MEXICO TO SPEND OVER $1 BILLION USD BUILDING ARMY BARRACKS IN HIGH CRIME CITIES

                                      from Borderland Beat

The Mexican Army is preparing one of its most ambitious projects in the current administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). It intends to investment more than MXN$19 billion (about US$1 billion) to build more than 116 barracks in Mexico's most-violent municipalities.

The construction of these new bases by the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) has the objective of supporting local corporations in public security tasks in the territories with the highest crime rates.

"[This investment will] provide support to the various agencies that carry out public security tasks, for the benefit of the population that lives in the municipalities with the highest crime rates", Sedena said in an official statement.

The investment project has been reviewed by the Ministry of Finance, and the it will be implemented by the General Directorate of Engineers, a subdivision of the Army responsible for planning and implementing all military construction works, as well as approving the projects and budgets prepared by them.

Since last year, the armed forces began planning projects for the construction of regiments in municipalities such as Caborca, Sonora and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

According to the federal government, there are 50 "priority" municipalities in terms of security, which register a total of 12,159 intentional homicides between July 2022 and June 2023. When comparing both periods, 21 of these municipalities register an average increase in murders by 12 percent.

The municipalities that register an increase in murder rates are Tijuana, Baja California; Leon, Guanajuato; Acapulco Guerrero; Benito Juárez, Quintana Roo; Chihuahua, Chihuahua; Ecatepec, State of Mexico; Tlajomulco de Zúñiga; Iztapalapa, Mexico City; Salamanca, Guanajuato; and Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.

In addition to Reynosa, Tamaulipas; Cuernavaca, Morelos; Naucalpan, State of Mexico; Center, Tabasco; Guaymas sonora; Match, Guerrero; Chimalhuacan, State of Mexico; Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua; Chilpancingo, Guerrero; Lakes of Moreno, Jalisco; and Cuauhtemoc, Mexico City.

Of the 50 "priority municipalities, Tijuana is the territory with the most homicides with 1,782, followed by Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua with 946; Leon, Guanajuato with 707; Acapulco, Guerrero with 448; and Cajeme, Sonora with 504.