Citizens, opponents, civil society organizations and workers of the Judiciary of Mexico who are on strike, protested to raise the pressure against the reform of the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who seeks to have popular elections to appoint judges and the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN).
The protest was repeated in different states of the Mexican territory, while, in Mexico City, a concentration of people marched from the historic Monument of the Revolution, along the main Paseo de la Reforma avenue and to the capital’s Zocalo, in front of the National Palace, the main public square in the country.
Among the positions that were heard from the north and to the south of the country in various public squares, it was defended that the proposal aims to violate judicial independence, the career of officials who aspire to climb by merit, as well as warned of risks to Mexican democracy and the counterweights to power.
“Judicial power, national counterweight,” “without color or party, justice has been imparted,” “if the people are informed, the reform does not pass,” “We are not opposition, we serve the nation,” “democracy yes, dictatorship no,” were just some of the slogans of the demonstrators.
Among the 700 demonstrators registered by the Secretariat of Citizen Security of the Mexican capital, workers of the Judicial Power of the Federation (PJF) demonstrated in the Zócalo, who have been on strike for a week.
It was last Monday, August 19, when PJF workers, including base administrators, secretaries of agreements and actuaries, decided to interrupt the work and go to a work stoppage, placing chains and locks on the doors of several judicial precincts.
Then judges and magistrates were added, which means the strike of at least 1,200 Mexican players throughout the country, according to data from the National Association of Magistrates and District Judges (Jufed).
The administrative body of the PJF, the Council of the Federal Judiciary, although it has endorsed the stoppage of work, reported that a regime of minimum services will be maintained to deal with serious or urgent cases.
On Thursday, the Mexican Government treamed to fire those who do not show up to work, as well as to cut their salaries, while workers and judges refuse to resume activities until there is a real negotiation on the judicial reform that is being promoted in Congress.
Meanwhile, the reform proposed by López Obrador supposes that anyone with a law degree could apply to be elected to head a court, although legislators have maintained that there will be controls so that they end up nominated on a ballot and that the current judges will have the right to be able to participate to rejoin the PJF.
The above has also triggered a series of warnings to the business climate in the country, as pointed out by the rating agency Fitch Ratings or entities such as Citibanamex, Bank of America and Stanley Morgan.
While the ambassadors in Mexico of the United States and Canada have revealed concerns of investors in their countries and the Mexican peso has felt the climate of risk aversion, touching almost 20 units during the week.
Pope Francis met on Thursday at the Vatican with 16 Israelis who had been held hostage in Gaza for months by the Islamist group Hamas, according to the official Vatican news website.
The group consisted of ten women, four men, and two children, as reported by the same source. Several of the former hostages showed the Argentine pontiff banners or photos of their loved ones who remain in captivity.
Francis had previously met with the families of hostages in April this year and November 2023, but this was the first time he had met with individuals who had personally endured captivity.
Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began, the pope has repeatedly called for the immediate release of Israeli hostages, while also condemning the suffering of the Palestinian population.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Islamist militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,206 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages who died in captivity.
Of the kidnapped, 97 are still being held in Gaza, but the Israeli military estimates that 34 of them have died.
The military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed at least 43,736 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-governed territory.
Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on residential buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and its surroundings on Thursday, resulting in at least 15 deaths and 16 injuries, according to Syria’s Ministry of Defense and state television.
The ministry stated that around 3:20 p.m. local time (12:20 GMT), the Israeli military launched an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting several residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighborhood in western Damascus and the Qudsaya suburb to the northwest of the capital.
The airstrikes “resulted in the death of 15 people and injuries to 16 others, including women and children,” based on initial estimates, in addition to significant damage to private property and civilian buildings, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, state television reported Israeli airstrikes on three buildings in Mazzeh and another on a building in an educational complex located in a residential area of Qudsaya.
Following the strikes, loud explosions were heard throughout the city, and thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the targeted locations. Ambulances and emergency services rushed to the scene to attend to the victims.
Three people were on the boat that collided with a Guardia Civil vessel around midnight at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near the Andalusian city of Cádiz, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard reported.
Two officers sustained “contusions,” the spokesperson explained.
The drug traffickers managed to bring the boat to shore, where one of them was “abandoned” severely injured. The other two fled.
The Civil Guard officers attempted to resuscitate the victim before transporting him to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, but he ultimately died early in the morning.
The other two suspects took advantage of the officers’ absence while they were taking the victim and returned to set their boat on fire.
The collision occurred very close to the site of another accident on September 1, where a drug trafficker died following a Guardia Civil pursuit.
The suspects’ boat traveled “400 meters” before crashing head-on and “at full speed” into the riverbank, where a hundred bundles of hashish were found.
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