ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The 150th Medical Group, part of the New Mexico National Guard Joint Task Force, is assisting the state’s COVID-19 response by conducting coronavirus testing site at the Wellesley Health Center.While agencies around the state continue, New Mexico Air National Guard celebrates National American Indian Heritage month. Mexico plans to first distribute 70,000 National Guard members across the country and then swell the ranks to 150,000 in the coming months, bringing together federal police, marines, … Only 20 percent of members and just 0.3 percent of new recruits had reportedly passed background checks and been trained and certified to carry out police work. In the troubled states of Guanajuato, Michoacán and Tamaulipas alone, the National Guard reportedly suffered four deaths in 52 confrontations that left 84 alleged criminals or bystanders dead, along with one police officer and two Navy personnel. “I’ll never forget the screams of those people, as I watched them vomiting blood.”, Another man, who had fled his home in Guatemala after surviving an attempt on his life, said he almost suffocated from the pepper spray and felt scarred by the brutality he witnessed: “I’d never experienced anything of that magnitude, violence of that kind.”. The same day, the federal attorney general’s office announced that it had arrested six members of the force and charged them with homicide and attempted homicide. We’re soldiers,” one of three guardsmen in a green camouflage uniform grumbled to himself within earshot of a Reuters reporter. The CMDPDH is also representing several migrants who say they suffered torture and threats of enforced disappearance at the hands of the National Guard in Mexico City’s Las Agujas migration detention center in October 2019 and February 2020. Since our founding in 2000, we have been determined to make an impact. SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico congressional delegation is raising questions about a coronavirus outbreak among a group of Oregon Army National Guard soldiers who returned to … The core of our efforts is to bring our team’s fresh ideas and passion to the range of activities we’re involved in. In response to reports that the government had handed operational control of the National Guard to the military in October, Mexico’s Secretariat of National Defense told Amnesty International they “work in a coordinated manner in response to the specific situation in each state” and that the armed forces can only carry out “public security tasks in an extraordinary, regulated, controlled, subordinate and complementary manner” for a period of five years “while the National Guard develops its structure, capacities and territorial implementation”. Lucia Chavez, a researcher at the non-governmental Mexican Commission for the Defense and Protection of Human Rights (CMDPDH), says the actual number is likely much higher, particularly in states that have experienced high levels of violence like Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Durango, where few complaints are typically made due to “distrust in the authorities and the ombudsman figure”. Otherwise, we'll assume you're OK to continue. Yet experts say it’s difficult to ascertain the full number of human rights violations that the National Guard is committing due to a lack of transparency from the authorities, the absence of a specialist independent watchdog, the fact that victims are often afraid to denounce security forces for fear of reprisal, and the dangers that inhibit journalism in parts of the country. Joseph Vigil, a spokesman for the New Mexico branch of the National Guard, said its pilots received high marks from local and state ground crews as they sought to contain the Luna Fire. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M - The New Mexico National Guard is helping support two alternate care facilities to keep New Mexico from exceeding its medical capacity during the COVID-19 public … If the deployment of some 21,000 National Guard troops at Mexico’s northern and southern borders can reduce the flow of migrants, Lopez Obrador will have successfully kept Trump’s tariffs at bay and averted opening up another front in the global trade war. The Mexican government did not respond to requests for comment on the criticism. Here at National Guard Association of New Mexico, we know that sometimes all it takes to change the world is a little support. Most worrying, however, is that the proposed national guard – the fourth new national police force to be created in as many presidencies – is a perfect example of what Daniel Sabet called “one of the great paradoxes of police reform in Mexico”. The National Guard in Juarez, mostly made up of active-duty soldiers equipped with ballistic helmets, body armor and assault rifles, is identifiable by small arm bands emblazoned with the letters GN, for the Spanish words for National Guard. The history of the New Mexico National Guard is unique; it has existed since the 1500s under many names, from the time of the Spanish and Mexican established Nuevo México to the present. Trump seems happy, at least for now, praising Mexico for its efforts and saying tariffs are off the table. Dozens of Central American migrants and asylum seekers had started protesting and asking to be released for fear of contracting COVID-19 while locked up there. The government has also deployed the armed forces to aid Mexico’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and announced plans to hand control of the nation’s ports and customs to the Army and the Navy. The National Guard was launched by President Andres Manuel López Obrador in late June and is … After 18 months in operation, there is little to suggest that the National Guard represents a change to Mexico’s security strategy or a new era of respect for human rights. Its members have been exhibited extorting an alleged drug trafficker in Sonora, dining with alleged members of criminal groups in Puebla, misusing firearms in an apparent state of inebriation in Jalisco, and inviting sex workers to a party at a barracks during the COVID-19 lockdown in Guanajuato. “They took the life of a wonderful, hard-working person, someone who was not a criminal, who didn’t steal or kill, whose only defect was having gone to protest to stand up for her rights.”