Of purification to the command cane: ministers loaded with symbolism arrive

He did not only arrive at the event, five other ministers accompanied him: Lenia Batres, María Estela Ríos, Giovanni Figueroa, Irving Espinosa and Sara Irene Herrerías. The six lawyers went to the incense bathroom, copal and offerings, to start the new stage of the Supreme Court and the Judiciary.

In the morning, the new ministers defended the reform with which they reached their position by popular vote and marked distance from their predecessors, even when the majority lacks judicial experience, they are close to the party in power and arrive under the shadow of the accordions. Above this, only for 13% of the electorate participated in the June 1 elections.

“They are sure that it is a different court, a court different from the previous ones, here the thought and the heart is not going to guide power or money,” said Aguilar Ortiz, the man who tied the presidency of the Court with 6.2 million votes.

Between offerings of fruit, bread, flowers and mazorcas placed in a duffel bag, indigenous traditional doctors “consecrated” the canes that were later delivered in the Zocalo.

First the ritual and paraphernalia

The new ministers came loaded with symbolism. First, traditional ceremonies and then the protocol. The public act in the Zocalo before hundreds of people as overture and then the formality of the protest in the Senate.

The new stage of the Supreme Court started even from the early hours of September 1 without the presence of the ministers, with an “act of purification” at the headquarters of the highest court; A “clean” in the offices of the new judges as an echo of a ritual that is strengthened in the current political spectrum.

Former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did something similar in the National Palace when he assumed the presidency in 2018 and made a clean to the presidential chair.

A floral ornament was also placed at the main door of the court with the phrase: “Towards a reconciliation of justice with the people”, prepared by native peoples of Iztapalapa.

By then, the Court had already published the official photograph of the new ministers. Aguilar appears with toga, but with indigenous embroidery of colors, the rest used the usual garment, without modifications.

In June, Oaxaca Morenista senators – Aguilar’s native state – presented an initiative to end the mandatory use of toga in the courts of the Court, arguing that the new era of the highest court must begin without symbols of remoteness and elitism, but did not prosper.

The Court also spread in Spanish and five indigenous languages ​​the profiles of new ministers.

De Aguilar, who worked in the AMLO government and was in charge of consultations between native peoples for his flagship works, highlights a “solid work of reflection, systematization and defense of indigenous rights.”

“Symbolizes trust, hope and legitimacy that the original peoples deposit in their leadership. A spiritual and worldview symbolism is also incorporated,” said the supreme cut on the ritual of this new era.

However, the act was qualified as a “simulation” and “reification” of the traditions of indigenous peoples by historian Felipe Echenique March, who went to the access of the archaeological zone to demonstrate.

“Today you can see here, in this simulation of a traditional ceremony of indigenous peoples, when that is a lie. Not all indigenous peoples use the command cane, there are many peoples in our national territory that deserve respect,” he said before media.

In the afternoon, already in the Zocalo, indigenous and Afromexican representatives of states such as Sonora, Michoacán, Oaxaca and Quintana Roo gave the ministers – with the exception of Aristides Guerrero, who recovers from a vehicle accident – the command cane to “guide” his act.

“It is the moment of change Brother Hugo (Aguilar), that you go ahead and that if there is any negative energy, you go ahead. That the laws are for the good of all of Mexico. That the cosmic force one to all!”, Exclaimed the traditional doctor.

Promises to ‘clean up’ the judiciary

The response of the new president was swift and, from the temple of the Zocalo, Aguilar defined the new members of the Court as the “of the people” ministers – a moment that Lenia Batres uses – and took the opportunity to load against their predecessors and defend the judicial reform.

“Just a year ago it was unimaginable that its server, as indigenous, as people of the town, despite the studies, despite the work, despite the merits, it was unimaginable that was today talking to them in the position of minister,” said Aguilar, who later stressed being the second indigenous that arrives at the Court, after Benito Juárez.

And there, in front of his followers, he announced that, shortly, The Supreme Court will implement actions to remove privileges and establish a new justice model “to look down.”

“The vote they deposited at the urn will have results: they have the confidence that as of today we will work tirelessly for a new justice model, a justice that looks down. Today we are going to start this huge effort,” he said.

Then, the proximity to the Executive …

With the transformation of the Judiciary, a new relationship of the ministers with the Executive Power also started. If until recently they were not contemplated for protocol or government events, they were now in the front row.

In the morning, after the ceremony in Cuicuilco, the ministers chosen at the polls, indicated for their proximity to Morena, the government and ex -president López Obrador, attended the first official report of President Claudia Sheinbaum in the National Palace.

Aguilar occupied a seat to face, exactly facing the lectern the president used to read her speech.

“Welcome the new Judiciary, an unpublished and deeply democratic fact. The era of nepotism, corruption and privileges ends, and a new era of legality and justice begins for all and for all, a true rule of law,” said Sheinbaum.

At the end of the act, Hugo Aguilar clarified that the court’s relationship with the other powers – practically broken until last weekend – will be republican and “totally respect.”

In the act to which the cabinet and businessmen attended as Carlos Slim and Germán Larreathe minister rejected the accusations that qualify the highest court as the “accordion court.”

“They have been making these criticisms, but we have made the pertinent clarifications and all the reasons why does not apply such qualifiers. I obtained a large number of votes of the citizenship and the people that will be present today to accompany us in the taking of position on the relationship with the other powers of respect, “he said.

The report was also attended by the Secretary of Organization of Morena, Andrés Manuel López Beltrán, who held a place in the sixth row of the patio of honor. The former president reappeared in public from the controversy for his trip to Japan.