Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
The SEDENALeaks (Secretariat of National Defense or SEDENA) have forced us to rethink how the political system works in our country. Particularly about the role of the Armed Forces in the decision-making cycle between civilian and military authorities.
The revelations are not only shocking in terms of the detail of events, budget reports, and people involved. Also impressive is the broad spectrum of issues in which the Army is involved. It spies on political, social, business, diplomatic and public figures without necessarily making explicit in the documents the purpose or ultimate aim of the espionage and the information it produces. It discusses information on public policies, environmental issues, culture, urban development, and public works. Finally, and it would be impossible to leave this area out of the Army’s global interest, there is the monitoring of activities, internal conflicts, and confrontation in the vast and multifaceted world of organized crime.
They track the authorities and know that they are linked to organized crime and, more specifically, to drug trafficking. The Morenista governors of Tabasco (now Secretary of the Interior), Veracruz, Zacatecas, and Sonora have been identified. And that is just an initial reading of the millions of documents that Guacamaya has offered to avid (sic) Mexican readers. It tells of their contacts with cartel leaders operating in their state territories and their arrangements to keep those relationships working.
It is also revealed how the Army obtains its information through the tools offered by Pegasus, although the President denies this. This denial has been formulated by both institutions: the Presidency of the Republic and SEDENA.
They also explain the procedures through which the Army shares information with “the American embassy”, in some cases and the DEA or CIA in others. This proves that there is intense communication between U.S. intelligence agencies and the Mexican Army. This occurs in contravention of the instruction of the President of the Republic, who established, in new legislation included in the National Security Law approved by Federal Congress, that all information generated in national territory by foreign agencies should be seen and processed initially by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Evidently, the Army deliberately ignores this provision and suffers no complaints for its disregard.
And its budgets grow disproportionately and without justification, given its legal responsibilities as outlined in the Constitution.
In essence, the SEDENALeaks reveal that the Army has more information about everything that happens in the country than the President himself. And it can, if it wishes, selectively inform the federal Executive about what is happening with each of the governors. Has it told him, for example, that his current friend in the Interior Ministry appointed drug cartel bosses to relevant positions in the Tabasco police when he was governor? Or has it informed the President about the appointments of cartel bosses to public security positions by the Morenista governor of the state of Veracruz?
Indeed it informs the President about the activities of opponents and the U.S. ambassador. But it probably does not tell him about the military’s sale of Army weapons to organized crime members. But it indeed promises the President to keep some of his trips to certain states or his medical condition secret.
The SEDENALeaks say, sotto voce, that the Army has the President of the Republic subordinated to its indications. And when the Armed Forces consolidate their business in airports, ports, trains, refineries, constructions, and airlines, it will be the most critical force in the country; without the need for Congresses and Judiciary Powers, they will be unbeatable. They will be unstoppable. Is that the project?
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