MEXICO CITY, Dec 10, (AP): Mexico’s president said Monday that much of the money gained by eliminating independent oversight and regulatory agencies will go to the army to fund a rise in soldiers’ pay. The announcement by President Claudia Sheinbaum is the latest in a a series of new and unusual funding sources to pay for the country’s increasingly influential military.

Last week, Mexico’s Congress approved charging every cruise ship passenger a $42 immigration fee, with much of that money also going to the armed forces. Under Sheinbaum's Morena party, since 2019 the military has been given powers to build and run everything from railways, airports and airlines in Mexico, and some of those projects appear to be losing money.

For over a century before, Mexico's armed forces were very limited in their actions, restricted from taking any role in politics and didn't have many business interests. But that all changed under Sheinbaum's predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who saw the army as a loyal, unquestioning ally and a safeguard for his political and policy legacy.

López Obrador, Sheinbaum's political mentor, also made the armed forces, and the quasi-military National Guard, the country's main law enforcement forces. In late November, Mexico’s Senate voted to eliminate seven independent regulatory and oversight agencies, a move that critics warn will cement the ruling party’s power and avoid outside scrutiny.

Sheinbaum called it a money-saving measure, arguing that the government can more efficiently handle functions like freedom of information requests, anti-monopoly enforcement and energy-market regulation. However, critics and foreign investors and critics fear this could open the door to favoritism and a lack of transparency.

And earlier this month, Mexico’s Senate - controlled by the president's Morena party - voted to charge cruise ship passengers $42 per head for port calls, drawing sharp criticism from the tourism industry. Mexican business chambers say the immigration charge - from which cruise passengers used to be exempt - may hurt the country’s $500 million per year cruise industry.