President Juan Carlos Varela has been heavily criticized for confirming the appointment of interim Security Minister Alexis Bethancourt and vice Minister Jonattan Del Rosario to their positions permanently.
Mr. Bethancourt has a military background and has been trained in explosives production. He had been acting Security Minister for the past two months until his recent appointment.
There are widespread concerns among the public about Mr. Bethancourt's military background. The security ministry is seen as one of the most sensitive institutions of the state.
One serious hurdle the new minister will have to face stems from the presence of many of his former bosses in the national police forces. Traditional military hierarchy is expected to make it difficult for him to command authority. This is likely to complicate even further his already daunting task of getting the country’s runaway security situation back under control.
According to lawyer and public security expert Neftali Jaen, “the government has wasted 24 months peddling that failed “safe neighbourhoods” (Barrios Seguros) campaign: it has been giving out money to gang members for no obvious benefit ”.
According to former vice minister for security Severino Mejia, the government has to make a substantial quantitative and qualitative change in the direction of their policies. Referring to the newly-appointed minister, Mr. Mejia declared that people “should give him the time to work out and propose his new policies before making a judgment on his abilities”.
The former vice minister also argued that what the country needs is a long-term, articulated national security policy that goes beyond the series of five-yearly government programs.
For his part, former national police director Rolando Mirones voiced his concerns about the effectiveness of the newly appointed minister in dealing with his former bosses across national police forces.
“This could be problematic for Mr. Bethancourt: he's going to have a difficult time commanding the authority and respect of people who still consider themselves as his superiors", Mr. Mirones explained. He went on to add that the government has failed to come up with effective national security policies that can offer long-term solutions. “They are simply rehashing old policies without involving others in helping formulate new ideas”, he said critically, accusing the government of being “carrying out yet another product-defense PR campaign as far as their public security policy goes”.
Luis Eduardo Camacho, spokesperson for Cambio Democratico party, declared that the current security situation the country is experiencing is a reflection of the government's public security policy failure.
