{"id":8750,"date":"2024-08-20T00:01:50","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T04:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=8750"},"modified":"2024-08-20T00:01:50","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T04:01:50","slug":"mexico-federal-court-employees-strike-over-judicial-changes-requiring-that-judges-stand-for-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=8750","title":{"rendered":"Mexico Federal Court Employees Strike Over Judicial Changes Requiring That Judges Stand for Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Employees at Mexico\u2019s federal courts went on strike on Monday over measures that would make all judges stand for election as part of a judicial overhaul proposed by outgoing President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Unionized court employees put chains and locks on the gates at several courthouses, saying the measures would deal a significant blow to checks and balances in Mexico and also threaten their working conditions, benefits and salaries<\/a><\/span>. The strike comes amid a long-running rift between the populist leader and the judiciary, spurring on democratic concerns.<\/p>\n

Striking employees also objected to changes that would eliminate the system by which judges and court employees accumulate experience and move up to higher positions.<\/p>\n

Organizers said thousands of federal court workers joined the strike, which they plan to continue until L\u00f3pez Obrador drops his proposals.<\/p>\n

Argelia Rom\u00e1n Mojica, a federal judge who has worked in Mexico\u2019s judiciary for nearly 25 years, was outside a federal court in Mexico City on Monday morning, alongside hundreds of other protesters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way to put an end to judicial power, a violation of the separation of powers,\u201d said Rom\u00e1n Mojica, adding that it\u2019s not the \u201cway to improve a justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s proposals would allow anyone with a law degree and a few years of experience as a lawyer to be elected a judge.<\/p>\n

The president, who leaves office Sept. 30, says many judges in Mexico are corrupt and has frequently publicly sparred those whose rulings he disagrees with. His administration has also botched many of the cases it brings to court and then blamed the judges.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador is known for his dislike of independent regulatory and oversight agencies<\/a><\/span> \u2014 most of which he wants to eliminate. Critics say the judicial reforms are aimed at weakening the independence of the judiciary and eliminating checks and balances on a president\u2019s powers.<\/p>\n

In Mexico City, the protesters carried signs reading \u201cFor impartial justice, judicial independence.\u201d Mexicans with court appointments were turned away.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t clear whether any of Mexico\u2019s state courts \u2014 which are more numerous \u2014 would be affected by the strike. Strike spokesperson Fernando Miguez said they were in talks with some courts in Mexico City to have them join the strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting today, this (strike) is indefinite,\u201d he said. \u201cJudicial independence is being transgressed … And we\u2019re not going to take that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many fear the changes would be a blow to their careers, such as Ana Paola Cid, a 31-year-old judicial official. Decades of studying and working are required to reach the position of a judge or magistrate.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get to these positions, you need knowledge and experience,\u201d Paola Cid said. \u201cPeople need to know that you don\u2019t just need a law degree, but you also need to know the judicial system and be here for years working to know what is done in the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are within their rights to protest,\u201d L\u00f3pez Obrador said of the demonstrations Monday, but insisted that court employees had been misled, and that the judicial reforms wouldn\u2019t affect their wages.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reform that is being proposed does not hurt workers, rather it benefits them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

– Megan Janetsky, AP News<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Employees at Mexico\u2019s federal courts went on strike on Monday over measures that would make all judges stand for election as part of a judicial overhaul proposed by outgoing President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador. Unionized court employees put chains and locks on the gates at several courthouses, saying the measures would deal a significant blow to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":8751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/e2e4e3e\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4995x3331+0+0\/resize\/1440x960!\/format\/webp\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F0d%2F4a%2Fb0de38519bf779cc2803ddbb3dbb%2Fb1a76ce5d60c485e8ac66ca87f586304","fifu_image_alt":"Mexico Federal Court Employees Strike Over Judicial Changes Requiring That Judges Stand for Election","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polity-governance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8752,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8750\/revisions\/8752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}