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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Sicilia's Tantrum Continues; Solons Deny Charges of Betrayal |
| 2011-08-06 |
| By Chris Covert Mexican writer, poet and peace activist Javier Sicilia announced to the media Friday that his group would suspend further talks scheduled for next Thursday with Mexican federal legislators until his demands are met. While Sicilia maintained a vote to advance changes in Mexico's national security policy was "treason", several legislative leaders from both the Chamber of Deputies and Senate released statements denying Sicilia's charges saying the new law has not come into force, and is still subject to change. Josefina Vazquez Mota and Javier Corral, both members of Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) said Friday that Sicilia's movement " should not feel betrayed", and that the new law is subject to total change and even rejection. Vazquez Mota is currently top contender for PAN for the 2012 presidential nomination. Sicilia's announcement and demand was made at the doorstep of the Palacio Legislativo just after noon Friday. He said that the talks would not resume until he could be reassured promises several legislators made eight days ago would be honored. Sicilia was upset because at the meeting eight days ago several legislator promised to make political reforms as they apply to human rights a priority, including a victims restitution fund and a truth commission. Last Monday,however, a panel of deputies voted to advance the new national security law unchanged with only one vote against from a Partido Trabajo deputy. The vote was a procedural one,and an apparent formality in advancing the law to the next regular session of the Chamber of Deputies, set to start in September. Even so, Corral demanded as a condition of his vote to reserve all items in the law, essentially making the law subject to changes in the next session. Sicilia has been adamantly opposed to the new national security in any form, and has been ever since his movement started last spring. In fact, Sicilia has called for legalization of drugs, a return of the military to the barracks and a commitment to non-violence from all citizens. Sicilia's movement is strongly supported by elements of the independent Mexican and international left and by some armed leftist movements. His movement, dubbed the Movement for Peace Justice and Dignity, has staged three marches since last March, garnering two private meetings with Mexican president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa partly because of sympathy for the death of Sicilia's son to a drug murder. To the Mexican left the new national security law is seemingly a ghost from the past. Many leaders in the mainstream leftist Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD) suffered at the hands of the Mexican military controlled by Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) presidents during Mexico's Dirty war from 1968 to 1982. Their fear is well founded: the PRI is experiencing a resurgence of popularity throughout Mexico. The current frontrunner for the PRI nomination is the extremely popular ex-governor of Mexico state Enrique Pena Nieto. The new national security law in the hands of a popular PRI president could herald a return to a time that saw at least 1,200 missing as Mexico's dominant political establishment sought to destroy a low level leftist insurgency using the military. As it is written the most contentious parts of the new law allows the military to be absolved of any wrongdoing under certain conditions, one of them being in zones selected by military commanders as being emergency zones. The law also guards against deliberate wrongdoing on the part of the military. The way the military operates now, all charges of human rights violations brought by civilians are investigated by the human rights directorates in each military agency, army, navy and air force. Charges are brought prosecuted and sentenced through the military justice system. How the new law would impact the new system is unknown. A new Supreme Court ruling last July 12th changed the relationship between the military and civilians when it ruled that all human rights charges against the military must be investigated through the civilian courts, not the military. While the new national security law could reset the law, it has been made clear so far the new law is subject to change as well. Whether it takes into account the sentiment behind the court ruling is not currently being discussed in the Mexican press. |
| Posted by:badanov |