Mexico began to open three decades ago, at the same time it became more involved with international organizations, which prompted the official line to call it a “modernization.” Mexico was willing to become an active member of the international scene. Throughout the years, there have been several changes, from political reforms to the creation of a human rights organization, to name a few.
In this process of trying to establish Mexico as a modern and democratic society , our country has been open to the scrutiny of several organizations (UN, OECD) which issue reports on the main topics of public interest, such as education, human rights, freedom of expression, economy, and so on.
Usually, the country doesn't fare that well in these reports; nevertheless, they're useful in modifying and improving our public policies.
One of the greatest advantages of having opened our country is that we are now being examined by organizations advocating for free and democratic societies , as Mexico is still considered.
This time, it was the NGO Freedom House , with the release of its annual report, Freedom in the World. Once more, Mexico didn't earn an ideal score. Freedom House considers we're experiencing a regression in civil and political freedoms , which places Mexico – since 2011 – as a “partially free country.”
For this organization, our poor performance was mainly due to the accusations of the governmental espionage to journalists and civil society activists; organized crime; and a justice system which is “falling apart.”
Freedom House claims Mexico could be reaching an important inflection point in its democratic trajectory .
The report is our yellow warning to avoid a setback in the freedoms earned in the past decade – mainly the progress we've had on pointing out the excesses and abuses of public administrations, achieved essentially by news outlets and civil society – or to find them subjected to coercion.
These external points of view are based on the analysis of events taking place in our country, which is why authorities shouldn't discard them. Mexico shouldn't be afraid to grant more freedom to the press and to its society . Counterweights will always be healthy for the development of democratic societies.
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