Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is pushing for a new bill that would grant amnesty to thousands of currently jailed individuals. The bill called Ley de Amnistia or Amnesty Law is expected to go before Mexico’s Senate. If the senate passes the bill, it would lead to the release of thousands of individuals who have been “unjustly jailed”.
Mexico’s leading Senator Ricardo Monreal said the law is part of a process aimed at bringing peace to Mexico, Mexico’s Vanguardia reported. The bill is supposed to target underage teens and women who have been forced to commit crimes by organized criminal groups, women who were forced by their lovers to carry weapons, and farmers who were forced to grow drugs by giving them a chance at freedom and access to jobs, Mexico’s Animal Politico reported.
According to Mexico’s Secretary of the Interior Olga Sanchez Cordero, the bill is not meant as a measure of impunity, because the bill would also look at crime victims and reparations, Animal Politico reported. The politician also said in multiple interviews that the bill would not apply to those convicted of serious offenses such as murder, kidnapping, and crimes against humanity.
The new proposed bill comes at a time when Mexico’s government has been pushing for the legalization of drugs and where earlier this year, AMLO claimed that the war on drugs was over, Breitbart Texas reported.
The news comes as Mexican border cities like Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa continue to be hotspots of violence where violent drug cartels such as factions of Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel regularly use armored vehicles with mounted machine guns, .50 caliber rifles, and grenade launchers to clash with state police officers. In most of the recent gun battles, federal authorities and military forces have been absent or only made an appearance after the shooting ended. This led the governor of Tamaulipas to publicly call out the federal government for not fighting against cartels, Breitbart Texas reported.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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