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The decree sidesteps all environmental regulations, lawsuits, or judgments to stop works and gives regulatory agencies five days to grant a year-long approval for anything the government wants to build.

In his decree published on Monday in the Official Gazette of the Federation, López Obrador declared “of public interest and national security” the carrying out of infrastructure projects and works by the federal government. The measure applies to infrastructure works in the communications, telecommunications, customs, border, hydraulic, water, environment, tourism, health, railways, and railways sectors, among others.

Opposition lawmakers say they will go to the Supreme Court to challenge AMLO’s decision to declare his megaprojects “in the public interest and national security.”

 Legislators from the PRI, PAN, and PRD benches rejected the so-called “presidential decree” as unconstitutional and a shield.

“We say no to the ‘decree’, as the opposition coalition Va Por México, first demonstrates the less and less authoritarian nature of the President in this country; it is again by decree, that is, unilaterally, to determine things that are flagrantly unconstitutional, flagrantly illegal, ”said Congressman Jorge Romero, coordinator of the PAN bench.

The legislator announced that an alliance made up of the three opposition parties in San Lázaro will file a constitutional controversy before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, based on article 105 of the Constitution.

“The greatest outlet for Mexican money is the Mayan Train, it is not the social programs and now they intend to shield it with a decree that violates the Constitution, anyone should be concerned about the accumulation of the entire country in a single man, it is dangerous for democracy in this country, “said Luis Espinosa Cházaro, from the PRD.

Romero considered that during López Obrador’s administration as Head of Government of the then Federal District, the same was done with the resources for the construction of the second floor of the Periférico.

While Rubén Moreira, of the PRI, called on the legislators of the three benches to join the controversy.https://www.youtube.com/embed/fil-s69MDpM?feature=oembed

INAI against ‘decree’

The National Institute of Transparency Access to Information and Data Protection (INAI) will present a constitutional controversy before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) against the presidential “decree” that shields the infrastructure works of the federal government.

After analyzing the scope of the Agreement published yesterday in the Official Gazette of the Federation, the Plenary of the INAI determined in a working meeting to exercise that power, considering that it violates the Constitution.

The agency indicated that it will seek to prevent the agencies and entities of the Federal Public Administration from reserving for national security, in a generalized and anticipated manner, the information related to the projects and works that the Government carries out.

“There is a possible violation of Article 6 of the Constitution, while national security is a budget for the reservation of information, according to Article 113 of the General Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information,” he noted.

In a statement, the INAI recalled that it has a period of 30 business days, starting today, to present the dispute to the Court. However, he anticipated that in the coming days the Plenary will approve the corresponding agreement in public session.

Lawyers point out that AMLO’s decree is illegal

The Mexican Bar Association (BMA) classified as illegal and incorrect the decree of President López Obrador to consider as national security, priority, and strategic all the projects and works of his Government, to shield them against suspensions for Amparo lawsuits.

The first reflection on this instrument is that it represents an unequivocal sign that the mega-projects of public works undertaken by the administration of President López Obrador are having a crisis in terms of meeting the deadlines imposed by the head of the Executive for their respective inauguration ceremony. , and well, the occurrence within the president’s cabinet was to apply the classic “to the wrong foot, hurry up.”

If all these projects had progressed according to the original plan, there would not have been an urgent need to adopt desperate measures like this one, which among other things, again generates a regulatory framework that gives advantages to the public sector compared to any project sponsored and financed by investors. private. That is the constant of this government, changing the rules to derail, corner, and create uncertainty for private investment while pulling out instruments such as the decree at hand with which it grants itself advantages to correct deficient planning. and execution of their own projects.

Much in the style of Donald Trump who repudiated the legal and regulatory scaffolding that had been built by governments emanating from both the Republican and Democratic parties, as well as congresses with different influences from both parties, President López Obrador decided that he no longer has the patience to listen. the excuses of public servants who did not have the drive, creativity, dedication, and determination to organize the tasks that were entrusted to them in the most efficient way possible and complying with all the constitutional, legal, and regulatory provisions to be able to achieve in a timely manner the goals of the projects that were entrusted to them.

