It feels like a lifetime has gone by in the span of two weeks. Today we are taking a small break from the discussion of the reform of the judiciary to touch on yet another Constitutional Reform: that of the National Guard. I now understand why Billie Joe Armstrong asked to be woken up at the end of September, because, thus far, things are looking like a nightmare.

Just yesterday (the 25th of September 2024) the Mexican Senate approved, with a supermajority of 86 votes in favor and 42 votes against, a constitutional reform which transfers the control of the National Guard to the Secretariat of defense (SEDENA). I will not make the mistake again of going too deep into it before the official text is published in the DOF; but I think that it is important to highlight two important points (at this rate I think I’ll need to hire people to help me write about this because it’s getting somewhat difficult to keep up :| ).

It’s been a couple of days since we last spoke and, I have to say, I could not feel more grateful for the outpouring of support I have received. I never imagined that people would be interested in my rambles, nor that I would have already had the opportunity to discuss the reform with a couple of people who, likewise, are attempting to study this situation from every angle.

Now, that said, I think I need to recognize one very important thing. The first blog was written in the lead up to Independence Day, that is, prior to the official publication of the text of reform in the DOF (Diario Official de la Federación). This is to say that much of the analysis contained therein was based, on the one hand, on the proposal for the reform published on February 12, 2024, and, on the other, on the two recent documents published by the Mexican Supreme court analyzing the proposal (named “Reforma Integral al Sistema de Justicia en México: Desafíos Y Propuestas” and “La Reforma Al Poder Judicial En Voz De La Judicatura”). In other words, I spoke around the reform and not necessarily about the reform.

Now, however, much to the chagrin of the District Judge of Colima who gave an Amparo to block the reform’s publication two Fridays ago, the reform of the judiciary is on the books, meaning that we are now able to see it in all its, uhm, glory (?). The judicial reform is now a reality, which, as of September 16th, 2024, forces Mexican society to reckon with the transformations it will bring about.

But what exactly does the reform foresee? Let’s go bit by bit; and, as a matter of fact, let’s start at the end.

The American continent’s cry for liberty echoes throughout the annals of history. A howling bellow laden with pain, passion, and - perhaps most importantly - hope. A steadfast declaration that manifested, both in theory and in practice, that longing that lies deep in the heart of every human being: to be treated with dignity both by authority and by his fellow man to, someway, somehow, inch closer to understanding the meaning of freedom.

Greetings to whomever stumbled across this blog. I am diligently working to finish translating the first entry in my commentary on the top to bottom reform of the Mexican Judiciary, but in the meantime I wanted to share a story which I wrote roughly three years ago for the IE Prizes in the Humanities.

My original intention with this piece was to therapize myself. The idea of the story was to explore the life of people who are forced to become immigrants; to leave their home and everything they know in search of something which, so the stories go, is ‘better’. I remember growing up in Mexico and constantly being told that the USA was the land of opportunity; a place where dreams could come true. But when I moved to the US those words started to ring hollow: it was during the lead up to the 2016 elections and I was living in North Carolina at the time so lets just say that immigrants were not necessarily welcome. After that I immigrated again, this time to Spain, and though the process and integration was considerably easier something still didn’t sit right.

I have been, for most of my life at this point, a stranger in a strange land: every year having to renew a residency permit; every year needing to justify to whatever authority gives me that permit that I deserve to be there; every year being afraid of whether I could stay or I was going to be sent back.

The story is, or at least I thought it was, an exploration of how immigrants are often told that there is a better life somewhere else; only for that somewhere else to spit in their face and tell them to go home.

Now that I reread it, however, I realize its also a story about climate change.

Aside from my passion for the study of democracy, the past few years have seen me becoming increasingly involved in rights based climate litigation and, more concretely, the manner in which regional human rights protection mechanisms may best address what is, most definitely, an existential threat.

It’s one boy’s reflection, but it may, perhaps, provide an insight into the world we may come to live in should immediate action not be taken. I hope you enjoy.