A minister of the Mexican Supreme Court proposes to declare unconstitutional the consultation to judge the former presidents

A citizen holds images of former presidents in front of the National Palace during the collection of signatures to prosecute them.Moisés Pablo / Cuartoscuro

The Mexican Supreme Minister Luis María Aguilar presented a project on Thursday in which he considers that the popular consultation to subject five former presidents of Mexico to investigation and trial is unconstitutional because it violates the human rights of those investigated and of the victims.

The proposal made by the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will be debated on October 1 in the plenary session of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), where the 11 ministers that comprise it will discuss, based on the proposal of Aguilar, if the consultation goes ahead or not.

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• Read the project of the Mexican Supreme

Aguilar's project indicates that the Mexican State is obliged to investigate crimes, through judicial institutions, without putting to public debate the relevance of the search for justice.

“The object of the popular consultation requested is unconstitutional from its origin since the obligations of the authorities to investigate, prosecute and punish criminal acts cannot be dissociated from the rights that people enjoy to access prompt, complete and impartial justice , to due process and, in general, to the proper functioning of the institutions of the Mexican State, ”states the text drafted by the minister.

López Obrador began the legal process on September 15 to bring Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Ernesto Zedillo, Vicente Fox, Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto to court.

The process involves an analysis by the Mexican Supreme Court on the relevance of the consultation, according to the rules determined by the Constitution, as well as a study on the question that would lead the plebiscite.

Minister Aguilar has harshly received the arguments raised by the Mexican president to defend the consultation and has defined them as a "concert of unconstitutionalities."

"The popular consultation cannot have the effect of perpetuating human rights violations through the denial of justice, which would mean an attack on the Constitution itself," Aguilar adds.

In addition, he explained that the approach to the question goes "against the pillars of Mexican democracy" because it involves changing the way the Mexican Government works and contradicts the Constitution.

The 43-page text breaks down each of the points proposed by López Obrador.

The Mexican president has said, in his morning conference, that Aguilar's diagnosis is similar to what former President Felipe Calderón recently argued, but assured that he will await the Court's decision in the coming days.

"I consider that there is no violation of human rights, of the guarantees of citizens, because in the event that these trials are carried out, the competent authority has to do them within the framework of legality," he said.