Bill of Rights Shaped by Mexico City Citizens Sends Shudders Through Conservative Heartlands Sandra Weiss - International Politics and Society
go to original April 27, 2017

Constitutional reform may sound like a subject best confined to dusty university bookshelves, but in Mexico City it’s proving quite explosive. The Mexican capital’s new constitution – all 71 articles of it – reads like a progressive manifesto. The document guarantees equal rights for minorities and LGBT+ residents and includes provisions for parental leave, animal rights and free time, along with strict transparency rules for public officials. Medicinal use of cannabis and the right to “die with dignity” are in there too.

The constitution is the brainchild of Mexico City’s mayor, Miguel Mancera of the left-wing Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) that has controlled the city since 1997. He represents a bustling metropolis of over 20 million people, where pockets of wealth nudge up against sprawling slums, and where the average commute takes two hours each way. Considered a liberal Gommorah by those in Mexico’s conservative heartlands, the capital was the first city in the country to introduce a minimum state pension, and also the first to legalize abortion. Controls over policy and spending have been hard won, and Mancera says the new constitution is needed to protect them from central government interference. He’s also hoping the initiative will boost his approval ratings – currently languishing below 30 percent – and provide him a strong platform ahead of the 2018 presidential elections, for which he harbors his own ambitions.

Citizens have also played a large part in shaping the constitution by submitting their own petitions online. A committee of legal experts, academics, politicians and activists drafted the document and a second committee decided which petitions to accept. Francisco Fontano, a 29-year-old travel agent, proposed that the city guarantee a minimum amount of green space per resident. His suggestion now forms part of article 18. The city’s residents will also have the right to kick out politicians half way through their term, and initiate legislation if they gain sufficient support from the electorate. Citizens will head an anti-corruption body that lays down standards for public office, and nominate candidates for the public prosecution. Meanwhile, boroughs will be obligated to dedicate 22 percent of their budget to infrastructure and public services by 2022.

“It was a hard slog and no-one got everything they wanted,” admits Alejandro Encinas, chairman of the constitutional council. “But we can be proud of the final result.” Mancera, for instance, had to renounce his pet project, a basic guaranteed income for all citizens, in the face of strong opposition from Christian-democrats and centrists. Initiatives such as a maximum 40-hour week, extending the vote to 16 year olds and a pension fund for freelancers also ran aground, while a proposal to enshrine the “right to a life in dignity” was rejected as too vague. A mechanism to limit property speculation and a ban on social segregation likewise failed to get sufficient support.

...The constitution was originally due to come into force in September. That deadline is looking increasingly unlikely, as everyone from the president and his PRI party to the Catholic church attempt to block parts of the bill in the Supreme Court. Mexico’s archbishop, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, has called the constitution “murderous” for legalizing abortion and euthanasia; President Enrique Peña Nieto says it interferes in federal affairs; while the far-left say the document isn’t radical enough. For civil society activist Guillermo Andrade, the new settlement “studiously avoids the biggest issues, such as precarious salaries, a lack of housing, deficient water supplies and poor security.”

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