MEXICO CITY, Sept 26, (AP): Mexico’s Senate on Wednesday approved putting the National Guard under the command of the military despite widespread criticism over deepening the country's militarization. It's the second constitutional change in two weeks, giving outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador another victory days before his exit.

On Sept 11, the Congress passed a contentious judicial overhaul he pushed that forces all the country’s judges to stand for election, raising concerns of politicizing the judiciary. After debating through the night, the governing Morena party and its allies overcame opposition fueled by concerns from human rights organizations and the United Nations.

They denied the change would militarize the country, instead saying the military would help the National Guard become a more effective security force. When López Obrador entered office in December 2018, there was hope - buoyed by his own comments - that he would send the military back to the barracks after many years battling the powerful drug cartels.

Now, at the end of his six-year term, the military not only remains in the streets, but now will also command the 120,000-strong National Guard. The National Guard was created in 2019 and sold to Mexicans as a civilian security force under the control of the Public Safety Ministry. There were doubts immediately because many of its members initially came from the military police and its command structure was largely made up of recently retired military officers.

The president had tried before to put the National Guard under military command, but it was declared unconstitutional last year by the Supreme Court. The president, like previous administrations, needed the military in the face of staggering levels of violence. The police were outgunned and infiltrated by the drug cartels. He had proposed the National Guard as a civilian force that would allow the military to leave the streets by 2024.