by CHINGOZKY
El Siglo de Durango
One of the thorniest problems the current administration is dealing with is whether to take away the military privileges of the Mexican Army and Navy; in other words, judging those who have committed crimes in the civil sphere by civil, not military, judges…I object! First read and then form an opinion…
The composition of the branches of government in Mexico is well defined, with the intention that no one of the three branches may have more power than another. The intention was good; they didn’t take away the just rewards from those who gave their lives to make a better Mexico, and all would have been perfect if the politicians’ hunger for power had not undermined these institutions.
The legislative branch, comprised of two houses, believes that they are the lords and masters of all that moves and breathes in Mexico; thus, we pay taxes and they, in turn, allocate them for their pleasures, always preferring themselves to others. Recently, a legislator, whose name I certainly hope was not Godoy, had the idea of taking away the right of soldiers and sailors to be tried in military courts, by military judges. I object!
It is this hunger for power that makes people think that it would be a good idea to subject the Army and Navy to the statutes that the legislative and judicial branches make. The judicial branch in Mexico is one of the most insolent on the whole continent; its excessive salaries and huge bureaucracy, used to indulge in its fantasies, defies the imagination.
The legislature is merely composed of temporary deputies and senators who put their parties’ interests before those of the nation. Politicians of the PAN block projects of the PRI, politicians of the PRI those of the PAN, the Greens block the Reds, and the ugly ones the beautiful ones…ridiculous initiatives, that mock common sense and are worthy of Godoy.
The executive branch names its own secretaries, among them those for the Army and the Navy, which is more theater than reality: In fact, those honorable secretaries are elected by a chief clerk within their own institutions; later, the President in turn “appoints” them.
Never in the history of this lovely country have we been deprived of those secretaries, even while they have leveled those of Education, Tourism, Agriculture, Foreign Policy, Communication, Health, and many others that have been added to the list of the deprived and departed.
In other words, these institutions retain their autonomy by maintaining the social stability of the country and by being loyal to the President. Well, my opposition to the initiative of the brand-new politicians is, for one reason, very simple: The Armed Forces are the last credible institution in Mexico, and these two secretaries rely directly on the executive branch, which has been discredited by this fake war on narcotraffi ckers. Let us say that the soldiers are not content, but loyalty prevails among them, they serve their country and their temporary Supreme Commander, Felipe Calderon, but that, within these same institutions, they possess powers that will not give up at the end of his presidential term. The Armed forces are more than a political notion; the Armed Forces were called into the streets because the judicial branch failed, because that branch was totally corrupted, and because its components— the PGR, AFI, PTF, PFP, etc—absolutely every institution of public security has failed.
The corruption is so great that, in the judicial branch, its own highest representative boasts about making decisions, on his own. If the legislative branch should wish to make laws affecting the Armed Forces, on that day that institution would be subjected to political whims, Mexico would head towards total chaos, and there wouldn’t exist the slightest possibility that the Armed Forces would defend us as a people.
The military is the last hope of stopping the abuses of those who have lost their true mission of being public ¡Los clasifi cados trabajan! Anuncia si buscas empleados o vendes algo con El Reportero.
415-648-3711 servants, and have, instead, made Mexico the cure-all of their whims, by creating a corrupt system and making this country their servant: the errors of politicians have carried us to this point.
The military is not responsible for this situation, but all the mistakes have been handed over to them. The military is all we have left. To you soldiers, I say do not allow an error or a bad element within rob you of your past; you swore loyalty to Mexico above everything. You are, even now, the last institution in which we believe. Hey, Donkey, How did Felipe look with his hat of five stars? Aaaaahhhhi, aaaaahhhhhiiii. No, Donkey. The fourth star we owe to Durazo. http://www.elsiglodedurango.com.mx/noticia/293020.austedes-militares.html.
(Julio Cesar Godoy is a Mexican lawmaker-elect sworn in after evading police. He is accused of ties to traffickers, and is now immune from prosecution.) – Translated by Mark Carney.
