National Guard/Coahuila Mine Workers

National Guard will Depend on Ministry of Defense. President López Obrador said he will issue an agreement for the National Guard to fully depend on the Ministry of Defense (SEDENA) with the objective of restructuring the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC).

With this change, the SSPC will no longer have operative activities in the field of public security and its mission will be to prevent crime and coordinate actions to avoid torture. Moreover, the agreement proposed by the president seeks that the National Guard depend on SEDENA.

With the aim of fighting violence in Mexico, the three-year anniversary of the National Guard will be celebrated this year. It was created through a constitutional reform to be a civilian agency.

Coahuila Mine Workers. Head of Civil Protection Laura Velázquez Alzúa reported that additional water drill machines are on the way to rescue 10 trapped mine workers and continue with the water extraction.

According to the government, 15 mine workers were working at a depth of 60m at the coal mine located in Sabinas, Coahuila, when the walls of the tunnels collapsed, flooding the three pits. Authorities are currently draining the water so they can enter the mine and rescue the miners. Five out of the 15 mine workers were able to escape: three of them are at the hospital while two have been discharged.

Water crisis. Due to the water crisis affecting Mexico´s northern states, López Obrador reassured that basic water consumption will be guaranteed by organizing concessions and stop emitting permits to companies for the exploitation of water.

In Mexico there are 520,000 permits of public and private entities to exploit water, according to the Public Registry of Water Rights of CONAGUA. The president said his government is analyzing the possibility of reforming the National Water Law to eliminate concessions. The droughts in Monterrey where water supply has been cut has placed the country on national alert.

AMLO will present a truce proposal to United Nations. President López Obrador informed that he will present to the UN a proposition for a global truce so that countries can recover from the economic crisis.