Rosario Ibarra proposes to eliminate the CNDH: We are not autonomous, we are part of the State

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.

Today, Mexico witnesses how one by one autonomous bodies are disappearing. First, it was the INAI, then the constant attack on the INE, now it's the CNDH's turn.

The Commission, which once denounced torture, forced disappearances, and repression, now remains silent in the face of military in the streets, human rights violations, and journalist murders. The president, far from questioning these omissions, accuses those demanding accountability of being "simulators."

Without autonomy, without democracy

The existence of autonomous bodies in a democracy is not a "Salinism invention," as the CNDH disparagingly stated.

They are essential tools to maintain the balance of powers and ensure that the government doesn't become an authoritarian apparatus.

Without independent bodies, power becomes absolute. The lack of counterbalances turns the State into judge and jury. This places us on a dangerous path toward institutionalized totalitarianism, where rights are no longer defended but subordinated to the official discourse.

The question is no longer whether Mexico will lose its institutions, but how many more will citizens allow to be destroyed.