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Mexican Supreme Court Rules For Military Rules for the Military
by Chris CovertIn a ruling sure to enrage large swaths of the Mexican left, the Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nacion (SCJN) ruled Wednesday that soldiers involved in deaths of civilians do not have to be tried in civilian courts, according to Mexican press accounts. The issue was a central objection by leftist politicians to the new Mexican National Security Law (La Ley de Seguridad Nacional) currently languishing in the Chamber of Deputies. A coalition of leftist political parties including Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD), Partido de Trajabadores (PT) and independent leftists stopped progress of the law until a court determination of the issue could be made. Last week's March for Peace and Justice in central Mexico led by leftist writer Javier Sicily made several demands of the Mexican national government, one of which was to stop the new national security law, and the issue of trying Mexican soldiers in civilian courts for civilian deaths. Sicily lost a son to a drug related murder in March and has been crusading against Mexican president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa's war on the drug cartels. Sicily is closely aligned with the independent Mexican left, and is a contributor with at least two leftist publications including Proceso. The court ruling now removes one contentious issue off the table and makes passage of the new controversial law easier. As matters stand now, a special session will be called for in July, when the new law is expected to be passed. The new national security law has provisions that allows the Mexican military greater autonomy in dealing with armed drug cartel suspects, including interrogation of suspects and independently following its own intelligence, developed and otherwise, which currently gets filtered through the local legal establishment, mainly the states attorneys general Objections by the Mexican left over this proposed greater autonomy has led to fears that more civilians could be killed by Mexican Army operations against the drug cartels. It was contended that forcing the military to turn over soldiers to civilian legal authorities in the event of civilian deaths could provide a restraint on future human rights violations by the army. Past behavior by the army in dealing with civilian deaths has been no indicator that restraint is needed. Of the five civilians deaths involving the Mexican Army mentioned in the April, 2011 release of the US State department Human Rights report, three were deliberate shootings made in error, which the other two are still under investigation. Of those three cases, two of them are already either underway or resolved in Mexican military courts, while the April shooting may not even be a shooting but a killing by drug cartel gangsters. To see a detailed report on the issues with the Mexican Army and human rights, click here and here. Follow the links for additional information. Posted by: badanov 2011-05-19 |
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