Sunday’s march for Mexico’s Supreme Court drew in at least 2,000 attendees. Photo: Google

By MARK LORENZANA

Around 20,000 white-clad supporters of Mexico’s Supreme Court (SCJN) marched on the morning of Sunday, May 29, at around 11 a.m. from Mexico City’s Monument of the Revolution to the capital’s downtown main square Zócalo in defense of the country’s highest court.

Organized by the civic organization Chalecos MX, and bearing slogans that said “The Court Will Not Be Touched,” the protesters arrived at the Monument of the Revolution to gather and headed toward the Plaza de la Constitución, where they protested against the federal government of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) proposal to subject the SCJN justices to an election, which they insisted was unconstitutional.

The Mexico City government of Governor Claudia Sheinbaum estimated around 2,000 protesters, although various posts on social media platforms insisted that there were more attendees.

Likewise, several posts on social media showed some pockets of protests that also took place in various locations around the country, including Monterrey and Guadalajara.

Upon reaching the Plaza de la Constitución, the protesters were met by AMLO supporters who were staging a sit-in protest of their own in the vicinity of the SCJN. The López Obrador supporters — who demanded the departure of the justices opposed to AMLO’s so-called Fourth Transformation or 4T — were reportedly summoned by Veracruz Governor Cuitláhuac García of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena).

Alejandra Morán, president of Chalecos MX, told business-focused daily newspaper El Financiero on Sunday that the call for a protest was in response to the constant attacks on the Mexican judiciary.

“We have seen the attacks from the government every day, during the president’s morning press conferences, attacking Chief Justice Norma Piña,” said Morán. “This is an attack on the judiciary, plain and simple, and disrespecting the division of powers as stated in the Mexican Constitution. It is important to defend the judiciary, which is the last bastion that we have as citizens, before a possible dictatorship. The president wants to bring down all the other co-equal powers of the government at all costs.”

On the morning of Monday, May 28, in his daily press conference, López Obrador accused the judiciary of a “technical coup d’état,”  by “neutralizing the executive branch by stopping its works.”

AMLO, in particular, said he was disappointed by the amparos or injunctions filed against one of his priority megaprojects, the Tren Maya. He assured that the priority works of his government will not be cancelled.

“The judiciary will continue to want to stop the government’s priority works, but they will not be able to, because according to the Constitution, we have the right to carry out works for the benefit of the people. They will not be able to cancel them,” he said.

“In other words, it is one thing that they are violating the Constitution. But the other thing is, let the justices tell me with a straight face if they are not violating it by earning more than what the president earns. And another thing is that they are preparing to carry out a coup, which will neutralize the executive power. In other words, we can no longer execute anything. It is the judiciary canceling a power, and it would be a technical coup.”

Meanwhile, the sit-in protest staged by AMLO supporters in the SCJN was estimated to have been attended by 25 people. They set up a tent and a table to collect signatures, and blocked the main entrance to the SCJN building.

The signatures that they collected were apparently to “reform the justice system,” “put an end to the corruption in the judiciary,” and demand the departure of Piña.

The protesters held various cardboard signs that said “Away with corrupt justices,” “Piña + Pinochet = Piñashet,” among others, while chanting “Out with Norma Piña, out with Norma Piña.”

The demonstrators also protested against former Mexican presidents, the centralist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the conservative National Action Party (PAN) and “the privatization of education” and “neoliberalism.”