The minister in retirement spoke of the need for a “draft law that includes not only amnesties but the possible reduction of penalties, truth commissions, comprehensive reparation and the proposal of decriminalization of the drug and public policy for the recovery of economic spaces and life projects “.
Mexico City, (However) .- Olga Sanchez Cordero, Minister in retirement and future Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announced that to achieve peace in the country should be considered in addition to the amnesty, the reduction of penalties, truth commissions and reparations for the victims, the decriminalization of drugs. And he assured that the next President has already given him the green light to open the debate on decriminalization.
“I am going to give you the message that Andrés Manuel gave me, knowing that I have spoken in forums and in interviews about the decriminalization of drugs: ‘Open letter: whatever is necessary, whatever is necessary to pacify the country. Let’s open the debate, “said Sánchez Cordero, during his participation in the Seminar” Oblivion, truth and justice “that takes place in El Colegio de México (Colmex).
He affirmed that it was time for the “Government to stop pretending that nothing is happening and that there is a human rights policy” for the fight against violence in Mexico.
The minister in retirement spoke of the need for a “draft law that includes not only amnesties,but the possible reduction of penalties, truth commissions, comprehensive reparation and the proposal of decriminalization of the drug and public policy for the recovery of economic spaces and life projects “.
Sánchez Córdero said that a transitional justice plan for Mexico is needed, assessing the violence and the serious violations of human rights that occur in the country.
“I am convinced that we must start talking about a transitional justice in this country, what kind of justice do we need to achieve peace in Mexico? Not for Colombia, not for Spain after its civil war. What transitional justice do we need for this reality that Mexico is living? Always with the victims in the center, “he said.
The future Secretary of the Interior added that in terms of amnesty should be thought of conducts that are possible to grant amnesty and clarified that they do not “constitute serious violations of human rights.”
In the reduction of penalties, the measure must be conditioned to the contribution of truthful and verified information about the truth of the facts, which contributes to knowing the whereabouts of the disappeared persons, he argued.
“It is necessary to start thinking about a reparations plan; there is no clarity now, nor institutional uniformity at the national level in the way in which a violation of human rights is repaired. It is a program of reparations that involves all the authorities, nor should we reduce the compensation to the compensation, “he said.
In the Seminar some mothers of disappeared people who demanded justice and asked Sánchez Cordero not to reduce the first investigations of missing persons to the case of the 43 normalistas of Ayotzinapa, but to the thousands of sons, daughters, wives, spouses victims of the violence and organized crime.
Olga Sánchez Córdero, moved, told the parents that the Ministry of the Interior will work hand in hand with the families of the victims. “As long as we do not recognize all the issues that you have raised, we can not move forward,”
“We are going to recognize the realities in order to be able to give them an answer, because if we continue hiding reality in a Mexico where nothing ever happens, where everything is fine; it will be good in the macroeconomic variables, nothing more, “he said.
AMNESTY A POLITICAL CAUSE
The proposal of the amnesty caused more commotion and criticism in the rest of the speakers of the forum than the decriminalization of drugs.
Mariclaire Acosta, a researcher and human rights activist, said that the amnesty is important and “worthy of consideration,” but “it should not be at the beginning of transitional justice, but the conclusion.”
Javier Sicilia Zardain, leader of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD), celebrated the clarity of Sánchez Córdero, but regretted that the issue is becoming “a show”.
“I celebrate that he speaks with such clarity and assumes what Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto did not want to assume: the dimension of the brutal tragedy in this country […]. Right now we are talking about this issue in this country are killing, dismembering someone, “he said.
The theme of victims and justice, the poet added, should be the agenda of the nation.
“If we do not have the capacity to assume this as the fundamental agenda, nothing will prosper … the airport, let’s go to hell: the victims, justice is the issue. I am worried that they are handling this as a show, that they are giving blind sticks to a monstrous piñata, “he said.
“Because without families, no! Without families, all transitional justice commissions are destined to fail, “he said.
Silvia Ortiz, mother of the missing girl Silvia Sthephanie Sánchez-Viesca (Fany) and one of the seekers of Coahuila, said she is concerned about the amnesty proposed by López Obrador.
“I am worried about the word amnesty, it worries me. I have put people on a silver flag and nothing has prospered, because there is no evidence, “he told Olga Sánchez.
Ortiz told the retiring minister that the next government will help mothers find their missing children.
Lucía Vaca, the mother of Alfonso Rivera Vaca, asked Sánchez Córdero not to cut the budget for the search.
“We are tired of the simulation, families are not going to stop looking for them. We need them to look for them, we need truth and justice so that nobody else disappears, “he said.
