Excelsior: Aurora Vega
The National Gendarmerie announced by President Enrique Peña Nieto to tackle organized crime and drug trafficking will be operational in 2015, a process that will involve the gradual withdrawal of the armed forces to their barracks.
Asked by Excelsior, federal officials revealed that the new police force will initially draw 30,000 members from the Army, through a call to be issued next year. Also in 2013, training in public safety and urban combat for those who compose the National Gendarmerie will begin. ... It will reach a total strength of 40,000 members by the end of this administration.
According to officials involved in the security issues in the new federal government, in the proposed reform and the fight against insecurity, it is projected that in 2015, President Peña Nieto will order the gradual return of Army troops to their barracks.
... It is planned that the National Gendarmerie will operate primarily in states such as Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Sonora, Sinaloa, Durango, Coahuila, Guerrero, Morelos and Zacatecas. ... Spanish original