In today’s blog post, I will discussing the rule of law in Mexico. Freedom House considers a nation to have a free rule of law if there is an independent judiciary, if the judicial system can effectively carry out the rule of law in criminal and civil matters, if political groups are protected by the judiciary system from possible mistreatment from the opposing party, and if the laws and policies in place guarantee equal conduct and treatment toward different groups within the nation. Freedom House’s approach to analyzing a country’s rule of law is holistic in the fact that they consider how effective the judiciary system is in carrying out the rule of law and how equal judicial treatment is necessary in order to avoid corruption.
Maintaining rule of law in a country is crucial in order for a country to be considered fully free. The purpose of the rule of law is to make relations between citizens in a country regular and predictable by spelling out which behaviors are required and which are prohibited and creating consequences for not adhering to them. Ultimately, the supremacy of the rule of law ensures that no person or political body can claim to be above the law. The rule of law is crucial because it ensures that authorities are not abusing their power, that the judiciary treats everyone the same without discrimination, and that the judiciary promotes procedural fairness in a nation. If the rule of law is not carried out in a nation, the nation is no longer free because one party will ultimately have too much power and true justice will never be served. Elite members of society will be able to have too much control and will not have consequences for their actions due to their status.
The first article regarding Mexico’s rule of law I will be analyzing is titled, “Abuse, Coercion, Isolation: Inside Mexico’s Judicial System” written for Telesur. This article details how torture is often used as a tactic to “obtain confessions” in Mexican detention centers. In 2016, Mexico reformed their justice system into the New Political Justice System (NPJS) in order to more efficiently carry out the rule of law. However, it seems as if this reform has not been effective, as the majority of detainees, “suffered from physical or psychological torture at some point” (Telesur). The majority of these investigations are related to Mexico’s ongoing war against drug trafficking. This article tell us that Mexico is not fully free in regard to their rule of law because there is no protection against political terror, torture, or unjustified imprisonment in the country (Freedom House).
The second article I will be analyzing is titled, “Mexico Could Press Bribery Charges. It Just Hasn’t.” This was written by Azam Ahmed for the New York Times. This article details how a Brazilian construction company, Odebrecht, has admitted to accepting hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to secure government contracts from many Latin American countries, including Mexico. Mexico’s government has started investigating these claims, however the investigations are stagnant due to government corruption and elite power. Since the investigations initially started, “the case has made few advances, with even basic information requests languishing for months” (Ahmed). It is unclear whether or not any government officials will ever be charged in the Odebrecht case, as corruption is rampant in Mexico and the elite government officials have almost total control over the justice system. This article shows us that Mexico does not effectively carry out the rule of law, as their justice system is corrupt and causes elite members of society to receive preferential treatment.
Resources
Ahmed, Azam. “Mexico Could Press Bribery Charges. It Just Hasn’t.” The New York Times. June 11, 2018. Accessed November 09, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/world/americas/mexico-odebrecht-investigation.html.
“Mexico.” Freedom House. February 12, 2018. Accessed November 09, 2018. https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/mexico.
TeleSUR /. “Abuse, Coercion, Isolation: Inside Mexico’s Judicial System.” News | TeleSUR English. October 23, 2018. Accessed November 09, 2018. https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Abuse-Coercion-Isolation-Inside-Mexicos-Judicial-System—20181023-0017.html.