Mexico City.- The United States ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, warned that the scheme for direct election of judges proposed in AMLO’s judicial reform initiative is not a good model, as it is identical to the system in Texas.
“In the State of Texas, for comparison, there is direct election, where judges go out to campaign, to raise money, to be politicians in their effort to reach the courts,” he said.
“That system, for me (…) does not seem to me to be a good model for the State of Texas,” the diplomat said during a press conference at his residence.
In comparison, as he said, to the models of Colorado and Utah, where there are elections, but “retention” of judges every certain number of years.
However, he stressed that the final decision will be made by Congress and he is not in a position to tell the Mexican government or lawmakers what they should do about it.
-There are experts who say that choosing judges directly opens the door, for example, to financing drug trafficking. Is this a fear they have?, he was asked.
“Look, my fear is the example I see in Texas, the way judges are elected in that state, because there the judges do have to go out and campaign, raise funds,” he responded.
“I still don’t know what the details will be, the purpose here in Mexico, that will be worked out by Congress in the coming days, but I hope they go to a system… they can have elections like we have in Colorado,” he said.
“Retention” elections, he added, allow judges who are not doing their job well or who are facing problems to be “spotlighted” and eventually removed.
“In English it is called ‘accountability’, I think that is what we are looking for, and we are always celebrating what we want to do: have a shared democracy in the United States and Mexico,” he said.
“Having certainty in the courts, the judiciary. But also learning that things over there are perfect.”
Axes of strengthening the PJ
Salazar said that, with all due respect to Mexico’s sovereignty, the judiciary must be strengthened in areas such as the length of trials, the number of justices and judicial discipline.
“And that, I think, will hopefully happen. I see an opportunity to do good things, that will obviously be in the details, when Congress begins to determine and vote on those things, it will be Mexico’s responsibility,” he said.
The ambassador considered that, as in the United States, it is necessary to set limits on the duration of the proceedings to prevent drug lords such as Z-40 or Z-42 from going a decade “without a judicial decision”, despite being subject to extradition proceedings.
Secondly, he mentioned the possibility of reducing the number of ministers on the Court, from 11 to 9, and thirdly, the establishment of a judicial “disciplinary body.”
“I also think that this is a good idea, and this is also required in the United States. I think that these three objectives are part of the debate that we are going to have right now in the United States,” he added.
“It seems very clear to me that Mexicans want, as much as the United States, a judiciary that is stronger, independent, free of corruption, where there is discipline for judges.”
‘There is no contract with MCCI’
The Ambassador also stated that neither the United States Government nor USAID have a “contract” with the organization Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI).
Salazar was questioned about the diplomatic note revealed by AMLO and sent by the Foreign Ministry to the US, in which the Government of Mexico complains about financing to MCCI.
“Look, I received the official letter (sic) with that information, all I can tell you is that there is no contract that the United States or USAID have with MCCI,” he said.
The diplomat did not make any other comments on the subject, as the conference was about the “Mayo” Zambada case and judicial reform in Mexico.
This week, President López Obrador again accused MCCI of being a “coup” organization financed by the US government.
“Giving money to this organization is interference, it is meddling, it is a violation of our Constitution. It is a coup-mongering, reactionary organization and the US government gives it money,” he said on August 15.
This Friday, López Obrador revealed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent another diplomatic note to the US regarding said financing, since in 2021, he said, “they did not pay attention to it.”
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