Tragedy and government disorder | Article

Mario Luis Fuentes

mMexico moves from tragedy to tragedy, but the always painful and huge number of victims is not a sufficient reason to review the depth necessary to restructure the public administration and provide it with the capacity and resources to fulfill the mandates and legal and constitutional powers entrusted to it.

The deaths as of this writing of 39 people as a result of the fire at the Ciudad Juarez immigration station in the state of Chihuahua are directly related to the unrest, the lack of coordination and the lack of structural capacity of the government to fulfill the constitutional mandate to universally, comprehensively and gradually guarantee the human rights of all persons within the national territory, without exceptions.

When there was a criminal fire at the ABC Kindergarten that killed 49 girls and boys, Minister Arturo Saldivar, after careful analysis, concluded that this event was the result of a general disarray in the public administration, since there was no proper line of responsibility and follow-up to implement institutional responsibilities, so the conclusion that this was a structural failure of the state could not be avoided.

We are now facing a similar scenario. Excuses abounded everywhere; and the perpetrators decided to hide behind a dubious administrative agreement, which, they say, relieves them of their functions and responsibilities; and at worst it is simply stated that it is a problem of a surrogate company (as in the case of the ABC nursery), and that the company alone is responsible for the matter, as if the state is not responsible for their conclusion, supervision and requirement to comply with standards, operational criteria and quality when providing services.

This terrible episode is a reminder of something that has already been raised in other times: the need to urgently guarantee the proper functioning of the executive branch, since the lives and well-being of those of us who inhabit this country or pass through it depend on it. And for this reason, it is appropriate to ask again, what is the state of the federal government in relation to its processes and protocols of action on a day-to-day basis?

Given that there is not enough publicly available information on this subject to carry out an assessment or diagnosis with the necessary seriousness, it appears that this government has taken significant decisions that go beyond the established legal procedures; that is, verbal instructions and assignment of tasks outside the charter were used, which in the near future could greatly complicate management and, even if the matter were of the magnitude that is perceived, to the semi-paralysis of various state bodies, which, in turn, could impose serious restrictions on who will be the next President of the Republic.

It would be important to know, for example, how many appeals still remain to be heard in the Federal Court of Administrative Justice against the contested acts as to their legal basis; when amparos or appeals are in the judiciary; and how many of them entail significant costs and budgetary obligations, and how much more could affect the operation of institutions if the decision of the courts is unfavorable for public institutions.

In a country where the rule of law is repeatedly violated, it is the government at all levels that has the primary responsibility for enforcing the law, which gives legitimacy to its power and, as established in the text of the Constitution, allows it to motivate and find its executive decisions.

The death of 39 people injured in a fire at the facilities of the National Migration Institute is the direct responsibility of the state; because, while in a public institution, the authorities have an obligation to protect and ensure the safety and security of those who are detained there.

That is why it is urgent to find an answer to the relative question of the state of all institutions and subsidiary farms, in whose care and responsibility are people who have nowhere to go: temporary shelters, nurseries, day homes and care, houses, etc. In this regard, Mexico does not even have an updated census of care centers, because this government policy was simply forgotten by this administration.

The first quarter of 2023 has already ended. Only 18 months remain before the end of this administration and only one year before the official start of the 2024 presidential campaigns.

It is clear that the President of the Republic is not going to change his tragic style of government and will continue to make decisions based on what he considers the best and most effective way. But this does not prevent the one who aspires to become his successor in all political parties from clearly realizing that they will achieve an executive power with very wide limits of disorder and disorder in its internal functioning.

For this reason, another emergency diagnosis is that to be made by the Ministry of Public Functions, which is to act as guarantor of the good functioning of the government of the Republic and of correction, correction or sanction when necessary. case of non-fulfillment of their administrative duties.

Thus, as with the ABC nursery, with the murder of migrants in San Fernando; with the assassination of the normalists of Ayotzinapa; what happened in Ciudad Juarez also allows us to say that “it was a state”, for actions and inactions that cost dozens of lives and the number of which can still increase. And in this state of affairs, not only compensation for damage is essential, but above all, and once and for all, a guarantee of non-repetition, which largely depends on what is proposed here. .: to review, evaluate, correct and reorient the actions of an institutional structure whose disorder and error in the formulation and implementation of public policy has led to a terrible tragedy.