Aziz on Democracy in Mexico

Alberto Aziz Nassif, one of Mexico’s most prominent columnists, opens today’s piece in El Universal by lamenting that the “fight for human rights has turned into a fundamental problem for our ever weaker democracy.”

I agree with him on the first part; I like Calderon a lot more than he does, but I’ve written that human rights has the potential to be a black spot on his legacy. However, I’m not quite sure where Aziz Nassif is coming from with the woe-is-me-ism about Mexican democracy. The last time there was a major challenge to democratic institution was only a few weeks ago, when the PRD occupied the congressional building and locked out the lawmakers with whom they didn’t agree, in order to force a prolonged to debate on oil reform. Aziz Nassif didn’t exactly condemn the move. Indeed, he treated it as a slight excess by the well-intentioned:

"It’s true that the Broad Progressive upset the apple cart and the social movement flooded once more the downtown streets of the capital; it’s true that it’s annoying that some legislators wear two hats; it’s true that you can’t use force to obtain the results that you want, that you can’t cancel a parliamentary session just for not agreeing, much less when you are part of the institution.

But, at the same time, it’s no less true that the government hasn’t had any sensibility, that it used the wrong strategy, that it wanted to play with the timetables and format, and that it presented a privatizing reform initiative…but in the end it shot itself in the foot."

And there you have it: holding congress hostage is the same as pursuing a strategy that Aziz Nassif deems incorrect. Now just a couple of weeks later, we have him wringing his hands over Mexico’s enfeebled democracy. If you’re going to excuse attacks on democratic institutions, I think you then forfeit the right to complain about their fragility.