Human Rights Defender Asks: 'In Today's Mexico, What Democracy Are We Talking About?' Emilio Alvarez Icaza Longoria - Reforma
go to original February 13, 2017

Emilio Álvarez Icaza Longoria was president of the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City from 2001 to 2009. (La Jornada)

Almost 30 years after the electoral erruption of 1988 [the first truly contested presidential election in which Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas ran as an independent against Carlos Salinas of the PRI] and approaching 18 years after the first government controlled by another party [the PAN won the presidency in 2000, ending the PRI's thirty-year reign], Mexico has greater poverty and inequality; greater insecurity, violence and death; more impunity and, to top it off, an extraordinary despair. For a large number of people democracy means nothing or almost nothing, it is de facto dead. When the central dilemma for more than half of the population is what their sons and daughters are going to eat today, we must ask ourselves, what democracy are we talking about?

What democracy are we talking about if we are not equal before the law because it is not applied equally, particularly when the distribution of wealth in unbalanced at insulting levels; in Mexico, 10% of the population concentrates 64% of the wealth.

What democracy are we talking about if far from living and treating all people with dignity, everything can be done to boys and girls. A large number of young people do not find opportunities to get ahead. Women face violence and inequality. Many older people are robbed, impoverished, and humiliated. Millions of workers are unable to cover even their basic needs, and as a result, are forced to separate themselves from their loved ones to find options to make a living outside their communities. At the same time, the way we treat migrants [primarily from Central America] has become one of our greatest shames. Additionally, indigenous peoples are being abandoned and discriminated against.

What democracy are we talking about if we all have been close to or victims of violence, delinquency or abuse of power, if some of those responsible for our security have made a pact with the wolf [organized crime] and have us trapped.

What democracy are we talking about if freedom of expression is seriously threatened. Mexico is one of the countries where more journalists are murdered and attacked, and worse, there is almost never anyone considered guilty of these crimes. In our country, the free exercise of journalism is restricted, blocked and censored in many ways. Those who defend human rights suffer the same practices.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Translated by Amanda Coe

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico - on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

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