The mayor of Mexico’s capital has introduced that 6,060 Nationwide Guard officers might be posted within the metropolis’s subway system after a sequence of mechanical issues and accidents that officers urged might be resulting from sabotage.
Mexico Metropolis Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum mentioned, in current months, “incidents have been occurring that we categorize as not regular.” She appeared to counsel, however didn’t say, that it might contain some type of sabotage.
Sheinbaum added that she had requested President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to dispatch the quasi-military Nationwide Guard and he agreed. The officers could be posted at subway stations “and another amenities” within the system and could be there “for some months”.
She didn’t clarify how the Nationwide Guard officers, largely drawn from the military and assigned to legislation enforcement, might assist management a state of affairs that seems to be brought on by upkeep, design or operational flaws.
The Miguel Agustin Professional Juarez human rights centre mentioned the announcement “is regarding, as a result of it’s apparent that this company reproduces the navy’s issues with an absence of transparency and extreme use of power.”
Accidents on the subway have been a recurrent embarrassment for Sheinbaum, who is taken into account the most definitely candidate in Lopez Obrador’s left-wing Morena occasion to succeed him within the 2024 elections. Just like the president, Sheinbaum has typically ascribed setbacks to a conservative conspiracy in opposition to her.
Lopez Obrador was considerably extra particular, saying the Nationwide Guard could be there to stop “provoked” or intentional accidents.
“What we wish is for there to not be psychosis, for individuals to not have to fret about some accident within the subway, and that it might have been provoked,” the president mentioned.
“In the event that they name that militarisation or no matter, then we are going to take accountability for that,” he mentioned.
The newest accident got here on Saturday, when two subway trains collided whereas between stations, killing one individual and injuring dozens. Native media reported there had beforehand been signalling issues on that stretch of monitor.
In Could 2021, an elevated part of the subway system collapsed, inflicting 26 deaths and injuring practically 100 individuals. An investigation blamed deficiencies in building, and 10 former officers have been charged with a type of manslaughter, harm and harm to property, however none has been jailed.
Poor welding, an absence of upkeep, antiquated digital techniques and the town’s frequent earthquakes and gentle soil situations have all been blamed previously for issues on the subway, however sabotage has by no means earlier than been seen as a trigger.
However within the final a number of days, Sheinbaum mentioned, there had been three “not regular” issues discovered on subway vehicles or tracks, together with the failure of a tire “that had simply been inspected”. The town’s subway vehicles run on each tires and rails.
Subway riders had been sceptical about sending the Nationwide Guard into the largely underground metro system.
“The Nationwide Guard isn’t going to resolve something,” mentioned Manuel Alejandro, a clothes and sneaker vendor who rides the subway virtually daily. “It will be higher to present the subway the periodical upkeep it wants.”
Alejandro added that the practice he takes “stops so much, [and] the lights go off”. He mentioned of the federal government, “It looks like they’re on the lookout for excuses.”
Tarcisio Montaño, a constructing upkeep employee who typically helps Lopez Obrador and his anti-poverty programmes, mentioned he noticed politics taking part in a job in a few of the criticism of subway issues.
“They’re attacking the metro to smear the federal government,” Montano mentioned, suggesting the president’s political rivals have an curiosity in publicising the difficulty.
But additionally he acknowledged the subway system is underfunded and poorly maintained. “The place does all the cash from the tickets go?” he requested, noting that trains can take a very long time to return.
Montano agreed the Nationwide Guard isn’t the reply.
“I don’t see any motive for the Nationwide Guard,” he mentioned. “They’re there to defend the nation, to not maintain look ahead to you on the subway.”
The Mexico Metropolis subway system has 226.5 kilometres (141 miles) of monitor and 195 stations. It serves a median of 4.6 million passengers daily. With tickets costing the equal of $0.25, it’s also one of many least expensive subway techniques on the planet and has suffered from inadequate budgets for years.
The tech publication, Remainder of the World, reported this week that present and former subway staff mentioned the metro system’s communication community is so unhealthy that they’ve been pressured to depend on cell phone messaging apps to keep up a correspondence with practice operators and keep away from accidents.
In 2021, a fireplace within the antiquated management centre of the subway system killed one individual and despatched 32 others to the hospital, whereas knocking out service on half of the subway strains within the metropolis of 9 million inhabitants. Among the know-how on the management centre seemed to be Seventies-era analog gear.