A group of Mexican judges and magistrates has approved the start of an indefinite strike, starting Wednesday, to protest a judicial reform pushed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. This action joins a strike by around 55,000 sector workers who began on Monday. One of the most controversial points proposed by the president is the appointment of judges through popular election. The strike affects at least 20 of the country’s 32 states.
With chains and padlocks, entrances to dozens of courts in Mexico are closed, as hundreds of judges and magistrates prepare to start an indefinite strike on Wednesday against a judicial reform. “We suspend indefinitely our work in the Federal Judicial Power throughout the Republic of Mexico until our demands are heard,” said several organizations that group people employed in the sector in a statement.
The strike was approved this Tuesday, August 20, through a virtual vote by jurists who make up the National Association of Circuit Magistrates and District Judges of the Judicial Power. During the time the protest is extended, only “urgent cases” will be attended to.
The reform is pushed by President López Obrador, who has already presented his proposal for changes to Congress. “This decision is of vital transcendence in the defense of the autonomy of the Federal Judicial Power, a pillar of our democratic system and therefore today, working people and judges have decided to defend: the Republic, judicial independence and the division of powers to guarantee the future of generations to come,” said the note.
This strike joins the halt in activities that around 55,000 sector workers began on Monday, August 19. The reform proposed by López Obrador is essential, as it proposes the appointment of judges through popular election, as well as the creation of two new administrative bodies.
So far, in Mexico a system prevails where judges and court employees ascend to their posts after accumulating years of experience. According to what the magistrates denounce, the reform would allow any person graduated in law and with some years of experience as an attorney to be elected as a judge, due to the official party obtaining significant majorities in the recent general elections of the country. And they emphasize that those judges who are elected could act in favor of the Government, which will be headed from September 30 by López Obrador’s successor, Claudia Sheinbaum.
In a statement, unions criticize the push for reform as an hasty matter and a danger to the “only counterweight” to the dominance of Morena party both at the presidency and Congress. This position coincides with that of the opposition, which points out that the changes pushed by the president put at risk judicial independence.
On the other hand, sector workers highlight that the changes proposed by the head of State threaten their rights, as they would put at risk their labor conditions, benefits and salaries. For his part, López Obrador alleges that his reform aims to cure a sector in which, according to him, there is corruption and privileges serving private interests.
“They don’t want an authentic state of law; They want a crooked State,” assured the president in a press conference on August 19.
The head of State has frequently disagreed with judges and often publishes the names of those who have issued verdicts that the head of State does not approve. In particular, he has clashed with the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Mexico, who have tried to stop some of his initiatives, and has ridiculed them regularly by calling them “corrupt.”
The judicial reform is one of the main priorities of President López Obrador and next month, the newly elected Congress will vote on the project of constitutional reform. The proposed reform worries investors, who have expressed fears that there may be politically motivated or uncertain legal rulings if it is approved by the required two-thirds majority of legislators to change the Constitution.
The Morena party of López Obrador would have enough votes to promote the reform after the June elections.
Source: France 24
