Why Mexico Is Militarizing

As the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador ends, he leaves Mexico’s military the largest and most powerful the country has ever seen. He's expanded its mandate to include key infrastructure projects such as airports and railways, which the military administers with little or no transparency. But critics say its new role has come at a grim price. With record-high homicides, Mexicans are wondering if public works are coming at the expense of public safety.

00:00 Introduction
01:32 Maya Train
02:44 Mexico’s military structure
03:43 AMLO’s reasoning
05:17 Security implications
05:51 Challenges for next government

--------

Bloomberg Originals offers bold takes for curious minds on today’s biggest topics. Hosted by experts covering stories you haven’t seen and viewpoints you haven’t heard, you’ll discover cinematic, data-led shows that investigate the intersection of business and culture. Exploring every angle of climate change, technology, finance, sports and beyond, Bloomberg Originals is business as you’ve never seen it.

Subscribe for business news, but not as you've known it: exclusive interviews, fascinating profiles, data-driven analysis, and the latest in tech innovation from around the world.

Visit our partner channel Bloomberg Quicktake for global news and insight in an instant.

[themediacontrolyouropinon]

The army it has been on the streets since 2006. Don't make lies

[jacobp]

Mexicos been militarized. This ain’t earth shattering journalism here😂

[getlost]

Heck, USA uses National Guard as well as Armed forces during natural disasters and other events. No one screams or calls it Militaristic.

[dafe]

You cant fight cartels in mexico when you have foreing governments helping the cartels to keep mexico instable.

[legnametalzoa]

As a Mexican I can say that there is no news here, Mexico has been militarized for almost 20 years and throughout the history of Mexico the army has almost always been with the people in the streets

[pablerry]

The mexican Army has proved to be the less corrupt line of defense in the country, 75% of the country agrees with me.

[erick_ac]

Americans when Mexico is NOT fighting the cartels: 😠😠😠
Americans when Mexico IS fighting the cartels: 😠😠😠

[MissCheeseE]

The reason for the “increase” of crime is because before many crimes weren’t reported, judges were corrupt and many of that data was omitted intentionally.

[nicolasramirez]

Let’s not forget that mexico it’s moving foward and mexico is in track to be a better country for the Mexican

[andvid...]

Honestly, I’d prefer the military to build infrastructure than fight wars. Hopefully they can create enough jobs and reasons for the cartel members to put down their guns and build.

[breal]

When the United States dismantled the cartels in Colombia, they simply moved operations to Mexico...closer to their number 1 customer. Without demand, there is no supply.

[em-]

Weak presentation. Nothing new here. While criticism of the militarization may be fair, the report fails to present a viable, successful alternative.

[demetriod]

Great timing Bloomberg, just 2 days away of the elections you decided to came out with these videos. Not at all a coincidence...

[javierespana]

The moment you show Alvarez Icaza speaking, you drop all credibility. He did not say a world during the Felipe Calderon administration while being a part of it

[karlad]

Bloomberg hasn’t realized this is happening worldwide not just in Mexico 🤷🏻‍♀️ AMLO is the BEST President Mexico has ever had. Viva AMLO and Mexico 🇲🇽 🥳

[jinglebells-bvlw]

ah, propaganda for the paymasters, how delightful

[armandoestradatv]

Just from the second I heard the background music, I knew this was not real journalism. This is a complete biased video pretending to misinform international opinion about an issue that has been growing for more than 30 years due to government negligence, and now they pretend that in 6 years everything will magically change. Why didn't you talk about the historic nexus of the PRI with the cartel? Why didn't you discuss the role of the USA in demanding more and more drugs every year, thus contributing to the insecurity issue? The insecurity and violence issue is more complex than this mediocre analysis. But let's be honest, what can we expect from partial journalism like Bloomberg?

[Mr.Chezzz]

Militarizing!? The title may sound sensational, akin to North Korea or Venezuela, but it's positive that the military is actively working and gaining expertise instead of idling for their pay. Projects are also being completed swiftly, unlike the previous administration which lasted almost a century. Poor communities are seeing changes and btw this interview only put people from the opposing sides who have money and are losing money to this government. Go out and interview random folks.

[thevision]

What this report fails to point out is that AMLO has an 84% approval rating, the standard of living in Mexico has increased by over 268%, the percentage of people in poverty has decreased from 68% to less than 20%, the number of people in the middle class has increased from less than 13% to nearly 50%, almost 60% of those migrants coming to the United States now remain in Mexico because they find jobs in Mexico, even among the Ukrainian who entered the united states, many have chosen to return to Mexico after being disappointed with the quality of life in the United States. More Americans are migrating to Mexico than Mexicans are coming to the United States. In January of 2024, many Americans were deported back to the United States and 99.98% of them begged to go back to Mexico agreeing to pay their fair share of taxes and agreeing to comply with the Mexican laws and pay restitution for having failed to pay fines and update their Mexican residency papers. So Mexico isn't perfect but it seems like it's a place that even Americans are migrating to. Biden only has a less than 30% approval rating while Trump only has a 32% approval rating while AMLO has an 84 % approval rating.

[GustheOttsel]

Wasn’t it the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that build the U.S. interstate system?

How is this different?