Senator Viggiano calls for prosecutor reform to improve justice system, gender perspective

Senator Carolina Viggiano Austria insists that Mexico's justice system will remain inefficient and corrupt without fundamental reforms to prosecutor's offices nationwide. She argues that the core problem lies within these institutions, which require not just new laws but also sufficient resources and adequately trained personnel.

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The problem of criminal justice stems from the prosecutor's offices. That should have been the first reform we implemented, and if they don't put resources into it… our problem is implementation, not making laws. They (Morena) have the majority, they raise their hands without reading, and this is not magic, you have to work on implementation and allocate sufficient resources with adequately trained people.

"The problem of criminal justice stems from the prosecutor's offices. That should have been the first reform we implemented," Viggiano stated, criticizing the current administration's approach. She believes that simply passing laws without ensuring proper implementation and funding is insufficient. "They (Morena) have the majority, they raise their hands without reading, and this is not magic, you have to work on implementation and allocate sufficient resources with adequately trained people."

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The problem is resources and the need for a reinvention of the investigative system.

Viggiano specifically highlighted the persistent issue of femicides, attributing the lack of progress to insufficient public prosecutors and a failure to conduct investigations with a gender perspective. "The problem is resources and the need for a reinvention of the investigative system," she asserted. She further described the country's prosecutor's offices as "a simulation," where low-paid public servants engage in extortion. "They are going to attend to a matter where there are resources, a fraud, a robbery, a homicide or a matter of that type, because that is where they can engage in corruption," she explained.

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The prosecutor's offices in the country do not work, they are a simulation. Public prosecutors earn very little and simply engage in extortion, and since they don't get money from femicides… women don't bring money for their affairs. They are going to attend to a matter where there are resources, a fraud, a robbery, a homicide or a matter of that type, because that is where they can engage in corruption.

The senator pointed to the case of Víctor Rodríguez, former director of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), as emblematic of the current administration's shortcomings. She questioned the lenient treatment he received, including reduced bail and monthly check-ins instead of weekly ones, suggesting it was due to his connections. "They said they took him (to prison) because he had everything they argued to deprive him of his liberty. Then they said, 'Always not,' and besides, he is not like common people who have to sign in every eight days, this gentleman will go every month, just because he was a postgraduate classmate of the president of the Republic? Could that be it? And a fine of 20,000 pesos. That is, it is truly a mockery," she denounced.

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They said they took him (to prison) because he had everything they argued to deprive him of his liberty. Then they said, 'Always not,' and besides, he is not like common people who have to sign in every eight days, this gentleman will go every month, just because he was a postgraduate classmate of the president of the Republic? Could that be it? And a fine of 20,000 pesos. That is, it is truly a mockery.