Opening session of IBA conference hears attacks on Mexico's judicial reform plans

Mexico’s plan to replace professional judges and magistrates with office-holders elected by popular vote is 'an historic felony' paving the way for tyranny, the world's largest gathering of lawyers heard last night. 

In an unprecedented attack on a host nation's government, the opening session of the International Bar Association's annual conference in Mexico City was devoted to expressions of concern and anger at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's plans to dismiss Mexico's judiciary. Speeches from Mexico's Supreme Court president and a past president of the republic credited with creating democratic institutions in the 1990s were greeted with standing ovations. 

Delegates were greeted by groups of striking judges, waving national flags and placards saying 'No to absolute power' and 'If you are neutral in cases of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor'.

Addressing the opening session in Spanish, Ernesto Zedillo, Mexican president from 1994 to 2000, accused the current president of intending 'to destroy the judiciary as an independent and professional entity'. A judiciary elected by popular vote - from a list approved by the executive - would put in place judges 'obedient not to the law but to the dominant political power', he said.

The reform plan, which the government says is a response to corruption and a judiciary which protects the elite, was passed by the senate earlier this month. López Obrador is due to stand down next month, but his successor, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, has indicated that she supports the reform. 

Earlier, IBA president Almudena Arpon de Mendivil Aldama had contrasted Mexico's democratic progress with other Latin American states such as Bolivia and Venezuela. However Mexico, 'which for years has been the one to look at as an example is now taking steps which can threaten the rule of law', she said. 'Dear Mexican colleagues, you are not alone. The IBA is with you,' Arpon de Mendivil said.

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