A day after being received by thousands of migrants in the Placita Olvera in the heart of the city of Los Angeles, the leader of the Mexican Senate, Senator Gerardo Fernández Noroña said that it is too early to be campaigning for the presidency of Mexico.
“The president is not even a month old yet. Yesterday they told me, ‘president’, I told them ‘wait you bastards, the president is Claudia Sheinbaum’. “It’s very early, there’s a long way to go,” he responded to a question from The Opinion about his aspirations, while some of his followers shouted at him ‘it is the love that the people have for him’ that makes them call him president.
Senator Fernández Noroña made a two-day tour of Los Angeles as part of a trip that he said he had planned for months together with some colleagues, after he accompanied the now president of Mexico in the Million Dollar Theater.
He held a closed-door meeting with activists and migrant leaders at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, a massive meeting in the Placita Olvera and finally a lunch with leaders of the representative organizations of the majority of the Mexican states, organized by the United Organizations of Jalisco chaired by Javier Martínez.
Before lunch, The Opinion He held a bench interview with the leader of the Mexican Senate.
Is a pension for older adults in the United States possible?
- It worries me because some fellow legislators very lightly raise the issue as if it were a fact. The pension for older adults in the United States is not in the 100 commitments of our colleague Claudia Sheinbaum. I don’t have the idea that this is a project that will move forward.
“He committed to supporting women between 60 and 64 years old. The first year will be for those aged 63 and 64. In the case of children, it was committed to supporting all children in public schools. It starts with secondary schools; and adjustments are being made not only in relation to the organizational part but also with the resources that are needed. This approach is legitimate.
“The need to provide pensions to older adults in the United States exists, but from then on it can be done, I do not see it in the immediate scenario. It’s the same budget. There are a whole series of commitments. We are giving support to all the elderly in the country. Social programs are increasing. There is not even a certain registry of how many older adults live in the United States. They gave me information of two million.
“It is irresponsible that it is stated as a fact that we are going to provide pensions for seniors in the United States. It’s not like that. I am going to discuss this with my colleague Claudia, but it is not a lack of affection, it is a lack of resources.”.
How are you going to support the consulates to improve?
- Those consulted are a priority task. Comrade Claudia gave specific instructions to Dr. Juan Ramón De la Fuente (secretary of foreign relations), that adequate attention to all our fellow citizens is a priority.”
How is it going to be resolved that all Mexicans can vote from abroad?
- That will be resolved this six-year term. There is an electoral reform pending. The goal of Mexican votes has to be achieved no matter what in this government. In fact, there is a good and a bad in the case of judicial reform. The good thing is that all Mexicans will be able to participate. The bad thing is that they will vote only as a reference, because their vote will not count. His vow to be like a kind of drill.
What is the message you are giving to Mexicans about judicial reform?
- We are the first country in the world that is going to elect its judges by universal, secret and direct vote. Here in the United States, in some states, in 46, they elect their local judges. In Mexico we are going to elect everyone, local judges, federal judges, Supreme Court ministers, magistrates. It has been a very strong shock, but it is very important to democratize the judicial power.
“Judicial reform is important because it is democratization. Article 39 of the Constitution says that all institutions come from the people, it does not say that the judicial power.
“How can they agree that the appointment of the Court ministers is a political agreement? For example, they are proposed by the president and voted on by two-thirds of the Senate. Now it is being proposed that it be the people who, by universal, secret and direct vote, determine them.
“So, who can oppose the democratization of the country and the judiciary? Only the racists, the classists, those who have done business and corruption from the judicial power with control.
“What we are proposing is the separation of economic power from the judicial power, and they say that we are flouting compliance, but the Amparo Law says in its article 61 first section that protection against constitutional reforms is not applicable.
“The reform of the judicial power is already law, it is already in the Constitution. The reform has already been carried out. The Constitution says: today, here and now that in Mexico half of the judges must be elected on the first Sunday of July 2025. That’s why we did a draw to define which places and which people. All current judging people can go to the election if they want. What’s more, they have to notify that they do not want to go. Your participation is automatically given.
“We are not running anyone, we are not running over anyone, but it is the people who are going to decide, and it is something unique in the world. There is no other country that does it. We are paving the way from Mexico for humanity, and it is very important.”
What is your opinion on the sentencing of Genaro García Luna, head of national security of Mexico during the time of President Felipe Calderón?
- I said at the time that that was going to happen. They were going to give him 38 years, 8 months. It’s not a life sentence, but it will be very difficult to get out of there alive. He is close to 56 years old. I’m not happy, because it’s not a matter to celebrate. But he pays the consequences of his criminal acts. His boss Felipe del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is missing, who not only knew but perhaps himself was linked to El Chapo Guzman. They are very cynical indeed.
What is the lesson after García Luna’s conviction?
- It is a strong lesson. It is a version that I maintain and comment little on. The United States government decides which criminal groups sell drugs to this country. The United States has not lifted a finger to solve the drug consumption problem of its population. It is the first drug-consuming country in the world, and it uses drug money for the production cycle of its capital, it is part of the United States economy.
“They put pressure on us but I don’t know of any news that they are stopping the large criminal groups that distribute drugs in the United States because there is no way it will arrive to them through Amazon or they put their hand out the window and it falls on them.
“There is a whole criminal structure here; and the United States should first resolve here and treat it as a public health problem. García Luna is no victim. He benefited from it. They used him and when he no longer served the United States, they sent him to prison. “There are levels of complicity that the United States government itself has.”