Non-Uniformed Gendarmería Officials Claim President’s Reform Aims to Dissolve Their Unions

Original article: No uniformados de Gendarmería afirman que reforma anunciada por el Presidente busca “proscribir a las asociaciones de funcionarios”

Non-Uniformed Gendarmería Officials Claim President’s Reform Aims to Dissolve Their Unions

The associations representing non-uniformed officials of the Gendarmería are resolutely opposed to the constitutional reform proposed by the President, which seeks to alter their dependency on the ministry and establish a separate service for reintegration.

For Adiptgen, the union representing non-uniformed staff, the measure fails to address the core issue. «The problem lies not in the ministerial dependency but in the inadequate tools for oversight, control, and sanctions currently available,» they assert in a statement signed by their national board.

In their statement, the union argues that «what the institution truly needs is the implementation of periodic external audits, enhanced judicial oversight, and the strengthening of independent monitoring mechanisms over the actions of its officials, effectively exercising the powers granted by regulations concerning management and administration in the country’s correctional facilities.»

They also reference various precedents, stating that in most countries, penitentiary administration «largely depends on the Ministries of Justice to ensure a legal approach with fundamental guarantees and institutional control, not one that is police or militarized in nature.»

The most alarming aspect, also noted by the uniformed unions, is that the implementation of this project would immediately eliminate the unions and organizations of Gendarmería workers.

The document, which you can review below, concludes with a series of technical questions regarding the project and the future of non-uniformed Gendarmería workers.

MINUTA Considerations Regarding the Constitutional Reform Announced by the President of the Republic