Mérida, Yucatán, (September 04, 2021).- Most of the PAN council members approved Renán Barrera’s proposal to keep Romero Escalante as head of the Municipal Police of Mérida, despite the scandal of the death of José Eduardo.
Despite the opposition of the council members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) to the proposal of Mayor Renán Barrera Concha, to ratify Mario Arturo Romero Escalante, as director of the Municipal Police of Mérida (PMM), it was approved by the PAN majority, in the Extraordinary Session of the Cabildo.
In the session, the councilor Gabriel Barragán of the PRI political party questioned the mayor’s proposal to keep Escalante Romero in front of the PMM and mentioned the videos that show how José Eduardo Ravelo Echeverría was beaten, handcuffed, during and upon the arrival of the command, without putting up resistance.
He pointed out that, thanks to the Strengthening Program for Security (Fortaseg), the municipality received in the last three years, more than 30 million pesos, resources that go to training the police force. “It seems that whoever runs the PMM may not be doing his job well,” he mentioned, before the mayor’s silence.
He added that the ratification of the PMM director generates a perception in Yucatecan society that the Mérida City Council is covering up a public official with poor performance, he also recalled that the case of José Eduardo is not isolated.
“In recent years, the National Commission for Human Rights of the State (Codhey) has received 26 citizen complaints against the PMM. When the problem of José Eduardo happened, the citizenship has not seen the face of the director of the Municipal Police of Mérida” he reproached.
“We are representatives of the citizens and this has nothing to do with the judicial process, as you, Mr. Mayor, have also mentioned. For this reason, I propose that we separate the approval of different appointments, ” he said.
Orlando Pérez, councilor of Morena, joined the proposal of his homonym PRI so that the approval of
appointments are made by blocks.
“It is up to the municipal police to protect the integrity, heritage, and rights of the people; protect peace and public order and prevent the commission of crimes, by fighting the causes that generate us. However, at present, the PMM has been exposed in the national news for the unfortunate events of a few weeks ago, ” he said, referring to the case of José Eduardo Ravelo.
He indicated that the municipal corporation lacked professionalism and ignorance of the protocols on human rights, which caused serious damage to the institution and aroused the annoyance of the citizens against the Merida Police and the municipality.
Later, during the talk of the ex-military personnel of the National Confederation of Security and Justice of Mexico (Conaseju), to which we reported in a separate note, the issue, the local deputy for Morena, Rafael Echazarreta, said that it was an error of the municipal authorities, ratifying Escalante Romero was a mistake.
“It seems like a mistake to me. It seems to me that out of professional dignity the director should have issued his resignation and made himself available when this happened (the murder of José Eduardo Ravelo Echeverría). It is not left for me to make a moral judgment that I draw in a political slit, because that is not what the State needs, “he said.
He mentioned that the State must make short-term planning in matters of Public Safety, based on facts and realities, and that, in the case of José Eduardo Ravelo Echeverría, it demonstrated that the municipal authorities were insensitive.
“Not having cared for a mother who lost a child by the Mérida City Council seems like a lack of insensitivity. It is reprehensible since she only received attention when she became a trend ”, commented the interviewee, who stressed that Yucatecan society is willing to point out what is not done well.
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