The Dream Cabinet of Dr. Calderón, II: The Minister of Human Rights Violations

Calderón, “Life is a Dream,” as presented to Their Catholic Majesties Fernando y Isabella, authors of the Inquisition and the Reconquista, and here is a list of the personages who speak therein.

I continue to try to annotate the Calderón cabinet, thanks to a fine report from Mexico’s fine El Financiero on the dramatis personae of this farcical auto da fé.

Key appointment: the Interior-slash-Homeland Security guy in charge of Gobernación, or “governance.”

Francisco Javier Ramírez Acuña nació en 22 de abril de 1952, en Jamay, Jalisco. Cursó estudios en Derecho en la Universidad de Guadalajara, profesión que ejerce desde hace 12 años.

Es miembro del PAN desde 1969. En 1970 participó en la campaña presidencial de Efraín González Morfín. También fue secretario de Organización del grupo juvenil del blanquiazul en 1971; y candidato a diputado federal y local por los distritos VII y I de Jalisco en 1973.

Ramírez Acuña fue diputado en las 47 y 49 legislaturas de Jalisco y regidor del ayuntamiento de Zapopan.

Entre los cargos públicos que ha desempeñado destacan: la dirección general del Sistecozome; presidente municipal de Guadalajara;

Antes de ser nombrado secretario de Gobernación para el periodo 2006-2012, se desempeñó como gobernador de Jalisco desde 2001 hasta noviembre de 2006.

The Wikipedia entry on the guy, for a change, does not for once seem to have been written by the guy’s own press office — though there’s still time to remedy that situation.

Durante su gobierno tuvo lugar en Guadalajara, en mayo de 2004, la cumbre de jefes de estado y de gobierno de América Latina, el Caribe y la Unión Europea, durante su realización ocurrieron en Guadalajara violentas manifestaciones de grupos altermundistas contra la cumbre, la fuerza pública reprimió estas manifestaciones, según varias versiones incurriendo en violaciones a los derechos humanos, por lo cual ha sido acusado por Amnistía Internacional ^[1] y por la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos de México ^[2] de ser responsable, como Gobernardor de Jalisco, de tomar decisiones que derivaran en arrestos injustificados, lesiones y casos de tortura en contra de participantes en dichas manifestaciones.

When he was Governor [of Jalisco], in August of 2004, a summit of Latin American heads of state took place in Guadalajara, during which a number of violent protests took place by antiglobalization activists. The public security forces repressed these demonstrations, and according to several different sources violated human rights in doing so. Amnesty International, for example, and the National Human Rights Commission of Mexico accused him of being responsible, as governor, for taking decisions that resulted in illegal arrests, physical abuse and cases of torture with respect to the protesters.

Just what Mexico needs: Another death-squad countenancing old school law and order man to protect democratic institutions from vigilante consumers of substandard public services.

Best practices for handling anarchists: If they break somebody’s toaster, they have to pay for it — but the death penalty is definitely way over the top.

If they just want to jump up and down and wave signs, on the other hand — well, whatcha gonna do?

People can exercise their rights so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others. And to the degree public spaces still are public, you really cannot do much about it — except quietly go about privatizing public spaces in the name of “innovation.”

What part of that principle, which very, very small gringo schoolchildren are quite capable of grasping, are the noble men and women of the Mexican democratic institutions needing a remedial course in?

Further reading:

Allegations of abuse dismissed in Guadalajara: reluctance to investigate human rights violations perpetuates impunity

For “abuse” and “human rights” substitute “election law”– or for Guadalajara, swap in Oaxaca, and add a touch of death squads — and there you have it.

Mexico: Plus ça change, plus ça la meme chose.