La Jornada: Fernando Camacho Servín
While the bill sent to Congress by President Enrique Peña Nieto to create stiffer penalties for acts of terrorism leaves out public demonstrations, there are some areas of ambiguity that could be used to further criminalize grassroots movements, like one that states that protests shouldn't be considered terrorist acts as long as they "don't violate the legal rights" of third parties, said human rights activists.
Adrián Ramírez, director of the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights, said that high crime rates have not decreased by one iota by simply increasing prison sentences or declaring emergency laws, so it's necessary to carefully review the legal framework on sensitive issues like terrorism.
Antonio Lara, director of the Zeferino Ladrillero Center for Human Rights, agreed that legal approaches that are used to attack popular movements "always tend to use very vague or abstract language" that can be easily twisted.
Spanish original
While the bill sent to Congress by President Enrique Peña Nieto to create stiffer penalties for acts of terrorism leaves out public demonstrations, there are some areas of ambiguity that could be used to further criminalize grassroots movements, like one that states that protests shouldn't be considered terrorist acts as long as they "don't violate the legal rights" of third parties, said human rights activists.
Adrián Ramírez, director of the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights, said that high crime rates have not decreased by one iota by simply increasing prison sentences or declaring emergency laws, so it's necessary to carefully review the legal framework on sensitive issues like terrorism.
"The legal proposals here are very vague. If, for example, there is a company or institution that claims to be affected by what they identify as 'terrorism," which is a very subjective term, it opens up the possibility that people are now linked to acts whose significance is absolutely arbitrary and of a political nature," he said.Ramírez is therefore calling for attention to be paid to the implications of Peña Nieto's proposals to analyze whether they may represent a step backwards and a veiled way of continuing to criminalize the current social struggle.
Antonio Lara, director of the Zeferino Ladrillero Center for Human Rights, agreed that legal approaches that are used to attack popular movements "always tend to use very vague or abstract language" that can be easily twisted.
"Saying that a protest isn't terrorist as long as it doesn't affect anyone's legal rights is like saying that there's freedom of speech as long as it doesn't affect public morality. There's always ambiguity surrounding these concepts, and that's a very serious concern," he said.One example, he said, might suggest that these protests violate the transit rights of others. For this reason, it's important to clarify what is meant by legal rights and avoid ambiguity and arbitrariness when it comes to the application of laws whenever possible.
Spanish original