Mexican Judiciary on Strike – by Jordana Timerman

Mexican legal workers began an indefinite nationwide strike yesterday in response to a judicial reform being passed by Congress. They will be joined by more than 1,200 federal judges and magistrates starting tomorrow, reports Animal policy.

Outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sees the reform, called Plan C, as an important legacy. He hopes to push it through next month, taking advantage of the Morena party’s new dominance in Congress and his final month in office. It would make judges elected rather than appointed, and critics say it would jeopardize the judiciary’s role as a counterbalance in a country where the ruling Morena party overwhelmingly dominates the legislature and executive branches.

The judiciary unions that called the strike, representing a large portion of Mexico’s 55,000 judicial officers, said they were convinced the reform would end merit-based career paths, according to a report Reuters“Critics say the change could lead to people with minimal legal experience being elected as judges,” the New York Times.

Court union members placed chains and locks on the gates of several courthouses yesterday and said they plan to continue the strike until López Obrador drops his proposals, the Associated Press.

AMLO proposed the reform in response to what he calls corruption in the judiciary, but experts say the reform will not address systemic problems such as slow-moving cases and shoddy investigations that leave many crimes unpunished, the New York TimesThe system of political evaluation commissions could indeed create new opportunities for corruption, experts said. Animal policy.

“The vast majority of cases of impunity in Mexico are not attributable to judicial authorities,” a new report says WOLA commentary. “Impunity for crimes reported by the population occurs mainly at the stage of investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Offices… In this context, the proposed judicial reform would lead to the continuation and deepening of patterns of impunity and abuse against the population.”

And “critics fear the potential consequences of local and state authorities following the federal system in choosing their judges, which they say could open the way for organized crime to infiltrate the judiciary,” the report said. America’s Quarterly.

More Mexico

• Mexico City Mayor-elect Clara Brugada named a cabinet with gender parity, heavily reliant on technocrats, promising a “feminist perspective” and work on the ground, not behind a desk, reports The country. (See also Animal policy.)

• The emerging story about the arrest of Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada “contains strong indications that the governor of Sinaloa, an ally of AMLO, was bribed by the Sinaloa Cartel,” a story that “will end badly for MORENA and will damage AMLO’s legacy on security issues, which is likely why the president has reacted so viscerally to the events,” the Latin America Risk Report.

• The Mexican government sent 600 additional troops to the Sinaloa state capital, Culiacán, yesterday, reports Animal policy.

Migration

• Today, Panama deported 29 Colombian nationals with criminal records who entered the country through the Darién Gap. It is the first U.S.-funded flight to repatriate migrants who entered Panama irregularly, as part of an agreement signed last month between Panama’s Mulino government and the U.S. government, reports Reuters. (See also Reuters.)

• Registration opened yesterday for an estimated 500,000 spouses of U.S. citizens to obtain legal status without first leaving the country, the Associated Press.

Regional relations

• Colombian President Gustavo Petro has signed a decree banning coal exports to Israel in an effort to pressure the Israeli government to end the Gaza conflict, reports Bloomberg.

Colombia

• ELN commander Antonio García accused the Colombian government of delaying negotiations with the country’s largest remaining guerrilla movement to “militarily dismantle the ELN.”Chair Vacía)

Haiti

• Haitian police yesterday tear-gassed hundreds of peaceful protesters in Port-au-Prince, as protesters asked police for help in stopping gangs that are violently seizing control of their neighborhoods, the Associated Press.

Nicaragua

• The Nicaraguan government’s decision to shut down 1,500 civil society organizations in one go yesterday was notable because it included hundreds of evangelical churches. It’s a sign that the Ortega government is expanding its efforts to silence religious leaders and close down any independent space that isn’t affiliated with the government, the New York Times. (To see yesterday’s briefs.)

Regional

• Latin American countries have agreed to form a regional alliance against organized crime, under the auspices of the Inter-American Development Bank. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay will join the alliance, and Ecuador has committed to taking the first presidency.The country)

Venezuela

• Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab said opposition leaders, including María Corina Machado, could face legal charges for deaths during protests following the July 28 presidential election. “Human rights organizations and international groups have accused Saab of being one of the key figures in the regime’s attempts to use the Venezuelan justice system as an instrument of political persecution,” the Miami Herald.

• WOLA President Carolina Jimenez Sandoval and Laura Cristina Dib, WOLA’s director for Venezuela, said the July elections “and the subsequent resistance and repression, while familiar, are unprecedented in Venezuela. They discuss new forms of civil resistance, including involvement of the Venezuelan diaspora, and activity among youth and among popular social media influencers.”

• Venezuela’s new ‘anti-NGO law’ flagrantly violates freedom of association and the right to participate in public affairs, among other rights. It marks another crackdown by the government of Nicolás Maduro against those fighting for human rights in Venezuela,” said Amnesty International.

• Maduro hopes to resolve the disputed presidential election in Venezuela’s Supreme Court, “but for decades the Venezuelan judiciary has been transformed into an arm of the executive branch and the ruling PSUV party,” the Caracas Chronicles.

• “Amid the polarized conflict between the government and the opposition, critical left-wing voices are struggling to put forward their own political demands,” writes Yoletty Bracho in Nacla.

• The New York Times reports that Machado’s five top associates have been living in a diplomatic residence in Argentina for five months after asking for protection from arrest.

Brazil

• “Police in São Paulo have frozen bank accounts holding more than $1 billion in an anti-money laundering operation that highlights the growing use of cryptocurrencies by Brazil’s most powerful prison gang, the First Capital Command,” the report said. InSight Crime.

• Oil exploration in Brazil’s Cabo Orange National Park is almost certain given political pressure from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, reports People of S. Paulobut an oil spill on the border with French Guiana would be disastrous for the environment.

Regional

• As the climate crisis spreads across Latin America, women are on the frontlines defending their communities’ access to water, reports Nacla.

Chile

• Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet insists she will not run for president again, but her name continues to pop up in polls, proving a lack of generational change in politics, according to The country.The third)

Paraguay

• A Paraguayan lawmaker from the ruling party in Colorado was killed in a pre-dawn police raid on his home, “a stark reminder of the web of collaboration between politicians’ families and organized crime in Paraguay,” the Associated Press.

• A year into the term of Paraguayan President Santiago Peña, “the economy is doing well. But critics worry about the rule of law and the influence of a powerful former leader,” writes Lawrence Blair in America’s Quarterly.