Mexico City.- The judicial reform promoted by the federal Executive puts at risk the Free Trade Agreement with Canada and the United States, which committed Mexico to create independent courts to resolve labor conflicts, warned federal judge Magdalena Victoria Oliva.
The Fifth District Judge Specialized in the Execution of Sentences anticipated that the approval of the President of the Republic’s initiative would eventually generate a conviction by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), which will cost the Government billions of pesos.
“The reform could even put the Free Trade Agreement at risk, textually, in its chapter 23, annex 23, it was established that Mexico was committed to creating independent courts to resolve labor conflicts, eliminating the (Conciliation) Boards.
“Since its implementation, the United States and Canada have invested millions of dollars in training and infrastructure to consolidate the new model of labor justice. The reform of the Judicial Branch could put this Free Trade Agreement and the investments made at risk.
“If 6,600 judges – federal and ordinary – are dismissed in 2025, there will undoubtedly be a condemnation by the IACHR, which has already ruled on the issue and resolved similar cases in various precedents. Given this, in a few years there could even be a condemnation of several billion pesos, by virtue of the lost salaries that the Mexican State would have to pay, as well as the return of the judges to their functions, with the chaos that this would cause and the inevitable clash with those who are in their positions at that time.”
During a demonstration inside the Prisma building of the Federal Judicial Branch (PJF), home to the Amparo and Sentence Enforcement courts, Victoria Oliva said that the most important thing today is to demand respect for the judicial career and its meritocratic system.
“We must remember that controlling the judiciary would eliminate all counterweights. A country without counterweights is a vehicle without brakes,” he said before nearly a hundred attendees.
In this protest, in which a dozen judicial officials from different levels and even lawyers and candidates made statements, none called for the mobilization.
In fact, Carlos Lugo Chávez, secretary of the Tenth District Court in Amparo, called for unity and non-confrontation.
In his opinion, reform is unavoidable and PJF officials must act “responsibly and think about adapting to what is coming.”
In a few days, the PJF’s vacation period will begin.
We do not represent sectors, they point out
Judge Reynaldo Manuel Reyes Rosas, of the Tenth Criminal Collegiate Court, once again criticized the proposal to elect judges by popular vote because the justice system is not representative of sectors of the population.
“We are not a perfect power… for those who say that judges are not legitimized by the majority vote; no, gentlemen, we serve democracy, we are not representatives of sectors of the population… we protect people – I do not use the word people because we are all people – when their rights are violated,” he said at the same event.
“And here is the point, that when they tell you that we are not legitimized, answer the following: by antonomasia, the Judiciary does not resolve problems between equals, it resolves difficulties between odd numbers, on the one hand an arbitrary authority, an authority that has incurred or placed itself in a role of authoritarianism, and, on the other hand, people like you, people like you, the citizen, poor, rich, conservative, liberal.”
Reyes regretted that politics is not used to call for unity, but rather for one power to destroy another, and not for any fundamental reasons.
He also rejected the idea that the judiciary should be disqualified for the salaries of judges, since he considered that the income they receive is proportional to the professional and specialized work they perform.
They refuse to serve the power in turn
Meanwhile, Judge José Rogelio Alanís García, of the Fourth Criminal Collegiate Court, said that the nature of judges is to be a counterweight and guardians of legality, which is why they cannot allow themselves to become subordinates of the power in power and be at the service of an ideology.
“It is not that we are closed to reforms, it is not that we are closed to the possibility of another way or even other people who could do our job, but what we are convinced of, and that is why I believe we are all here, is that there cannot be no effective guardians, who do not depend on the power in power, who do not depend on a single ideology, because another principle that comes from equality is plurality,” he said.
“Someone says that when there are two people who think the same, one is not thinking, plurality is essential and is a value of democracy that must be guarded at all times and in a very jealous manner by us, who are currently entrusted with this high task, or by other people, but it cannot be subject to changes in political temperament.”
Rosemary Cruz Guaida, secretary of the First Specialized District Court for Enforcement, said she was concerned about job stability, but more so about the risk to judicial independence with the proposed reform.
“We are a counter-majoritarian power, that is our constitutional nature, and it is precisely to defend the Constitution and not allow any kind of interference when dictating our resolutions, to be completely impartial,” he said.
“What really concerns us is judicial independence, it is the future of Mexican society, it is the judges that will be proposed, the new judges, the new magistrates, who unfortunately perhaps lack this training in the judicial career.”
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