*Updated Mar. 6*
Guadalajara -
Mexico's Cámara de Diputados, the nation's lower legislative chamber, is today debating a measure to strip federal representatives of temporary immunity from criminal prosecution while they hold office.
The fuero, as it's called, is an historic and highly controversial protection enjoyed by legislators and government functionaries for generations. Under the fuero, which has its foundation in the country's constitution, senators, deputies, governors and other officials in Mexico have been immunized from prosecution during their tenure in office. By the time they resigned, retired or lost a reelection bid the evidence against them might be so stale that successful prosecution was no longer possible, or key witnesses might have died or disappeared. The fuero has protected many a Mexican politician who wanted to delay a courtroom appearance indefinitely, or avoid it altogether.
Federal deputies appear ready to mothball the ancient constitutional privilege. Mexico's senate voted to remove fuero protection for all public officials in late 2011, and now the Cámara seems inclined to join the upper house by approving the same measure. The pending legislation would treat all federal legislators, governors and political appointees just like any other citizen facing criminal prosecution.
The fuero will still protect the nation's highest elected official, however. A Mexican president, like an American one, cannot be prosecuted for an ordinary criminal offense while in office. In both countries the purpose of temporary immunity for the chief executive is to protect the president and the elected office he holds from political pressures masquerading as criminal charges. In the United States the removal of a president can be accomplished only by impeachment, which has been rarely attempted and never successfully so.
Under the proposal approved by the senate 18 months ago, if a public prosecutor opened a criminal investigation and presented sufficient preliminary evidence before a judge to suggest that a legislator had committed a crime, the judge could submit a request to the appropriate legislative body (senate or house of deputies) asking that the suspected official be stripped of immunity. If the legislative body agreed, the official could be arrested immediately and criminal prosecution would begin. The system would protect legislators from frivolous or politically motivated charges, while ensuring that elected officials aren't rewarded with an indefinite delay of game simply because they occupy public office.
But deputies of the center right National Action Party (PAN) and center left Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) have joined forces in the Cámara to support a bill which would modify the constitution by expressly limiting the fuero's reach to the president of the Republic, and removing all other references to it. The proposed amendments are pending before the Cámara's Constitutional Affairs Committee.
Some leftist deputies representing the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) and Movimiento Ciudadano (the Citizens Movement) have argued to leave the fuero unmodified. They're concerned that opposing political forces could take advantage of the lack of legislative immunity and, when convenient, bring bogus criminal charges against unpopular legislators. Although the prevention of such was in fact the original purpose of the fuero, it appears that most deputies are ready for a change, especially after the president's weekend speech emphasizing that no one in Mexican political life will be immune from prosecution. Peña Nieto to PRI: There are no untouchable interests.
Mexico's senate added a rider to the bill modifying the fuero, guaranteeing protection from criminal prosecution for anything a legislator says in public debate while on the floor of the senate or in the house of deputies. Many countries with vigorous legislative bodies have adopted similar prophylactic measures. The United States constitution contains the Speech and Debate Clause (Art. 1, Sec. 6), which does exactly the same thing.
A good example of the abuse of the fuero appeared in this Dec. 16, 2010 article in The Economist: Sanity Returns. It illustrates why pressure has long been on Mexico's congress to entirely eliminate legislative immunity.
Mar. 6 - A bill stripping federal legislators, state governors and high ranking officials of immunity from criminal prosecution while they hold office has overwhelmingly passed the Cámara de Diputados by a vote of 376-56, albeit with a few negotiated modifications. Such officials will be entitled to remain free until their criminal case is entirely concluded and sentence is imposed. Moreover, even the president himself will not be immune from prosecution for treason or other "high crimes" against the Republic. The Cámara's approved bill will now be returned to Mexico's senate for review and action by that body.
...........................
Note: In American history two presidents have been impeached by the House of Representatives, the sole body constitutionally authorized to do so. Andrew Johnson was the first (in 1868), but the Senate failed to convict him by one vote in a case thoroughly infected with post-Civil War and Reconstruction politics. Bill Clinton was the second, in a 1998 case largely based upon the Monica Lewinsky matter. The Senate likewise refused to convict him. Richard Nixon was threatened with impeachment in the Watergate affair, but he resigned in August 1974 before the House could act.
© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment