The First Week of the Mexican “Fourth Transformation”
What’s happening in Mexico? Political context.
Back on July 1st, Mexico had it’s general election. The opposition, MORENA, won in great numbers, most media outlets and experts say this is due to the accumulated mass fatigue, anger, and frustration that the Mexican population is currently experiencing towards their politicians.
In essence they are not wrong, every Mexican, wether they voted for Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador “AMLO” or not will tell you the massive success of the political party he created and led, MORENA, was a sort of boycott to traditional politicians in a society that is tired of corruption, violence, inequality, in a state where impunity is the rule of law.
We are one week into the next 5 years and 10 months of AMLO as the Mexican president that came from opposition, as him and his political party no longer represent an opposition, having acquired the majority of seats on both, the deputies’ and senators’ chambers by a landslide voting result.
This week has come forth amidst a a controversial transitional period amongst them the now famous “citizen consultations” deemed legitimate by many, and diverse polemical political and economical outcomes.
Here are the top highlights of the week:
1. Candidates for Supreme Court Minister
Minister Cossio is finishing his term as both Supreme Court Minister, and president of the Supreme Court, the president is set to send a list of 3 candidates to be considered by congress to become the new Supreme Court Minister.
This were the people postulated by the president to occupy such position:
- Loretta Ortiz, who worked directly in the President’s campaign, and is avidly known for her Human Rights studies.
- Celia Maya García, who has been four times a candidate to diverse public election positions under AMLO’s team and is currently a state Minister at Querétaro’s Supreme Court.
- Juan Luis González Alcántara Carrancá, who was the president of the TSJDF in Mexico City when AMLO was head of state.
So as you might assume by now, even though the three candidates are ideally prepared for the position, there have been issues concerning the proximity of the candidates to the president. Specifically since the judicial power is an essential check and balance for the executive power.
2. MORENA reforms Article 19 of the Mexican Constitution
The senators’ chamber has decided to reform article 19 of the Mexican Constitution. This article regulates what is considered a “serious felony”, and thus, those which have preventive jail during the judicial process.
This reform would have double the amount of felony’s considered serious, thus largely affecting any person considered the likely suspect of a deemed “serious felony” without knowing wether they are innocent or not.
Preventive jail is already a controversial topic within mexico, with recen constitutional and criminal law reforms that changed the system from an inquisitive one into an accusatory one, there has been a lot of debate on weather preventive jail should even be considered a measure by default for specific crimes.
Thus this has cause a huge outrage with human rights groups and activists that claim that this will directly affect the most vulnerable groups in mexico, often accused of crimes they haven’t committed.
Now the reform approved by the senators, has been sent the deputies’ chambers for review and approval, we still have to wait to see wether the reform is approved or sent back for modifications.
3. Proposal for Chemical Castration as a sanction for Rapists
Right now on the works and on the legislative floor, a MORENA senator has proposed chemical castration as a sanction to rapists.
Alejandro Armenta, the senator that proposed such sanction for the specific case of rape against women and children has been a current news spotlight. Both, the president and other MORENA affiliates have demarcated themselves from such an initiative.
The legislator argues that the rising violence against women and girls in mexico where as many as 7 women dying per day because of violence directed at them specifically for being a woman deems radical measures necessary.
Human rights groups and other political figures have highly spoken against such measure.
4. Public Officials Salary Cut-offs.
One of AMLO’s most acclaimed political promise was to cut down all public official’s salaries, and that no one would be able to win more money than the president, who’s salary was reduced from $259,627 pesos per month(roughly $12,800 USD per month) to $108,000 pesos per month (about $5,320 USD per month), which is about 40% of what Enrique Peña Nieto earned as president.
The law to state these limits has already been made and was set to be published and enacted, however the Nation’s Supreme Court of Justice has suspended this law under the argument that it is deemed unconstitutional.
“The suspension requested for the purpose that the remuneration received by public servants of the Union’s powers and of all other public entities for the 2019 fiscal year, shall not be fixed in terms of the law claimed, until such time when the controversy is resolved”.
The president has publicly claimed that he believes this counter balance to the salary reduction is deemed inherently an act of corruption, causing a serious backlash from general public stating he is unwilling to respect and accept the checks and balances needed in a democracy.
Thus this week has been a mixed of news spotlights and headlines with both positive and negative reviews of the new enacted president. These are but a few of the controversy’s that I have personally deemed most important for political and legal context in the country without including the controversies that raised during the transitional period (including the claimed legally illegitimate airport referendum).
Hope this is of help to anyone interested in Mexican politics and legal system who, as many of us, is trying navigate the complicated situation that the country presently has. Mexico, with very strong and divided ideas of the previously opposition party holding majority in congress and having the executive power, and having previously political forces that where in power stand as a somewhat mediocre opposition, is sure to face some interesting changes for better or worse.
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