Mexicans march against controversial bill requiring all judges run for election

(8 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mexico City - 08 September 2024
1. Woman dressed as "justice" demonstrates against judiciary reform
2. Various of protesters against judiciary reform
3. Group of protesters with drums
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Beatriz Mendoza, retired:
"What worries me is that power is focused on a single person, that is why there are three powers (of the Union) so that if one fails, the others put order. That is what worries me. All the power should not remain on a single person."
5. Various of demonstrators marching, approaching Senate
6. Demonstrator protesting
7. Protesters with a sign that says "The judiciary is one and guarantees social peace, knowingly applying the law"
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Luis Enrique Garamendi, clerk of court in Uruapan, Michoacán:
"We are extremely concerned, obviously interested in the reform to come because it is a situation that involves the entire country, not just the members of the judiciary of the federation, because at some point any citizen who has to deal with justice will no longer know it as it is known today, in an impartial and autonomous manner."
9. Various of protesters raise their flags in front of the Senate against the reform of the judiciary
STORYLINE:
Judges, ministers, workers of the judiciary and the opposition marched Sunday against the proposed overhaul of Mexico’s judiciary.

Mexico’s ruling party says judges in the current court system are corrupt, and wants the country’s entire judicial branch – some 7,000 judges – to stand for election.

Last week, the lower house of Mexico’s Congress passed contentious legislation that would launch the most sweeping judicial overhaul of the century by requiring all judges to stand for election.

On Sunday, the legislation was presented in the Senate where lawmakers are expected to debate and vote at a later time.

Critics say the constitutional changes to replace 7,000 judges nationwide would deal a severe blow to the independence of the judiciary, making them more loyal to their constituents or the ruling party than to the law.

"What worries me is that power is focused on a single person," said Beatriz Mendoza, a protester during the march.

Attention has now turned to the Senate, where President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ‘s Morena party is one seat short of the two-thirds majority, but might be able to pick off an opposition senator.

The Centro Pro human rights groups has called on the Senate to kill the measure, saying it “affects the life of democracy, endangers human rights and violate Mexico’s international obligations.”

AP video by Amaranta Marentes.

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