Of course, several well-known lawyers have already warned about the unconstitutionality of the decree in question. So very soon we will witness a new episode of pressure on the Judicial Power to prevent it from deactivating this new normative Frankenstein, which also has the funny effect of allowing the executors of the projects to hide and hide their failures, and most likely acts of corruption, under the cloak of national security, a great pretext to enhance opacity in public works.

These types of events are what cause organizations such as the International Monetary Fund to warn about the risks in terms of competitiveness for the Mexican economy, and of course, for the growth potential of our country’s GDP. Until when will they realize that by these rudder strokes, by these acts by which without the slightest effort of organized public discussion the legal scaffolding that gives certainty to everyone, both authorities and private investors, or by those who are created other loquacious scaffolds outside the best international practices, investor confidence is undermined, the long-term growth capacity of our economy is affected and the well-being of Mexican families is affected?

Political scientist Denise Dresser attacked Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) through her official Twitter account. This time, the Mexican writer also criticized the decree that was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) in which the Mexican president declared that megaprojects and other infrastructure works will be considered national security.

In this context, Dresser Guerra wrote the following message via social networks: “Alert. López Obrador gives another blank check to the armed forces, granting them steam permits for ‘national security. Thus it guarantees opacity, skips processes, norms and planning requirements and reinforces the militarization with which it intends to perpetuate its project ”.

This message was accompanied by the decree released in the DOF and another comment by the political scientist in which she described the “presidential decree” released on Monday afternoon as dangerous and unconstitutional. Likewise, the writer urged the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) to “intervene to stop it.”

The political scientist criticized the new presidential decree published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (Photo: Twitter / @DeniseDresserG)

“With the argument of ‘national security it will put at risk the basic functionality of the State, by canceling legal and operational requirements for infrastructure works,” he criticized. These comments were added to his recent pronouncements against López Obrador for having given excessive “power” to the Armed Forces.

In this way, the ITAM graduate assured that the Army can be as corrupt as any institution that is awarded contracts, resources, and projects without surveillance. She also warned that the president is “creating a monster” that will later be difficult to control and return to the barracks as promised in the campaign.

These comments arose from the fact that the president assured that he would take the Army off the streets. However, currently, in addition to being in charge of tasks related to public security, they also have under their functions the execution of large infrastructure projects. During one of his well-known morning conferences, AMLO pointed out that these projects will be handed over to the National Defense Secretariat (Sedena), whose head is Luis Crescencio Sandoval, in order to prevent them from being privatized.

In the DOF, the carrying out of projects and works by the Government of Mexico associated with the infrastructure of different sectors, including communications, telecommunications, customs, border, hydraulic, water, environment were declared of public interest and national security. , tourism, health, railways, railways in all its energy modalities, ports, airports and those that, due to their purpose, characteristics, nature, complexity and magnitude, are considered a priority and/or strategic for national development

The megaprojects promoted by the so-called “Fourth Transformation” contemplate the construction of the Mayan Train, which will serve as a link between the states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Chiapas, and Campeche, with the aim of providing tourist, cargo, and transportation services. mobility; the Petróleos Mexicanos Refinery  ( Pemex ) being built in Dos Bocas, Tabasco.

Fonatur presents the final finishes of the Mayan Train, one of the megaprojects of the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) (Photo: Twitter / @TrenMayaMX)

In addition to the plans previously described, the Transítsmico Train will join the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific by establishing a railway section from the port of Veracruz to the coast of Oaxaca; and the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), in Santa Lucía, State of Mexico.

Another aspect in which the elements of the Sedena have had an impact is in the construction of the branches of the Banco del Bienestar, another project promoted by AMLO, which already has 433 establishments in the national territory.

