u2019s ironic that, six years after Calder\u00f3n chose Michoac\u00e1n as the first objective in his fight against crime, the entity now serves as a laboratory with the purpose of testing the current government\u2019s security strategy. Pe\u00f1a\u2019s administration has the challenge of turning the emphasis of military actions into the state\u2019s institutionalization, an extremely questionable longing. While order in the entity is not imposed, understood as the effective rule of law with no extensions or prerogatives, Michoac\u00e1n will face complete social decomposition and will also become a potential contagious agent for bordering states.
\nFederal intervention in Michoac\u00e1n has a relevant connotation; behind the difference in conception (since there is not a clear separation of strategies) between the former and the current government, a key factor lies ahead: whether it is a distortion or an altogether new reality. Calder\u00f3n\u2019s critics always argued that, beyond his strategy, the problem was breaking the implicit truce, the balance that de facto coexisted with criminal organizations. Calder\u00f3n thought that it was a new reality and it needed a different focus. When it came to power, the current government implicitly accepted that Calder\u00f3n \u201cstirred up the hornet\u2019s nest\u201d and that this was the cause of violence. By deploying the army in Michoac\u00e1n, the new administration is somehow complying with Calder\u00f3n\u2019s point of view. The question is whether it will be wiser and more careful choice when developing a strategy able to pacify the state and, hence, the whole country.<\/p>\n
CIDAC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is no longer a secret that Michoac\u00e1n is the biggest flashpoint
\nregarding security issues in Mexico. This state became the stage of a
\ncomplex and explosive blend of factors that have led to lawlessness,
\namong these factors are criminal organizations, self-defense groups,
\nsocial protests and, in addition, an interim governor. After months of
\ndelay, the federal government has announced the mobilization of State
\nforces to the state. Faced with such information, it\u2019s inevitable to
\nremember the first security act in Calder\u00f3n\u2019s government: the deployment
\n of Federal Army throughout Michoac\u00e1n. Given the similarities, are we at
\n the verge of a discouraging d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu or are there elements to think
\nabout a different outcome?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[30],"class_list":["post-3184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weekly-political-analysis","tag-political-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cidacmx.org\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cidacmx.org\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cidacmx.org\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cidacmx.org\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cidacmx.org\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3184"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cidacmx.org\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4561,"href":"https:\/\/cidacmx.org\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3184\/revisions\/4561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cidacmx.org\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cidacmx.org\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cidacmx.org\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cidacmx.org\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}