MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Latest on Mexico's new president (all times local):
11:45 A.M.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is using his first full day in office to double down on promises to deploy the military for public security, tackling a key concern: stemming rampant violence and rising murders.
The plan requires a constitutional reform that would allow the marines and Army to form a National Guard to police much of the country. Lopez Obrador spoke before rows of generals at a sun-drenched military installation on Sunday and said the retooling of the military is "indispensable."
Deep-rooted corruption and ineffectiveness among police forces has led Mexico to rely heavily for years on the military to combat drug cartels in parts of the country.
But military commanders have long expressed uneasiness about this open-ended policing mission, and the armed forces have been implicated in multiple human rights abuses.
Disclaimer: This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Associated Press (AP) wire.