Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Cecilia Romero forced out of National Institute for Migration

While she has fought tooth and nail at several times the past years to retain her position as head of the National Institute for Migration (Instituto Nacional de Migración, INM), Cecilia Romero was finally fired from the INM. The PRD in particular had kept up pressure on Romero following the most recent massacre of immigrants in Tamaulipas, deeming here "politically responsible" for the massacre, and senators altered the past weeks between demanding that she appear to explain the INM's failure to adequately protect migrants, and outright calling for her resignation. Romero adamantly refused to make any appearance in the Senate, which as recently as yesterday again called for her to report on the INM's work, or to step down.

As an indidation of how vehemntly Romero had fought her dismissal, the INM for hours couldn't even make itself present an official story for exactly why Romero was leaving.  Her work has been criticized by the National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, CNDH) as well as internatioanl observers such as Amnesty International. As recently as May, she brushed off criticism by the CNDH on the massive increased in abuses and kidnappings as mere "suggestions, not recommendations."

I find it ironic that while she survived three interior ministers, the apparent docile Francisco Blake Mora would be her bane.

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