Mexico breaks ties with US embassy amid conflict over justice overhaul

For months, tensions have been mounting in Mexico over the president’s sweeping plans to overhaul the judiciary, roiling the country’s political system and straining diplomatic relations with the United States.

This week, those tensions came to light.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador from Mexico said Tuesday that his administration was “pausing” ties with the U.S. embassy in response to criticism from the U.S. ambassador over the president’s efforts in the final weeks of his six-year term to push through changes to the judiciary that could force thousands of judges out of their jobs.

“Hopefully there will be a declaration from them that they will show respect for the independence of Mexico,” Mr. López Obrador said of the United States during his daily news conference. “Until that happens and they continue with that policy, then there is a pause with the embassy.”

“‘Pause’ means we’re going to take a break,” he added, saying it would also apply to the U.S. State Department. But Mr. López Obrador said overall relations would not be affected, seeking to allay concerns about a potential impact on trade. Mexico is the United States’ top trading partner, and there have been growing concerns and warnings about the impact of the judicial reforms on business confidence and the economy.

Mr. López Obrador also announced a pause in ties with the Canadian embassy after the Canadian ambassador, Graeme Clark, raised concerns from Canadian investors about justice reform.

It was unclear what such a pause with the Foreign Ministry and embassies would mean in practice. Mr. López Obrador did not specify how the pause would play out. But on Tuesday afternoon, Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena Ibarra said on social media that the relationship “with our friends and neighbors in North America is a priority and fundamental, and remains fluid and normal on a daily basis.”

The president’s comments followed remarks by Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador, who called the proposed judicial changes, which include electing judges by popular vote, “a grave risk to the functioning of Mexican democracy.”

Mr. Salazar argued that the measures could threaten Mexico’s trade relationship with the United States by undermining confidence in Mexico’s legal framework and encouraging drug cartels to “take advantage of politically motivated and inexperienced judges.”

The criticism was a sharp departure from his long conciliatory approach to relations with Mr. López Obrador. The Biden administration, which needs Mexico’s cooperation to manage migration flows, has rarely criticized Mr. López Obrador, let alone done so publicly, and Mr. López Obrador has asked the United States to leave Mexico’s internal affairs to the Mexicans.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Embassy reaffirmed its “utmost respect for Mexico’s sovereignty” and its “desire to continue our close cooperation with Mexico,” but said it had “grave concerns that the popular election of judges would neither address corruption in the judiciary nor strengthen the judiciary.”

Claudia Sheinbaum, the president-elect and a protégé of Mr López Obrador, has fully embraced the president’s legal initiative.

“There is a perception that with judicial reform, the independence and autonomy of the judiciary is lost,” she told reporters on Monday. “It is the other way around.”

Mexico’s newly elected Congress could begin voting as early as next week on changes proposed by Mr. López Obrador. If passed, they would move the judiciary from an appointment system based largely on specialized training and qualifications to one where virtually anyone with a law degree and a few years of experience could run for judge.

The measure could result in more than 5,000 judges, from the Supreme Court to local district courts, losing their jobs.

Thousands of federal judges and court workers have already joined nationwide strikes. On Sunday, protesters took to the streets in more than 20 Mexican cities in hopes of drawing attention to what they called an attack on the judiciary.

Efforts to weaken the courts have long been seen as a sign that a country’s democracy is in danger. When judicial independence takes a hit, countries can quickly slide toward autocracy, experts say. In Poland and Hungary, crackdowns on the courts have made it easier for leaders to consolidate their power. Most recently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced mass protests when he attempted to ban judges from overriding government decisions. (That effort was rejected by Israel’s Supreme Court earlier this year.)

Mr. López Obrador says the overhaul is needed to prevent corruption and rulings that give drug traffickers free rein. Although his term ends in October, the new Congress — where the ruling party, Morena, and its allies have secured large majorities in both chambers — has a month while Mr. López Obrador is still in office to approve dozens of proposed constitutional changes, including the president’s plan to elect judges and justices by popular vote.

According to López Obrador, changing the way judges and justices are selected would weed out corruption in the judiciary and ensure that everyone, not just the wealthy, has access to justice. And — as he himself has said — it would allow his administration’s plans, such as transferring the National Guard from civilian to military rule, to go unchallenged by Mexico’s Supreme Court.

“The judiciary is hopeless, it is rotten,” he said last May, when he first presented his ideas for a reform. “It is completely at the service of the conservative bloc,” he said, referring to his opponents.

Others, however, pointing to the president’s spate of attacks on judges who have spoken out against some of his plans, say the measures amount to a thinly veiled pretext to undermine the independence of the judiciary and increase the power of López Obrador’s nationalist political movement.

“They are going to make us disappear as an institution,” said José Fernando Miguez, a spokesman for the striking workers and an employee of the court in Mexico City. “They are going to make people disappear who have worked their whole lives as judges and magistrates with extensive experience.”

Adblock Test (Why?)