One of the most common criticisms of the new decree refers to the fact that the infrastructure works could render the construction processes opaque due to the lack of obligations to disclose the details of the contracts established between agencies and with private service providers.

“An assault on the Constitution”: politicians, journalists and political scientists attacked AMLO’s decree

Democracy in danger

The danger looming over the nascent and fragile democracy in Mexico is more than a ghost. It is a real, palpable and violent threat.

While the regime deceives the population by promoting a “ratification” of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador – nonexistent at the constitutional level and that in any way it is not necessary to consult, as no one asks him to leave -, the true objective, that of a possible extension of the mandate if the “elected” as successor does not grow, it seems less and less unlikely.

But while they are pears or apples around the alleged revocation of mandate – they still need to collect the two and a half million signatures required by law to carry out the consultation, and that they are not false like the more than 50 thousand already detected them-, the autocratic anxieties and the unbridled ambitions of lopezobradorismo to concentrate all possible power have reached a point where the institutions, built with the effort and blood of millions of Mexicans in the last 45 years, will face a crucial test and on which the democratic viability of the country will depend, without fear of exaggeration.

All information related to national security matters is susceptible to being declared as “reserved”. This means that the government has the power to hide it from public scrutiny for a period of time that it also defines with discretion when dealing with matters that may endanger some strategic area for the nation.

Only that here what is intended to be hidden is the management of the resources that are being allocated to the flagship works of the so-called “4t”, which in themselves are already a lake of opacity, direct assignments and, despite what they say, of immense and cynical corruption.

Coincidentally”, this “decree” is issued three days after the Latinus media, directed by Carlos Loret de Mola – whose departure from Televisa is perhaps the biggest miscalculation of lopezobradorismo – published a report about the more than 900 contracts for millionaire sums that the Army gave by direct allocation to shell companies. An act of brutal corruption is comparable to those of Javier Duarte de Ochoa in Veracruz, who used that same route to steal public money. And whose information, like that of the “traces” of the former governor imprisoned in the North Prison, was obtained by journalist Isabella González von Hauske through requests for transparency. A mechanism that is intended to be annulled with the decree.

And what makes this delicate situation even more dangerous is precisely the participation of the Armed Forces as power actors of the first order, directly involved in the construction of the works on which they want to hide their operations and that, contrary to their vocation and to what the law allows, they entered the arena of politics in defense of the “4t”.

This was evidenced last Saturday in the speech delivered by the Secretary of National Defense, Luis Crescencio Sandoval, during the commemoration of the beginning of the Mexican Revolution, in which he said that “it is a pride to be able to contribute to the transformation that is being experienced. The foundations are in place and progress is being made with a firm step in the national project that the president has promoted ”. He only had to say “it is an honor to be with Obrador.”

Certainly, the military must think so. No president since the revolutionary stage had given so much power to the Army and Navy. Not that much money. But this overwhelming empowerment of the military forces implies playing “Russian roulette”. “When the military gets into partisan politics, democracy is in danger,” said the director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW), José Miguel Vivanco, in direct criticism of the militarization of the country encouraged by López Obrador.

The unconstitutionality of the decree has already been pointed out by jurists such as former minister José Ramón Cossío. Now it is necessary for someone to present the corresponding appeal to the Court, also under siege after it rejected the maneuver with which it was intended to extend the mandate of its president Arturo Zaldívar. Ardid shared destiny with one of the revocations of mandate.

The institutions, democracy, freedoms, and the destiny of Mexico are at extreme risk. 

Banana republics

And as if something were missing, in the states of the Republic the morena governors and high officials intend to violate the freedom of expression of citizens and journalists. As in Puebla, where the aspiring “banana monarch” Miguel Barbosa persecutes critical media with audits; or in Veracruz, where Cuitláhuac García brings out the “little dictator” within him by applying the unconstitutional crime of “outrages to authority” against political adversaries and ordinary citizens.

Mexico Daily Post