With only 38% of the vote, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto today assumed control of the armed forces and took responsibility doe national security in a symbolic ceremony held at midnight at the presidential palace, just before his official swearing in by Congress.
At precisely 12:01 a.m. local time, President Felipe Calderon and Peña Nieto walked down the escalators to a patio in the National Palace. The ceremony lasted a few minutes as Calderon received the national flag from a military school cadet, which he then handed to Peña Nieto. The act symbolized the transfer of command of the security forces.
Afterward, both men greeted the new Cabinet, as well as outgoing Cabinet members. Minutes later, in a different ceremony, Peña Nieto conducted the oath of office of the members of the new Security Cabinet, composed of Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, as the head of the Ministry of the Interior, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda as head of the Ministry of National Defense and Vidal Soberon Sanz as Secretary of the Navy.
Now only time will tell, now that all of this pomp and circumstance has ended, if the new administration does anything to revolutionary to promote new ideas which will improve conditions for the people of Mexico.