There's something happening there
"What it is ain't exactly clear…" Of course when Buffalo Springfield sang those lyrics back in the day, they were referring to some pretty specific things. However, those words came to mind as I read about large scale changes in the Mexican Attorney General's office. Maybe what's happening will become clear if we watch subsequent events.Top prosecutors in Mexico resign en masse
In a major upheaval in Mexico's troubled attorney general's office, top prosecutors in 21 of the country's 31 states and federal district have abruptly quit, officials announced Monday.
Specific reasons were not given for the en masse resignations, but they come amid a widening purge of the agency by Atty. Gen. Marisela Morales, who took office in April and has seen several high-profile drug-trafficking prosecutions fall apart.
It was not clear whether the 21 senior federal prosecutors were being forced out or were quitting in rebellion over Morales and her administration…
The office announced late last month that in Morales' first 100 days on the job, 462 prosecutors and other officials had been dismissed and 111 more were facing criminal charges involving a range of infractions, including fraud, theft, abuse of power and falsification of documents. An additional 386 employees were in the process of being dismissed…
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Labels: Mexico, politics, regime, rule-of-law
posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:24 AM
1 Comments:
Blanca Facundo sent her translation of En investigación, 10 de los 21 delegados de PGR que renunciaron to help explain what's going on in Mexico. I wonder if this might be connected to the change from an inquisitorial system to an adversarial one.
Thank you, Blanca. Here's what she wrote:
This is my source for what follows:
http://impacto.mx/Nacional/nota-15765/En_investigacion_10_de_los_21_delegados_de_PGR_que_renunciaron
In response to your question regarding resignations of district attorneys in Mexico DF and 20+ states of Mexico, it seems Attorney General Marisela Morales, is "cleaning house."
Today's national newspaper Impacto reports that 10 of the 21 attorneys who resigned are under investigation. These are administrative responsibility investigations to determine if they are in compliance with new accountability procedures (I am translating from Spanish and the terms are not quite equivalent.)
Under a new law regulating the National System of Public Security all employees of all national/public security agencies are now subject to new requirements at entry level and also for tenure.
From now on higher echelon personnel can only be recruited through exams or by a special appointment that satisfies the requirements of the new law (these requirements are not specified). Also, to remain in their positions all must approve civil service exams at certain fixed intervals.
It seems to me that this is a major change that (as all such changes) will generate and is obviously generating strong opposition from those who benefited from the previous system.
All staff is now subject to evaluation (this by itself must be quite a job security threat).
Morales was confirmed by the Mexican Senate last April, one week after the resignation of the previous Attorney General, Mr. Arturo Chávez. Nominated by the President, Felipe Calderón, she needed two thirds of the 128 Senators' votes. Fifteen senators voted against her and seven other abstained. She is the first woman Attorney General and previously worked against organized crime (including drug trafficking) at the federal level.
Political parties left of center (PRT, PT and Convergence) opposed her appointment; PAN, PRI and the greens (environmental) favored her. CNN in Spanish reports that, on March 2011, she was given the International Award for Women of Courage by the United States in 2011. (I have never heard of such an award, but that is exactly what the news items says in Spanish.)
She has to be an extraordinarily courageous woman. Let us hope she is not murdered by drug cartels!
I hope this helps.
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