Margarita Warnholtz Locht
In my last installment I referred to the initiative of the Law of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI), which in those days was being discussed in the consultation forums that were held to gather the opinion of the indigenous peoples. I reviewed the version that was in discussion in the mentioned forums and, among other things, I commented that it seemed relevant to me that consent be included in the paragraph related to free, prior and informed consultation, because without it the consultations did not make sense, although I clarified that this is not in the Constitution.
Now, reviewing the final approved version, I find that, among other changes, that word simply disappeared. In the version sent for consultation, the functions of the institute include: "guarantee, assist and implement consultation processes and free, prior and informed consent whenever legislative, administrative, program and project measures are contemplated that may affect the rights of indigenous peoples".
The new version reads: (the Institute)"will be the technical body in the processes of prior, free and informed consultation whenever legislative and administrative measures are contemplated at the federal level that may affect the rights of the pueblos".
Not only does the concept, term, and principle of consent disappear, with which the consultations cease to be binding and become a way to simply harvest the opinions of the indigenous communities, the consultation processes regarding programs and projects disappears and it is reduced to the level of a federal bureaucracy, where finally the INPI formally states it will no longer "guarantee" the processes.
I do not know the arguments made by the congressmen to make these changes, but it seems to me that there may be two reasons: one, that as long as the consent in the Constitution is not contemplated it can not be included in the law, since the Magna Carta is above all laws; another, that the new government does not intend to abide by the decisions that arise from the consultations.
I am more inclined towards the first, since AMLO and his collaborators have repeatedly said that the indigenous peoples will be taken into account, and that the prior, free and informed consultations that are necessary will be carried out, starting with the consultation for the construction of the Mayan Train , although those who only read the tendentious headlines of the news have not heard and continue to affirm that the work is going to start without making the corresponding consultation or stating that they "demand" that it be done.
What is urgent is a reform of the second constitutional article that includes consent and that defines indigenous peoples as subjects of rights, which also appears in the law in question but not in the constitution. It will not be until those changes are made that we can be sure that the decisions of these peoples will be respected and that they will be considered subjects of law not only by the INPI, but by all (I suppose if that point of the law was not removed of the institute will be because it is not opposed to the constitution in the same way as the other). It is also necessary to include Afro-Mexicans in the constitution, who appear in the law of the INPI practically on par with the indigenous, which was a very positive change.
The transformation is just beginning and you can not change everything in a few days or months; Several things have already been changed, especially some urgent ones so that AMLO can act, as is the creation of the INPI, which a Morena partisan told me, is precisely urgent to be able to organize the consultation with the indigenous people that will be affected by the Maya Train. Tomorrow, finally, we will have a new president and it will not be until a few months before we can begin to see results that I hope will be in favor of the indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples.
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