Declare the electoral reform unconstitutional, Cossío sues the Court

Emir Olivares and Cesar Arellano

Newspaper La Jornada
Monday February 27, 2023, p. 9

Faced with tens of thousands of people who filled the capital’s Zócalo yesterday and spread to the surrounding streets, the former minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) José Ramón Cossío Díaz said that he trusted the democratic mood of the members of the highest court to declare unconstitutional the plan B of electoral reform.

The organizers estimated in more than 500 thousand attendance at the rally, which was called by social groups and opposition parties, under the main slogan MyVoteDon’tTouch.

The Plaza de la Constitución and some of the surrounding streets, such as Madero, 5 de Mayo, 16 de Septiembre and 20 de Noviembre looked crowded by those who responded to the call. The crowd was able to follow the course of the rally from giant screens located near the Zócalo.

From the gallery, located in the southeast corner of the square, Cossío sent a message to the ministers: we know the difficulties that your work implies; of the pressures to which they are being submitted by those who want to appropriate the Mexican electoral system. We want to tell you that we trust you, your democratic spirit and your ability to understand the seriousness of the decisions you will make to preserve the democratic life of the country..

A few steps from the headquarters of the highest court of justice in the country, Cossío said that he indicated this request with respect and confidence, but at the same time vigilant of their accompaniment and their work for the Constitution.

He said he was sure that the ministers “will consider that the irregularities in the legislative processes (for the approval of the reforms) have a serious invalidating potential.

I know that the ministers will declare that the regulations that reduce the human and budgetary resources of the electoral bodies violate the principles of equity and certainty; I am sure that they will consider that the setting of budgets by the Chamber of Deputies violates the budgetary autonomy of the National Electoral Institute (INE).

It considered that there is no way for the members of the SCJN to declare the constitutionality of these reforms, that in such a lamentable way the political rights of women have diminished.

He said that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has affirmed that in case of invalidating the plan B, the ministers would be evidenced as allies of corruption, hypocrisy and privileged sectors.

“On the contrary,” he stated, “they could only be considered corrupt if they are unaware of the provisions of the constitutional articles that regulate electoral bodies and procedures in detail; they would be hypocritical if they hide their arguments, if they deviate from their precedents or if they distort the votes in which they participate.”

It also considered that the members of the Court they could be held as defenders of privileges, only if they weaken the electoral institutions so that the powers that be, including organized crime, can determine the course of the elections and the conformation of our popular representatives.

motley assistance

Those attending the rally, called at 11 in the morning, began to arrive early. Some did it in cars driven by drivers; thousands came in buses and vans that were parked in nearby neighborhoods; others, by public transport, bicycles or pedicabs Many left their vehicles in nearby sites or public parking lots and walked. The conveners pointed out that the concentration was a continuation from the march last November.

The crowd was diverse: dark-haired and blond; employees and professionals; young and old, ordinary citizens and members of partisan organizations, political and economic groups or former officials of past governments.

Characters such as businessman Claudio X. González; José Narro, former rector of the UNAM; the leadership of the PRI, PAN and PRD, headed by their national leaders, Alejandro Moreno, Marko Cortés and Jesús Zambrano, respectively, and PRI supporters such as Enrique de la Madrid and Claudia Ruiz Massieu; Mariana Moguel, daughter of the former Secretary of Social Development Rosario Robles; PAN members such as Josefina Vázquez Mota, Xóchitl Gálvez, Kenia López and Javier Lozano (Secretary of Labor with Felipe Calderón) and José Ángel Gurría, Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Finance in the six-year term of Ernesto Zedillo, among others.

In the middle of a group of young people, the cap of one of them stood out among the rest: Let’s make Mexico fifi again (Let’s make a fifi Mexico again). The message did not go unnoticed by those who encountered its bearer and some even cheered. your creativity.

Ideas were expressed in banners and slogans: “We are not neoliberals, we are not corrupt and we do not want the plan B”, Neither steel nor fifí, I am Mexican, Supreme Court, don’t abandon us and Free and democratic Mexico.

Some also expressed their tirias: The INE is not touched, better go to your ranchread a poster, but the same citizen clarified in another: I defend the INE and I am not a classist.

Several of the defenders of the electoral institute showed a certain lack of knowledge of the content of the plan B and even the characters who attended. A sample: dozens of citizens met the former rector Narro. I could not miss the souvenir selfie next to the also former Secretary of Health. Given the uproar around his person, some clueless asked: Who is that?to which others, even more clueless, replied: he is the rector of the UNAM.

Clash over Garcia Luna

Although from the stage the conductors said that in this mobilization all voices fit, even those of supporters of the Presidentat the other end of the square a clash of positions broke out, which those who arrived early could testify.

In the congressional office building in Mexico City, legislators from Morena unfurled a gigantic banner with the face of Genaro García Luna and the PAN logo, which read: #GarcíaLunaNoSeToca.

The gesture caused the anger of dozens of attendees and the mobilization of some PAN congressmen, who went up to the building to remove the canvas, while below, dozens of people destroyed it with their hands shouting Mexico, Mexico! Then, the opponents picked up the pieces, crossed the plate and threw the remains behind the fence that surrounded the National Palace.

On the curtains of various businesses and on newsstands in the streets surrounding the Zócalo there were posters pasted with the image of García Luna and the sign of guilty. Several protesters tried to remove them without success.