Mexico high court upholds keeping military on police duties

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Supreme Court has upheld a constitutional change that allows the military to continue in law enforcement duties until 2028. Tuesday’s ruling rejected appeals that argued law enforcement should be left to civilian police forces. Critics warns that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is militarizing the country. Eight of the court’s 11 justices voted to uphold the constitutional changes that Congress approved in October. Putting soldiers and marines on the streets to fight crime was long viewed as a stopgap measure to fight drug gang violence. In 2019, legislators voted that civilian police should take over those duties by 2024.