. This is the official Facebook page for the New Mexico National Guard (Army and Air). Download for free to enhance your experience in MSFS 2020. National coordination of various state National Guard units are maintained through the National Guard Bureau. Engineering missions that need heavy equipment often rely on New Mexico National Guard units to move soil, debris, and even snow to keep roads open in challenging weather and landscape conditions. It comprises the New Mexico Army National Guard and the New Mexico Air National Guard. In Juarez, where drug cartel murders are especially acute, many people wish the troops were helping fight crime instead. The Madison-based 115th Fighter Wing said Air Force Capt. Mexico’s ombudsman’s office, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), logged at least 219 complaints about the National Guard between 26 May 2019, when the force was formally established, … The National Guard is a new security force that was created by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to bring down record homicide rates. (Photo courtesy of Mary Mier) Niagara Bottling, a bottled water manufacturer, … A 2016 government survey found that the armed forces are more likely to abuse detainees than Mexico’s federal, state or municipal police, with 88 percent of people detained by the Navy and 86 percent of those arrested by the Army complaining of torture or other ill-treatment. appeared to be armed in a photo that showed Torres behind the wheel, blood soaking his white t-shirt, with Silva’s body slumped beside him, her black facemask still covering her face. Visibly vexed at not being able to take part in the rescue, the three guardsmen remained at their post on the lookout for migrants as one cop car after another, sirens blaring, zipped past them toward the scene of the gunfight. Along this stretch of frontier the Rio Grande River is parched dry. Mexico’s president, facing intense pressure to bring record-breaking homicide rates under control, has begun to deploy the country’s new National Guard in Mexico City. In one incident, on 23 March, about 20 members of the National Guard entered the Siglo XXI migrant detention center in Tapachula, a small, steamy city in the southern state of Chiapas. “We gathered their testimony on the first day, but when we came in the next day, they wouldn’t even look at us. Mexico plans to first distribute 70,000 National Guard members across the country and then swell the ranks to 150,000 in the coming months, bringing together federal police, marines, soldiers and new recruits to protect Mexicans from rising rates of murder and other crimes. The National Guard initially said it had “repelled [an] attack” by “armed civilians in several vehicles” but Torres has denied he was carrying a weapon. Now, crime is climbing back towards levels last seen in the darkest days of the drug war, with homicides growing fivefold in the last three years to 107 per 100,000. But, in Juarez doubts remain that containing migration is the right priority for Mexico’s newest fighting force in a city sinking deeper into lawlessness. Authorities took the three National Guard members into custody along with an adult civilian male. The New Mexico National Guard is part of the armed forces of the U.S. State of New Mexico. this constitutes a clear indication of excessive use of force, Iran: Stop execution of young man arrested at 16 and forced to “confess” under torture, Italy: Violations of the human rights of older residents of care homes during COVID-19 pandemic, The long road to a consent-based rape law in Denmark. Torres, a walnut and alfalfa farmer, was seriously wounded, while Silva, a 35-year-old homemaker and agricultural worker with three teenage children, died instantly. © 2020 United States National Guard ELIGIBILITY. Mexico’s Secretariat for Security and Citizen Protection did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations against the National Guard, which, combined with its militarized nature and the lack of transparency and civilian oversight, contrast with the president’s proclamations about the nature and significance of the force. Washington, DC—Today, Mexico’s lower house of Congress is expected to vote to create a new National Guard force, fulfilling one of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s primary security proposals. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The 150th Medical Group, part of the New Mexico National Guard Joint Task Force, is assisting the state’s COVID-19 response by conducting coronavirus testing site at … We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. That afternoon they had joined thousands of agricultural workers in a tense protest at La Boquilla, a nearby dam, to defend their right to water. There is ample evidence that the deployment of military forces has coincided with an increase in human rights violations and in levels of violence across Mexico. Several hundred members of the New Mexico National Guard remain on international deployments but are taking precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to a Guard spokesman. He was frustrated that orders kept him from going to back up police in the shootout with gangsters. Instead of fulfilling his pledge to return the armed forces to their barracks, López Obrador has extended their role in enforcing public security until 2024 and entrusted them with pet projects such as building a new airport for Mexico City and parts of a controversial tourist train connecting Mayan ruins. The Guard should be … See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. “That’s a political play to appease the United States and it’s not a job the National Guard should be doing,” said Isabel Sanchez Quirarte, who heads the Mesa de Seguridad y Justicia advocacy group. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. You can use this tool to change your cookie settings. New Mexico - Army National Guard Rio Rancho, NM, USA The Army National Guard uses a wide range of systems that help protect and serve the force, and as a Quartermaster and Chemical Equipment … And last week, Brigadier-General Vicente Antonio Hernandez, who heads the National Guard’s operations in Mexico’s southern states, said 20,000 migrants had been “rescued” since May 17, a euphemism for detained. Upon inspecting a barracks in February 2020, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared it a “very important new institution to guarantee peace, but without excesses, without authoritarianism, respecting human rights.”. The National Guard fired tear gas at the demonstrators, who were armed with bats, poles and rocks.   |   Privacy Policy Reporting by Anthony Esposito in Ciudad Juarez; Additional reporting by Rebekah F Ward and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City;editing by Ross Colvin. Unlawful use of lethal force not here the Air National Guard was born into this context militarization... 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