Mexico’s public security has been progressively moving towards militarization for at least eighteen years. The army’s participation, previously reserved for war and exceptional junctures, has normalized. This article critically reviews the military’s role in Mexico’s bloodshed and human rights crisis during the 2006-2024 period. I argue that the ongoing phenomenon has perpetuated the cycle of violence, threatened democratic standards, and severely impacted human rights. In this framework, I question whether the policy of militarization can be placed in the context of a de facto state of exception. My aim, in short, is to assess the ways in which militarization reinforces exceptionality and how they both signal a counter-phenomena to human rights.
