Alonso Urrutia and Emir Olivares
The newspaper La Jornada
Friday, September 20, 2024, p. 6
With the reform in this area, the interference of the oligarchy in the Judicial Branch will be eradicated, because at present justice is only for those who have influence, both organized crime figures and white-collar crime, said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He considered that with the election of judges, magistrates and ministers, they will not owe their position to anyone.
Analyzing the potential of the changes, he estimated that within 10 years justice in Mexico could be better. Currently, the Judiciary “is takenkidnapped, and is only at the service of a minority and of crime, which is why prompt and expeditious justice is not dispensed.” This is an anonymous power in which the Judicial Council is supposed to be the body in charge of sanctioning the poor performance of its members.
He added that this does not happen in practice because for years there has not been a single judge sanctioned, even when they engage in illegal and undesirable practices, which even privilege the interests of members of organized crime.
He cited the case of a judge who gave 24 hours to release the brother of the leader of the Jalisco cartel New Generation or the recurring orders of release on weekends, with the so-called Saturday morningsOf the total number of defendants whose release is ordered by the Judiciary, 70 percent occur on weekends, with the aggravating factor that the time limits for officials to release prisoners are increasingly shorter.
For López Obrador, reform of the judiciary is essential, and it will be useful if judges, magistrates and ministers are not chosen by the President, senators or party leaders.
He considered the versions that with these changes anyone can become a judge to be inaccurate, since there are specific requirements, a commission will verify that these are met, and if there are too many applications, it will be determined by drawing lots who can participate in the election.
