Posted on 03/30/2004 5:56:22 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
MEXICO CITY — Saying it is time for Mexico to be ruled by law and an open, honest government, President Vicente Fox called Monday for sweeping judicial reforms, including a constitutional guarantee that all defendants be considered innocent until proven guilty.
Fox's reform package would do away with conducting trials entirely in writing and require the construction of witness stands, judges' benches and public observation areas in courtrooms. Fox said he also wants to realign federal police forces under one organization and enhance the qualifications of people who can represent criminal defendants.
"We need to push forward so that Mexico is a country of law, a country whose rules, institutions and values are in line with the demands of citizens," Fox told some 700 dignitaries at the presidential compound.
"This is the moment to prove that together we can end the corruption, impunity, discrimination and injustice," he said. "We can show that we want our nation's destiny to be ruled by law."
The plan, which is subject to congressional approval, is Fox's most ambitious reform effort since being elected in 2000 on a wave of popular support that ended more than 70 years of dictatorship-like rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI.
The reforms could shine light on a justice system that many Mexicans consider the least trusted and most antiquated arm of the government.
Fox said the plan was forged after more than two years of cooperation from a variety of sectors and visits to the United States, Europe and other parts of Latin American to evaluate their legal systems.
Although there is strong public sentiment that Mexico's criminal justice system must change, the specifics of any plan likely will trigger a political battle.
Sen. Orlando Paredes Lara, a member of the Senate Justice Commission, said Mexico should improve its current justice system, not build a new one.
"Instead of changing it, we should reinforce it and better it," said Paredes, a member of the PRI. "Some of the actions (Fox) wants to take are risky."
Paredes said he welcomes proposals to make the streets safer and increase accountability, but he doesn't support tossing aside fundamentals established by Mexico's constitution.
Under Fox's plan, the entire legal system would have to be re-worked, including the retraining of all judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and courtroom support staff, such as clerks.
"The change is going to be rough," one Fox administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Studies embraced by the Fox administration show many Mexicans don't trust police to keep them safe and that prisons are filled with poor people serving harsh sentences for relatively minor crimes rather than bigger criminals who manipulate an inefficient and corrupt system to escape justice.
Fox also wants to separate prosecutors from police by removing investigative powers from the attorney general's office and enhance requirements to represent defendants in court.
Many people who currently represent clients haven't been to law school, much less passed a professional screening.
Known as "coyotes" on the streets, the representatives gain the trust of poor defendants and offer to defend them for less than certified lawyers.
Fox contends that by having oral and public trials, they not only will be open to the public but more honest and more quickly resolved.
Under the present system, criminals are guilty until proven innocent and trials are done in writing.
That means testimony is limited to written declarations, and lawyers and defendants don't speak directly to judges, who review cases in private before rendering verdicts.
Mariano Azuela Guitrón, president of Mexico's Supreme Court, said he hoped Mexicans from all corners of the legal and political communities would work together to improve the justice system and scrutinize the president's proposal to see if it is in the best interests of the country.
But Azuela, who shook hands with Fox after the president signed his reform package, did not endorse the plan outright.
Marcial Rafael Macedo de la Concha, Mexico's attorney general, said Fox's reforms are needed and that they represent the latest step in a series of changes that have come as Mexico grows into a democracy.
"Within the building of an efficient, impartial and transparent justice system is the viability of Mexico," Macedo de la Concha said. "In that is the grounding of our opportunities as a country. We should not let more time pass. This is the hour for the justice that Mexicans crave."
The U.S. Agency for International Development, which provides economic, humanitarian and other aid to foreign governments, has supported Mexico's efforts to reform its justice system.
"It took courage for him (Fox) to look for changes of a substantial nature that address corruption in the justice system by having transparent, oral and public proceedings," said Rafaela Herrera, rule-of-law adviser for the agency.
------------------------------------------ dschiller@express-news.net
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