Antonio Baranda and Claudia Guerrero/ Reform Agency
Friday, January 13, 2023 | 11:20
CDMX.- The National Guard (GN) applies the “simulated users” strategy in the Mexico City Metro, as part of the plan to support the security of its facilities.
A report, presented at the morning conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, indicates that the GN disposed of 48 of its elements as “simulated users.”
They are guards in civilian clothes infiltrating the wagons.
The purpose of the strategy, details the document, is to inhibit actions against the infrastructure, trains and users of the Collective Transport System (STC).
This type of police operation is allowed based on the National Guard Law
Article 9 of this rule, which specifies the powers and obligations of the corporation, provides for the use of “simulated users” for the prevention of illegal acts.
“Carry out covert operations and simulated users, in the investigation for the prevention of crimes, in terms of the applicable provisions,” says the sixth fraction of said article.
In addition, the Commander of the GN can “order covert operations and simulated users to develop intelligence operations for the prevention of crimes.”
López Obrador did not want to talk about the intelligence work of the GN in the Metro.
– Given the ‘unusual episodes’ in the Metro, is the GN going to take on intelligence tasks to avoid accidents and failures? López Obrador was asked.
“It is basically a preventive action, and this is accompanied by a review of all the facilities, a diagnosis, the situation of the workshops, the roads, the equipment, everything,” he said.
“The other thing you are asking me (intelligence work) I cannot say because I cannot advance anything, I cannot explain anything, because there are complaints about the accidents that have occurred. So, it is the Prosecutor’s Office (of the CDMX) that has this case, these cases.”
Questioned about the general functions of the GN in the Metro, López Obrador affirmed that it is basically the presence of the authority and the protection of citizens.
“Let them feel that there is surveillance and that they are being protected. It is helping. Imagine if people go into psychosis,” López Obrador argued.
The CDMX Government announced yesterday that the GN will monitor the Metro in the face of the latest incidents, which it classified as “out of the ordinary.”
In addition to the federal agents, currently 5,853 agents from the CDMX Citizen Security Secretariat (SSC) monitor the 190 Metro stations.
GN reports deployment of 5,796 elements, not 6,000
The Head of Government, Claudia Sheinbaum, affirmed that the deployment is 6 thousand 60 elements, however, the official report -presented by AMLO- reports 5 thousand 796 troops in the Metro.
The document, titled “GN Security Plan to support the STC-Metro”, details that the GN works in the Metro in two shifts, with 2,898 uniformed personnel each.
It specifies that the elements are assigned to the security of the 190 stations of the 12 lines of the STC.
“(There are) mobile and fixed elements on platforms and corridors,” he adds.
According to the Plan, the GN also carries out review and deterrence actions, and divided the stations into four types (A, B, C, D) to determine the number of elements assigned to each one, per shift.
-6 “A” stations, with the greatest influx, with up to 45 elements.
-8 “B” stations, with considerable influx, with up to 30 elements.
-116 “C” stations, with regular influx, with up to 15 elements.
-60 “D” stations, with less influx, with up to 10 elements.
