Rosario Piedra Ibarra, president of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), has suggested eliminating the commission she presides over. Ibarra stated that the organization is not a counterbalance to power, nor should it be, as it is part of the Mexican State.
This statement confirms what many already feared, which is the total subordination of the CNDH to the federal Executive.
Far from defending its autonomy or assuming a critical role against abuses of power, Piedra Ibarra attacked the model that gave rise to the CNDH three decades ago.
She labeled it as a "simulation of the past" and justified the need to disappear the current format to make way for a new figure. For this, a figure was proposed that, according to her, better represents the people in the name of the National People's Rights Defense.
This shift definitely calls into question the role of the CNDH as a guarantor of human rights. But it also opens the door to a new officialist body, more aligned with the regime than with the citizenry.
The silent disappearance of counterbalances
Rosario Piedra's words were not improvised. They respond to a political line imposed from National Palace. It is worth remembering that not even Claudia Sheinbaum sympathized with her profile.
Opposing voices accuse that AMLO was the one who placed her at the head of the CNDH, precisely to prevent her from "getting in the way" of his administration.
