Secretariat of National Defense (Mexico)

Mexico
Secretariat of National Defense

Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional
Secretariat of National Defense logo
Agency overview
Jurisdiction	Mexico
Agency executive	Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, Secretary

The Mexican Secretariat of National Defense (Spanish: Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, SEDENA) is the government department responsible for managing Mexico's Army and Air Forces. Its head is the Secretary of National Defense who, like the co-equal Secretary of the Navy, reports directly to the President. Before 1937, the position was called the Secretary of War and Navy (Secretaría de Guerra y Marina). The agency has its headquarters in Lomas de Sotelo, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City. The following offices report to the Secretary are the assistant secretary, the chief of staff and the military law bodies.

Under the Federal Organic Law of Public Administration (Ley Orgánica de la Administración Pública Federal), the Secretary has the following duties:

• Organize, administer and prepare the Army and the Air Force.
• Organize and prepare the National Military Service.
• Management of the Army, Air Force, National Guard and armed contingents which don't belong to state's national guard.
• Plan, direct and handle mobilization of the country in the event of war; formulating and executing, in due case, plans and orders necessary to the country defense, as well as directing and advising civil defense.
• Construct and prepare the forts and all kind of military buildings for Army and Air Force use, as well as administration of barracks, hospitals and other military buildings.
• Administer military justice.
• Acquire and build armaments, ammunition, and all kinds of materials and elements for the use of Army and Air Force.
• Grant permission for an expedition force to enter another country or to allow another country to send their forces to Mexico.
• Manage the issuing of licenses to bear firearms with the aim of preventing the use of arms expressly banned in law and also those types of arms restricted by the state for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy and National Guard, with the exception of what is established by the 13th section of Article 30 of the Constitution, as well as the supervision and issuing of permits for the sale, transport and storage of firearms, chemical weapons, explosives and strategic weapons.

List of secretaries

President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (1934 - 1935)  : Pablo Quiroga (1935 - 1936)  : Andrés Figueroa (1936 - 1939) : Manuel Ávila Camacho (1939 - 1940)  : Jesús Agustín Castro President Manuel Ávila Camacho (1940 - 1942)  : Pablo Macías Valenzuela (1942 - 1945) : Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (1945 - 1946) : Francisco L. Urquizo President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines (1952 - 1958)  : Matías Ramos President Adolfo López Mateos (1958 - 1964)  : Agustín Olachea President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (1964 - 1970)  : Marcelino García Barragán President Luis Echeverría Álvarez (1970 - 1976)  : Hermenegildo Cuenca Díaz

President José López Portillo (1976 - 1982)  : Félix Galván López President Miguel de la Madrid (1982 - 1988)  : Juan Arévalo Gardoqui President Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988 - 1994)  : Antonio Riviello Bazán President Ernesto Zedillo (1994 - 2000)  : Enrique Cervantes Aguirre President Vicente Fox (2000 - 2006)  : Gerardo Clemente Vega President Felipe Calderón (2006 - 2012) : Guillermo Galván Galván President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012 - ) : Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda

See also

• Museo del Enervante - a Sedena museum dedicated to those who have fought drug trafficking in Mexico.
• Zuyaqui - a famous dog who worked for the agency.

External links

• Official site of the Secretariat of National Defense (Spanish)
• Official site of the Secretariat of National Defense, English version
• Citizens' Portal, Official Site of the Mexican Government (Spanish)
• Basic Law of Federal Public Administration (Spanish)