CITY OF MEXICO (AP) The president of Mexico declared on Monday that the army would receive a large portion of the funds obtained by dismantling independent oversight and regulatory organizations in order to increase soldiers’ salaries.
President Claudia Sheinbaum’s declaration is the most recent in a string of novel and unconventional funding sources to support the nation’s growingly powerful military.
A $42 immigration tax was passed by Mexico’s Congress last week on all cruise ship passengers, with a large portion of the proceeds going to the military.
Since 2019, the military in Mexico has been granted authority to construct and manage everything from railroads to airports and airplanes under Sheinbaum’s Morena party, and some of those projects seem to be losing money.
For more than a century prior, Mexico’s military had few corporate interests, was prohibited from participating in politics, and had very limited capabilities. Under Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrs. Manuel L. Pez Obrador, however, everything changed. He viewed the army as a devoted, unwavering ally and a protector of his political and policy legacy.
Sheinbaum’s political mentor, L. Pez Obrador, also established the nation’s primary law enforcement agencies, the National Guard, which is a quasi-military force.
Critics caution that Mexico’s Senate’s decision to abolish seven independent regulatory and monitoring bodies in late November will strengthen the ruling party’s hold on power and shield it from outside scrutiny.
Sheinbaum referred to it as a cost-cutting move, claiming that the government can manage tasks like energy-market regulation, anti-monopoly enforcement, and requests for freedom of information more effectively.
However, detractors and international investors worry that this can lead to partiality and a lack of openness.
Additionally, the tourism industry strongly criticized the Senate of Mexico, which is controlled by the president’s Morena party, for voting earlier this month to charge cruise ship passengers $42 per person for port calls.
The immigration fee that cruise passengers were previously free from might harm Mexico’s $500 million annual cruise industry, according to business chambers there.
Instead of being used to upgrade port infrastructure, two-thirds of the money collected from cruise ship fees would be sent to the Mexican army.
The government’s need to find additional cash for the armed forces may also be explained by the fact that many military-run projects seem to be huge financial failures.
One of L. Pez Obrador’s pet projects, the Maya Train, is a tourist route that circles the Yucatan Peninsula, although it has barely attracted 20% of the ridership that was anticipated when it was first proposed.
Service on the Maya Train began on December 16, 2023. The most well-liked and frequently traveled sections of the route are already operational, but two comparatively underutilized sections are expected to be added later this month.
Authorities said that the train line has transported just over 600,000 people in its first 51 weeks of operation as of Dec. 8. Only one-fifth of the 3 million passengers authorities had predicted it would carry annually are represented by that figure.
The government-owned Mexicana airline, another military-run, financially unsuccessful venture, announced on Monday that it would provide flights to stations along the Maya Train line as part of a package tour agreement.
Naturally, the trip would depart from the new Mexico City Felipe Angeles airport, another military-run project that is only now beginning to turn a profit after the government compelled certain passenger and cargo flights to utilize it.
In order to finance its preferred construction projects, such as railroads and oil refineries, some of which are being constructed by the army, Mexico’s ruling Morena party is already experiencing massive budget deficits. The government is in dire need of fresh sources of income.
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