Fabiola Martinez
Newspaper La Jornada
Friday, January 13, 2023, p. 6
In an unprecedented event, the Specialized Chamber of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary (TEPJF) determined that the President of the Republic engaged in political and institutional violence due to the criticism issued towards those who voted against the electricity reform.
The sentence, in which the head of government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, and the coordinator of Morena deputies, Ignacio Mier, are included in the same terms, originates from a complaint by Movimiento Ciudadano.
The project presented by magistrate Luis Espíndola indicated that the demonstrations did not constitute these types of violence, because the legislative work was not hindered or impeded, but the criterion was not shared by the presiding magistrate Rubén Lara or by the acting magistrate, Gustavo Cesar Pale.
Political parties, candidates and individuals can be fined by the Specialized Chamber, but the current regulation does not allow sanctioning public servants, only giving sight
to the hierarchical superior. In this case, for Sheinbaum it is the Congress of Mexico City. For Mier, the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Deputies. The sight
does not apply to the chief executive.
In establishing his position, the presiding magistrate pointed out that although the political debate is vigorous, freedom of expression has well-defined constitutional limits. If we allow anything to be said, then we might not necessarily do the exercise of rights a favor
he asserted.
Espíndola defended his project arguing that a sentence in the terms finally approved limits public debate and freedom of expression.
Doing so, under the parameter that is proposed, seems to me to be part of a very worrying risk that would be aimed at limiting public debate, open in any democratic society. In this case, when there is not enough evidence to allow a conclusion of this seriousness to be reached, such as political violence or an attempt to incite violence
he warned.
In principle, he specified, because the saying of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was in the sense that the political elites throughout their history have supported foreign companies and thereby betray the country; The head of government and the Morenista deputy made similar expressions.
He also stressed that the accreditation of slander, of those who called legislators traitors to the country, has already been a judged matter and the criterion should not be taken that, since there was slander, there was also political and institutional violence.
Among the arguments presented, he said that there is no hate language in the messages from the aforementioned officials. The expressions of the President of the Republic are part of the political debate that must be open, plural, strong, vigorous, harsh, caustic, uncomfortable, which is part of the deliberation of any democratic system.
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reactions
Jorge Álvarez, coordinator of MC in the Chamber of Deputies, celebrated the ruling of the specialized chamber of the TEPJF. He described that resolution as historic, since the concept of political and institutional violence is recognized. Until now, only gender political violence was recognized, he recalled.
In return, the coordinator of Morena in San Lázaro, Ignacio Mier, reiterated that all those public officials and legislators who do not think of the interest of Mexico and Mexicans are traitors to the country.
With editorial data
