Drugs for all
Mexico's president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador gave his future interior minister "carte blanche" to explore the possibility of legalizing drugs in an attempt to curb violent crime, he said on Tuesday. Olga Sánchez Cordero, a former Supreme Court judge appointed to head the interior ministry, received praise when she made a comment at a university seminar on how to tackle the brutal violence fueled by Mexican drug cartels, the largest suppliers of cocaine, heroin and other narcotics.
It was one of his first public events since Lopez Obrador, a leftist widely known as "AMLO", won a crushing victory in the Mexican elections on July 1 with the promise of a radical change in a country fed up with crime and corruption. On the subject of the decriminalization of drugs, Andrés Manuel told me, and I quote: 'Carta blanca. Whatever is necessary to restore peace in this country. We are going to open the debate, '"said Sánchez Cordero.
The future interior minister said he also plans to propose a bill in Congress, where Lopez Obrador's coalition won a majority in both houses, for a "transitional justice system." It would include reduced sentences for criminals that help shed light on unresolved crimes, such as the cases of tens of thousands of people disappeared in Mexico; truth commissions similar to those used in post-conflict situations; special investigation commissions; and a reparations program for the victims. It would also include López Obrador's controversial proposal for an amnesty for some drug-related crimes, said Sanchez Cordero, who is 71 years old.
López Obrador notably invited Pope Francis to participate in a national dialogue on the amnesty proposal. One of his advisers said on Saturday that the Pope had accepted, only that the Vatican would deny it on Monday. Sánchez Cordero said that the de facto invitation would only be formally made after Lopez Obrador takes office on December 1. Since Mexico deployed its army to fight drug trafficking in 2006, the country was involved in a wave of violence that left more than 200,000 murders. "A transitional justice system for Mexico is possible and urgent, not only for the victims of violence, but for the entire Mexican society," said Sánchez Cordero.