Mexico's new security plan offers déjà vu

In opposition, Mexico’s president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised to pacify the country by taking troops off the street and sending them back to their barracks.

This week, lawmakers from his party proposed to keep soldiers on the frontlines for the foreseeable future with the creation of a national guard.

But critics of the plan accused the incoming president of pursuing the same short-term thinking as his two predecessors. Felipe Calderón first deployed soldiers against the cartels in December 2006, arguing it was temporary measure until police forces were prepared to take on the task.