Mexico: Military Budget at unprecedented levels

telesurtv.net reported Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto spent more on the military budget in 2014 than any other previous Mexican government, Sin Embargo reported Tuesday.

Analyzing the Swiss-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s Military Expenditure Database, the Mexican news outlet revealed that Peña Nieto’s administration closed 2014 with a record military budget reaching US$8.66 billion, along with a spike in weapons purchases.

Accusations of torture and kidnappings committed by the police and the military have also risen 600 percent from 2003 to 2013. This amount represents 0.7 percent of the Mexican gross domestic product – while Mexican investment in science in technology, for instance, never exceeded 0.5 percent.

Although the proportion of military expense related to GDP has remained at the same level over the past 20 years (since the Zapatista conflict started in 1994), per capita this amount has more than doubled – from about US$30 to $70 per Mexican in…. Read Article