Judges protest in front of Congress against controversial judicial reform

Hundreds of judges and employees of the Mexican judiciary protested on Tuesday around the Chamber of Deputies to block the chamber and prevent the vote on Tuesday, as planned, on the controversial reform of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which seeks to hold elections for all judges and the Supreme Court.

The National Association of Circuit Magistrates and District Judges (Jufed), which has been on a national strike for almost two weeks, formed a human barrier in front of the San Lázaro Palace, where they argued with legislators from the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) who were seeking to enter.

“If the people are informed, the reform will not pass!” the workers shouted as they blocked the entrance with a human chain.

In response to the protests, the coordinator of the Morena bench, Ricardo Monreal, announced that they will seek to hold a session in an alternate location, but that they are still hoping to vote on the constitutional reform this Tuesday, with which the popular elections for the Judicial Branch would begin in 2025.

“We don’t want to provoke a confrontation, it’s not worth it, we are pacifists,” Monreal said in a video message in the morning. He explained that they were considering moving to Santa Fe or even to a “downtown hotel.”

Congress began a new period on Sunday in which Morena and its allies from the Labor Party (PT) and the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM) have a qualified majority of more than two-thirds of the seats, with which they will be able to modify the Constitution without negotiating with the opposition. The Jufed argues that the reform violates its labor rights because it would end the judicial career and allow the “interference of interests” with the electoral campaigns of the justice system.

“As far as we are concerned, they can go to hell to hold a meeting, but here in the Chamber of Deputies there will be no meeting today,” warned Patricia Aguayo, one of the workers’ spokeswomen, in a message. “We will be here as long as necessary,” she warned.

As the demonstration began, López Obrador played down the effects of the judicial strike in his daily press conference while defending his reform: “When they told me they were going to go on strike, I was even happy,” he joked. According to him, this way they will not be able to “bring criminals out onto the streets” or continue “defending criminals from organized crime.”