The state congress in Guanajuato, following a visit by a UN delegation that sharply criticized the state government for its treatment and criminalization of women, voted 36 to one to reduce the penalties for "infanticide" of one's own children, from 36 to 3-8 years of prison.
Only one deputy, Elvira Paniagua (PAN) from Celaya district, voted against the reduction of the maximum penalty.
This, of course, has nothing to do with vicious child killers, but refers to the drastic penalties given to women - most of them poor, illiterate, and of indigenous origin - accused of having had an abortion, whether they were to blame or not.
One likely consequence is that María Araceli Camargo Juárez, Ofelia Segura Frías, Yolanda Martínez Montoya, Liliana Morales Moreno, Ana Rosa Padrón Alarcón and Susana Dueñas Roch will be set free. They are all poor campesinas who were given draconian prison sentences, simply locked up for having aborted, including for miscarriages.
The state administration signaled the women would be set free soon, possibly through a decree by the governor, but was quick to emphasize this was not the same as exonerating them. This reflects not only stubbornness, but mere stupidity: The government under Juan Manuel Oliva was eager to get this case over with, as Oliva harbors presidential ambitions, yet now, rather than to admit its mistake, it will now likely be faced with an appeal by the women to the Mexican Supreme Court to have their names cleared. The case has the potential to bring even more spotlight on the governor as a radical reactionary, and damage his chances of becoming the PAN's nominee for the presidency.
At, times, one truly reaps what one sows.
No comments:
Post a Comment