CDMX.- Almost four years after its creation, the National Guard accumulates 60 complaints for sexual crimes, including sexual abuse and rape against elements of this corporation.
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In response to a request for information, the National Guard did not detail the totals of the crimes, but it did report that in 2019 there were four complaints; in 2020, 10; in 2021, 39 and until October 2022 seven were registered.
For his part, The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) reported that it opened 13 investigation folders against elements of the National Guard between 2021 and 2022; eight for sexual abuse and five for rape.
In 2021 there were four registrations for rape; two in Baja California, one in Quintana Roo and one in Hidalgo. In addition, three for sexual abuse; two in Mexico City and one in Campeche.
In 2022 there were five for sexual abuse, two in the Mexican capital, two in Jalisco and one in the State of Mexico; in that same year, a file for rape in Mexico City.
The FGR explained that from April 2019 to September 2022 the number of victims over 18 years of age reached five for rape, seven for sexual abuse and one minor for sexual abuse.
The National Guard, in just four years, already has 60 complaints for sexual crimes.
COMPLAINTS AGAINST SEDENA
In parallel, the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) accumulates 560 complaints for rape, harassment, harassment and sexual abuse in the last decade against members of the military forces.
Experts agree that there are multifactorial causes for the rise in cases, such as the increase in elements of the Armed Forces, lack of protocols, and the visibility that some victims have had.
In response to requests for information, Sedena indicated that in four years of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s six-year term (2019-2022) it faced 191 complaints of sexual violence: 76 for harassment; 42 for harassment; 44 for abuse and 29 for rape.
The Military Justice Attorney General’s Office explained that in that period it opened 98 investigation folders; 48 for sexual abuse; 33 for rape and 17 for harassment.
The FGR reported that there are 28 preliminary investigations and investigation folders against elements of the Sedena from December 2018 to the same month of 2022; nine for sexual abuse: four in Mexico City; two in Nuevo León; two in Michoacán, and one in Tamaulipas. For harassment he reported nine folders; two in Mexico City; two in Coahuila and one in San Luis Potosí, Yucatán, Sinaloa, Chihuahua and Quintana Roo.
For aggravated sexual abuse, the FGR opened three investigations against elements of the Sedena; two in Mexico City and one in Yucatan. Also, he has seven for rape; three in the capital, two in San Luis Potosí, one in Baja California and another in Hidalgo.
He specified that from December 2018 to the same month of 2021, he identified five women of legal age who were victims of rape committed by elements of the Sedena and five of sexual abuse. Meanwhile, from January to September 2022 there were four victims of rape and five of sexual abuse.
David Saucedo, a security analyst, points out that there is an increase in these attacks due to a lack of protocols, impunity, an increase in military personnel and the transparency of the cases.
“There is a real increase in the number of cases. What happened in the past is that there was illegal harassment and even sexual assault against female personnel in the Armed Forces, but the complaints were dismissed, the complainants were threatened. In this six-year term, the problem has begun to become visible. Fortunately, there have been complainants who have openly come forward and have made these complaints, ”he explains.
María Elena Morera considers that these cases are due to a lack of controls within the corporations.
María Elena Morera Mitre, president of Causa en Común, believes that these cases occur due to a lack of controls in the dependencies and respect for women’s rights: “It is due to the lack of controls inside the Sedena and National Guard, where the rights of women are less important than those of men. A misogynistic culture”.
In relation to the statistics of the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto, in another request for information, the Sedena reported that from 2013 to 2018 it dealt with 369 complaints of sexual violence; 199 for harassment; 75 for harassment; 66 for abuse, and 29 for rape.
In the same period, the Military Justice Attorney General’s Office reported that it opened 125 investigation folders: 60 for sexual abuse; 29 for rape and 36 for harassment.
The FGR reported 16 preliminary investigations and investigation folders against elements of the Sedena from 2012 to 2018. One for rape in Baja California Sur; two, for harassment in Chihuahua and Mexico City; 13 for sexual abuse: four in the capital, four in Tabasco, two in Tamaulipas and one in the State of Mexico, Morelos and Durango.
The FGR also reported that among the victims from December 2012 to 2018 for the alleged commission of crimes of rape and sexual abuse there is a man of legal age for rape and a woman under age and 17 adults for sexual abuse.
Specialists agree that cases of sexual crimes have always occurred in the Armed Forces, even in other parts of the world.
“Aggressions against female personnel within the armed forces are a situation that occurs in armies around the world; it is a systematic behavior. There have been analysts who have tried to explain why it happens. In the first place, there is a macho behavior of supremacist aggressiveness, of considering women as an object; military structures have this characteristic”, explains David Saucedo.
Specialists agree that in order to put an end to sexual violence in the Armed Forces, impunity must be ended, protocols established, awareness-raising, and penalties increased.
“Men and women must be sensitized, because many women in the Army think that this is the way things are, that if they got involved in that they risked being disrespected; give human rights courses and have strict controls, in which there are consequences for those who abuse women”, explains Morera Mitre.
“First end impunity, there are well-known cases of complaints from high-ranking officials that have not been followed up and that the sexual offenders are free; The second thing is to give the victims a guarantee that they can continue with their military career after denouncing, in addition to increasing the penalties within the Army,” concludes Saucedo.
