Breathe
By Julieta del Río Venegas
As is public knowledge, on March 15, the President of the Republic made use of his constitutional powers (established in article six, section VIII, paragraph nine of the Constitution) and objected to the two appointments of the commissioners, made by the Senate of the Republic on March 1. In INAI we know that confrontations are fruitless and weaken democratic systems; we must bet on the generation of agreements between institutions. In this same line we will remain, always open to dialogue and waiting for the creation of new consensus in the Upper House so that the appointment process may be reestablished as soon as possible.
On March 15, the five INAI Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a constitutional controversy, a means of legal control that we will file before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in order to accelerate the process of appointing two Commissioners. This controversy, which we voted on the same night of March 15, is directed to the Legislative Branch, due to the omission in the conclusion of the appointment of two INAI commissioners, leaving the Plenary of the Institute with only five of the seven commissioners indicated in the Magna Carta.
Since April 2022, almost a year ago, INAI has been in this situation.
Likewise, citizens should be aware that, on March 31, Commissioner Francisco Javier Acuña Llamas concludes his appointment and, although the legislative process to appoint his successor has already begun, with four Commissioners, the Plenary of INAI would not be able to meet. If this were to happen, the Institute would be prevented from processing the demands and appeals filed by the public to obtain public information and protect their personal data.
The senators have shown that they are willing for this autonomous body, guarantor of transparency and data protection, to continue performing its jurisdictional functions, and not to be unable to convene a plenary session, a space and time where INAI resolves controversies, means of challenge and appeals for review against the 8,240 obligated subjects in the country. In case it is not possible to convene the Plenary, INAI does not disappear for that reason; we carry out many other tasks of socialization of the rights we protect, which will continue. In my particular case, we will not rest in the strengthening and dissemination of the National Transparency Platform, in the production of editorial content, in the improvement of the Center for Attention to Society (INAI's door to society), among other multiple areas that we must continue to promote on a daily basis.
It must be clearly stated. Having incomplete autonomous bodies that are unable to perform their constitutional functions affects the system of balances that we have built for decades of citizen struggles, which is detrimental to our democracy. In 2022 alone, INAI dealt with more than 24 thousand controversies and challenges filed by citizens to the denial of public information in this country and, week after week, INAI resolves around 500 appeals for review. Similarly, INAI coordinates and presides over the National Transparency System, made up of our colleagues from the 32 states, the Federal Superior Audit Office (ASF), INEGI and the General Archive of the Nation; in addition, INAI is also part of the National Anticorruption System, two key institutional bodies in the Mexican Rule of Law.
At INAI we protect the access to information and the protection of personal data of Mexicans; we make public matters transparent and we make visible the work of public entities. Let us remember that public administration is made up of institutions.
Let us continue to fight for a legal state, where all of us are guaranteed our freedom of information and the protection of our privacy.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of Opinion 51.
More than 150 opinions from 100 columnists await you for less than one book per month.
Comments ()