José Ramón Cossío, retired minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), expressed on Aristegui en Vivo his concern about recent government decisions in Mexico. He referred to the disappearance of autonomous bodies and legislative changes that expand the crimes that lead to preventive detention, arguing that these measures significantly affect governance, justice, and security in the country.
Regarding the disappearance of autonomous bodies such as INAI, CONEVAL, the Federal Competition Commission, and IFT, Cossío emphasized that although these agencies are being dissolved, their functions do not disappear, but are transferred to government secretariats such as Economy and Communications and Transport. According to him, this situation leads to a loss of autonomy and greater centralization of power in the federal sphere.
The former minister stressed that the INAI, as a national institute with competencies over all federal powers and state entities, cannot be replaced by a government secretariat, as this would limit its scope, harming personal data protection and access to information. Cossío warned that the accumulation of power resulting from the disappearance of these autonomous bodies breaks the institutional checks and balances, excessively concentrating power in the federal government.
Regarding the reform that expanded the crimes warranting preventive detention, Cossío called it a failure in public security policy. He pointed out that resorting to preventive detention extensively reflects a weakness in the approach to crime, as opting to imprison people based solely on indications represents a lack of adequate justification. In his opinion, this measure does not effectively address the problem of crime but rather highlights the shortcomings of security policy in the country, prioritizing detention over investigation and due process.
