Police protest falling under guard control

MEXICO CITY — Hundreds of Mexican federal police were in revolt Wednesday against plans to absorb them into the newly formed national guard.

Federal police at a Mexico City command center demanded a meeting with Mexico’s security secretary, uniformed police blocked a capital highway in front of federal police offices, and yet another contingent blocked the highway between the capital and a state capital, Pachuca, for hours.

The protests came as the government was starting to deploy the guard to several states to fight crime and control immigration. They threaten to complicate the formation of a new force that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has bet Mexico’s security on.

The guard is being formed by military police and federal police but is signing up new recruits. López Obrador has been dismissive of the federal police, characterizing it as a failed security force, and gave military officers the bulk of the responsibility for the guard.

Protesting police at the command center in the capital’s Iztapalapa borough said that their seniority, rank and benefits are not being recognized within the guard.

Guard Commandant Patricia Rosalinda Trujillo Mariel, one of the few leaders of the new force who came from the federal police, was jostled by the crowd as she came to meet the protesters.

“I am federal police, I respect the principles of my institution, and I want to have a dialogue,” Trujillo shouted over the crowd.

One police representative who stepped forward without identifying himself said the protesters were waiting for the arrival of Alfonso Durazo, Mexico’s security secretary, who oversees the federal police and the guard. Trujillo said a delegation of protesters would be taken to speak with Durazo.