Mexico’s National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data. Photo: Google

By KELIN DILLON

After successfully achieving former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) goal of constitutionally reshaping Mexico’s judicial branch, the in-power National Regeneration Movement (Morena) has set its sights on achieving another one of the former federal executive’s controversial initiatives: dismantling the nation’s autonomous organizations.

On Wednesday, Nov. 6, the Board of Directors Chamber of Deputies – in which Morena and its allies hold a qualified majority – publicized a new constitutional reform proposing the elimination of Mexico’s National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI).

Rather than continuing to act independently, Morena’s ruling would absorb the INAI into the federal Secretariat of Public Function, eliminating its autonomy.

Given the INAI’s designated purpose of providing the Mexican people with access to government data and safeguarding citizens’ private information, bringing the organization into the government’s fold could significantly damage transparency in Mexico. 

The proposal also suggests the absorption of other autonomous organizations into the government, like the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) into the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport, the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) into the Secretariat of the Economy, the National System for Continuous Improvement of Education into the Secretariat of Education, and the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval) into the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

Likewise, the legislation calls for eliminating the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), with their powers absorbed into the Secretariat of Energy.

However, the reform explicitly states that if it were to pass, the rights of the autonomous organization workers would be respected.