President Enrique Peña Nieto's initiative to punish terrorism with up to sixty years in prison, leaving out of this classification social protest demonstrations, is a correct measure in order not to criminalize the struggle of civil society organizations, but care must be taken with some ambiguous terms in order not to open any room for that possibility, stated human rights activists.
José Rosario Marroquín, director of the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center, stated that not considering demonstrations of discontent as part of "terrorist activities" is an improvement over other bills that were just the opposite.
Nevertheless, he said that not criminalizing marches or other actions to pressure the authorities is itself an obligation of the government; for that reason, he suggested not viewing Peña Nieto's proposal as a gift, but only as the recognition of a civil right.
Moreover, the specialist called for vigilance regarding "ambiguous" concepts in the initiative, such as not considering terrorism provided that the act does not infringe the "legal rights" of third parties. Such clauses can be used by different actors for their convenience.
Carla Michel Salas, a member of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, believes that the wording of Peña Nieto's proposal represents progress in that the measure can prevent the criminalization and persecution of social struggle.
Carla Michel Salas, a member of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, believes that the wording of Peña Nieto's proposal represents progress in that the measure can prevent the criminalization and persecution of social struggle.
Although she also emphasized details as not affecting "legal rights", the attorney emphasized that this initiative puts a brake on attempts to expand by discretion the concept of terrorism by means of such legal concepts as "attacks on the public peace", which permitted the unjustified detention of dozens of people during the protests last December First [citizen protests against PRI assuming the Presidency].
"I believe that the federal level definitely saved themselves the risk of criminalizing protest. From my perspective there has been a change for the better in the attitude of the Attorney General's Office and the Secretariat of Government Affairs [SEGOB]," she pointed out.Spanish original