In a few days it will be a month since the change of magistracy in the Constitutional Court (CC) and, so far, this beginning does not meet expectations at all. In the political sphere, what is notable about these weeks are “those moments” starring Roberto Molina Barreto, interested in influencing the selection of candidates for attorney general and continuing to work outside the CC facilities.
The dominant currents of public opinion consider that he fears public exposure, given the rejection generated by his performance since 2021 and his re-election imposed by the “multi-sector alliance for the control of institutions and impunity”, with the support of US political forces.
Furthermore, the accumulation of direct attacks against President Anabella Morfín Mansilla is worrying, because these herald an uphill year, full of obstacles and with spurious management of public opinion against her. Your initiative to return to public hearings and in-person plenary sessions is completely acceptable, consistent with the requirement that there be publicity of the CC’s acts; because we hope that, one day, the courts will no longer be closed, open their activities to the scrutiny of public opinion, and adequately communicate their decisions and resolutions.
So, it is unfortunate that these events are the notable ones of this first month in the CC. In particular, the resolution they have taken against the right of judges to seek senior positions, in the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic on this occasion, because they continue to apply a different nature to the exercise of the judiciary from that of the exercise of the profession.
A relevant contribution of the CC would be not only to grant provisional protections with definitive effects on this issue – 2022 and 2026 – but to promote the necessary actions that end this violation of the right of judges to apply for the highest positions in the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and the Public Ministry (MP).
The change of high authority in the MP will take place in a few days. It will not be a minor milestone; quite the opposite. The expectation is that, with the end of the antidemocratic era of María Consuelo Porras Argueta, spurious criminal prosecution will end; the criminalization of independent, critical and opposition justice officials; illegal dismissals, and transfers for political reasons.
It is essential that the new attorney general, Gabriel García Luna, put an end to “the criminal policy of the MP” of guaranteeing impunity to businessmen, contractors, deputies, party and union leaders, organized criminals who enrich themselves with the spaces of academia, drug trafficking, money laundering, among other activities.
García Luna has an impeccable career and a performance that suggests his inclination for democracy, transparency and respect for human rights and judicial guarantees.
The task in front of her is enormous, but it is necessary that she prioritize what affects the life and freedom of the personal victims of Consuelo Porras, her close team and the powerful people who have sheltered and encouraged her in her management as attorney general.
Strength and strategy are required to recover both the MP and the CC, which requires the participation of the population in support of the attorney general and the democratic magistrates, so that the administration of justice gradually returns to the path of respect for the life and freedom of people, democratic practices and modernization.