MEXICO CITY (CN) — Mexican judicial workers were joined by judges nationwide Wednesday for a third straight day as they continued their indefinite strike over proposed reforms that seek to elect rather than appoint the country’s judges.
The prominent business organization Employers Confederation of the Mexican Republic also participated in the strike after 1,202 out of 1,403 members of the National Association of Circuit Magistrates and District Judges of the Judicial Power of the Federation voted Monday to join the strike.
Protesters were accompanied by former Morena party senator, Alejandro Rojas Díaz Durán, on Wednesday afternoon, who showed his support for the striking judicial workers and his insistence on keeping the Federal Judicial Branch independent from the executive branch.
“Today we tell President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that we are not going to deliver him the judicial power of the federation because it is an independent and autonomous power. Sheinbaum and López Obrador are not the owners of Mexico. The owners of Mexico are the 130 million Mexicans that are guaranteed the right guaranteed in the Magna Carta, the right to defend access to justice,” Díaz Durán said in a speech.
The judicial reforms, introduced on Feb. 5 as one of 20 other constitutional reforms, would see judges and magistrates of the Federal Judicial Branch be chosen by popular vote as opposed to a system based on professional proficiency, which critics say could lead to corruption and favoritism and an end to a “career” as a judge. Mexico’s 32 state judiciaries would also be chosen through a popular vote system.
Díaz Durán also warned of the economic fallout from the judicial reforms and potential constitutional changes that go against the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The Mexican Institute of Finance Executives asked Congress to reconsider the judicial reforms as the peso lost 1.75% of its value to the dollar, and Citibanamex warned Tuesday that markets are underestimating López Obrador’s judicial reforms.
“It is possible that those who already take the reforms for granted do not predict that they will lead to anti-market policies, although they weaken democracy, they will imply anti-market economic policies or weaken the macroeconomic framework,” the report stated.
About 150 workers for Mexico’s Supreme Court also demonstrated in solidarity with the striking judicial workers Tuesday morning and will continue a daily morning protest until the reforms are stopped. The court has not made an official statement concerning the controversial judicial reforms and is continuing normal operations.
Despite the nationwide strike, Morena Chamber of Deputies Coordinator Moises Ignacio Mier Velazco said during a press conference Wednesday outside the Legislative Palace building that the judicial reforms will be discussed in the Chamber of Deputies on Monday, Aug. 26, with no changes.
Mier Velazco added that the familial relationships between judges and magistrates within the Federal Judicial Branch are “almost feudal” and fuel misinformation.
In his morning press conference, López Obrador echoed his previous statements ensuring protesters’ rights.
“I respect their right to demonstrate, they are free regardless of the regulations, because freedom is the most sublime thing. The second thing is that we do not repress, we are not repressors, because we are not conservatives,” he said.