{"id":21318,"date":"2018-04-19T18:29:13","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T22:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/?p=21318"},"modified":"2024-10-01T10:47:58","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T14:47:58","slug":"a-prosecutors-office-that-works-in-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/2018\/04\/19\/a-prosecutors-office-that-works-in-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"A Prosecutor&#8217;s Office that Works in Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rtejustify\">Washington, D.C.\u2014A new report, published today by advocacy groups the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/back.dplf.org\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Due Process of Law Foundation<\/a>\u00a0(DPLF), details how the implementation of a new, independent National Prosecutor\u2019s Office will play a critical role in strengthening Mexico\u2019s troubled criminal justice system. The new institution, known as the\u00a0<em>Fiscal\u00eda General de la Rep\u00fablica<\/em>, will replace the current Attorney General\u2019s Office (<em>Procuradur\u00eda General de la Rep\u00fablica,\u00a0<\/em>PGR), which for decades has failed to address rising crime and violence, uphold the rule of law, and hold corrupt officials accountable for their actions, in part due to the PGR\u2019s lack of independence from the executive branch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\"><strong>\u201cFor far too long, powerful groups in Mexico have been able to manipulate investigations by the Attorney General\u2019s Office in order to protect themselves and their allies,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0said\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wola.org\/people\/ximena-suarez-enriquez\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ximena Su\u00e1rez<\/a>, WOLA Assistant Director for Mexico, and lead author of the report.\u00a0<strong>\u201cMexico now finds itself at a crucial crossroads. If implemented well, a National Prosecutor\u2019s Office<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>would be better equipped to end these pacts of impunity, and to foster truth, justice, and accountability in a society frustrated by the Mexican criminal justice system\u2019s persistent inability to effectively investigate crimes, including human rights violations and acts of corruption,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0said Su\u00e1rez.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">The report released today, titled\u00a0<strong>\u201cFor a\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>Fiscal\u00eda<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0that Works in Mexico: The Path to Ending Pacts of Corruption and Impunity in the Country,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0describes efforts to implement the new, autonomous National Prosecutor\u2019s Office in Mexico, and outlines further measures that Mexican policymakers must take to formally establish this office and ensure that the bad practices that have come to characterize the PGR are not transferred over to the new institution<em>.<\/em>\u00a0Human rights and anti-corruption groups heralded the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wola.org\/analysis\/three-key-points-about-mexicos-new-fiscalia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2014 constitutional amendment<\/a>\u00a0which established the National Prosecutor\u2019s Office as a major step towards improving criminal investigations. However further reforms are needed to ensure that the new office is effective and free from political influence and manipulation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\"><strong>\u201cThe autonomy of national prosecutors\u2019 offices is central to improving rule of law in Latin America. Because Mexico\u2019s Attorney General\u2019s Office currently has to answer to the executive branch, it has never been fully free from political interference in sensitive criminal investigations. That\u2019s why getting a fully autonomous National Prosecutor\u2019s Office up and running is crucial for Mexico\u2019s fight against impunity,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>said\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:https:\/\/back.dplf.org\/en\/person\/ursula-indacochea\">Ursula Indacochea<\/a>, Senior Program Officer for Judicial Independence at DPLF, and coauthor of the report.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">The new report recommends several actions for ensuring that the National Prosecutor\u2019s Office, once implemented, is truly independent. This includes barring the automatic transfer of PGR personnel over to the new office without first assessing their capacities and investigating their previous participation in illegal investigative practices, such as tampering with evidence, violating the rights of suspects and detainees, and obstructing justice in cases involving powerful political and economic elites. Mexico\u2019s Congress must also establish a transparent and public procedure that allows civil society to participate in the selection process of the country\u2019s first autonomous national prosecutor (<em>fiscal general<\/em>), who will head the new office and manage the investigation and prosecution of federal crimes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\"><strong>\u201cIf Mexican politicians are truly committed to addressing corruption and impunity, they must put a stop to political meddling in criminal investigations and establish a strong, autonomous National Prosecutor\u2019s Office,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>said Su\u00e1rez. \u201c<strong>For a decade now, Mexico has tried to address its security problems by sending in soldiers to police the streets, yet last year the country still registered record levels of violence. Instead of relying on use of force, Mexico needs comprehensive solutions that strengthen rule of law and bring justice, peace, and truth to its citizenry. The new, independent National Prosecutor\u2019s Office is fundamental to this approach.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C.\u2014A new report, published today by advocacy groups the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the\u00a0Due Process of Law Foundation\u00a0(DPLF), details how the implementation of a new, independent National Prosecutor\u2019s Office will play a critical role in strengthening Mexico\u2019s troubled criminal justice system. The new institution, known as the\u00a0Fiscal\u00eda General de la Rep\u00fablica, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":21319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[530],"tags":[],"country":[884,887],"issue":[856],"program":[872],"resource":[851],"class_list":["post-21318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-publicaciones","country-america-del-norte","country-mexico","issue-public-prosecution-offices","program-judicial-independence","resource-reports"],"acf":{"boton_1":"See the full report\u00a0here","url_boton_1\u00ba":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/eng-fiscalia-report.pdf","boton_2":"","url_boton_2":"","boton_3":"","url_boton_3":"","boton_4":"","url_boton_4":"","boton_5":"","url_boton_5":"","boton_6":"","url_boton_6":"","boton_7":"","url_boton_7":"","boton_8":"","url_boton_8":"","boton_9":"","url_boton_9":"","boton_10":"","url_boton_10":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/publicaciones-125.jpg?fit=343%2C514&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21318"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21318"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21322,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21318\/revisions\/21322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21318"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=21318"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=21318"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=21318"},{"taxonomy":"resource","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource?post=21318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}