Yesterday, there was concern about the effects that this may have judicial reform had a turning point.
The issue has escalated to an international dimension.
The United States government, through its representative in Mexico, the ambassador Ken Salazar, expressed concern about judicial reform.
He said the following:
“Based on my lifetime experience supporting the rule of law, I believe that Direct election of judges represents a greater risk for the functioning of democracy in Mexico. Any judicial reform must have safeguards that guarantee that the judiciary is strengthened and not subject to the corruption of politics.”
As if that were not enough, this statement adds further below:
“We understand Mexico’s struggle against judicial corruption. However, the direct and political election of judges, in my view, will not resolve such judicial corruption nor will it strengthen the judiciary. It also would weaken efforts to realize North American economic integration and would create turbulence, as the debate over direct election will continue for years to come.”
Although Ken Salazar expresses his views in the first person, it would be naive to imagine that this is not the position of the United States government.
Yesterday, following statements by various North American financial institutions expressing their concern about judicial reform, President Lopez Obrador disqualified them, characterizing them as ‘politicking’.
The president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaumalready said that they were misinformed.
The position of the United States was also joined yesterday by the position of Canada. In a meeting with Canadian companies, the ambassador said that companies in his country are concerned about judicial reform.
And then, the statement was added from the Global Business Council, which brings together the main foreign companies established in Mexico, from all over the world, the following:
“… We are concerned that the reform could violate the rule of law and the administration of justice in Mexico. The lack of capacity of investors to obtain a fair and predictable remedy in the Mexican judicial system, would undermine, among other things, the trilateral talks already underway on the USMCA, as well as other international agreements such as the Treaties with European countries, the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Forum and the Free Trade Agreement with Central America.”
It should be remembered that the Business Coordinating Council and the Mexican Business Council previously expressed their positions in the same direction.
This is no longer just a speculation by some analyst from a financial institution or a rating agency.
This is the official position of our main trading partner, as well as of companies from all over the world as well as national ones.
I have no doubt that this morning, President López Obrador is going to disqualify these assessments.
I don’t know if he will say that it is interventionism, politicking or cynicism. It doesn’t matter which adjective he uses.
He is not worried about Mexico’s perception among investors. He is worried that his whim, sorry, his proposal for judicial reform, will prosper.
If it creates problems for the new government headed by Claudia Sheinbaum, they will be resolved. There are priorities.
But for the president-elect and for officials such as his Secretary of Finance, Rogelio Ramírez de la O; his Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard; or his Foreign Minister, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, it is a serious problem.
A dollar at 19.49 pesos, like the one last night, is the first symptom. And it is only the beginning.
The doubt that many of us have is the following: will the elected president leave that the problem escalates and the ground is prepared for a possible financial crisis or at least a severe retraction of investment in order to please a proposal that she had to accept when she was already a candidate?
Or will she have some room to maneuver to defuse a potential crisis, using the authority granted to her by the 35 million votes that were given to her and not to the outgoing president, even though he claims them as his own?
We’ll see soon.
