Fallout From Supreme Court Ruling in Puebla

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that, in a country so dominated by macho culture, Mexico has a Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Women. At least, Mexico did have a Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Women, until this week.

Anna Maria Salazar reported Monday:

And the Supreme Court’s decision practically absolving Puebla governor Mario Marín in the Lydia Cacho case continues to spark discontent.The Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Women, Alicia Pérez Duarte, resigned saying she could no longer continue with her work after the ruling by the Court. And a group of children and adults threw eggs at the Supreme Court also as a protest in the Mario Marín ruling.

For background on the Lydia Cacho case, read this from Mexico Reporter. As for egg throwing, you've got to love an activist culture.

More From Puebla

Here's an English language version of events unfolding this week in the case of reporter Lydia Cacho v. The Man. In a nutshell, the governor was recorded in a compromising phone call, but the recording was made without a warrant, so the whole thing is a wash. Headline reads "Cacho's rights not violated enough."

New Development in Puebla Journalist Case

Cancel the hooplah about the Mexico Supreme Court stepping out for reporters' rights and, by extension, human rights. Mexico Reporter tells us there appear to have been some second thoughts.

My question: if the court has concluded that there will not in fact be any investigation into the governor of Puebla:

Reports just breaking say that the Mexican Supreme court has concluded that Puebla governor Mario Marin will in fact NOT be investigated following accusations from investigative journalist Lydia Cacho that he was part of a child pornography ring.

then is is possible there was a misinterpretation regarding the previously announced guilty status of the governor and his associates?

Puebla state authorities have been found guilty by the Supreme Court in Mexico of violating the rights of investigative journalist Lydia Cacho, who was arrested by Puebla police in December 2005 after publishing a book about a pedophile ring in Cancun. [snip] The Supreme court found that Governor Mario Marin and 29 other state officials played a role in the events that took place in December 2005, in which Cacho was arrested by police from Puebla in Cancun, taken to a pier and told to jump and then illegally detained. During that detention she says that she was subjected to torture and attempted rape.

The language is unclear to me. In the first instance, "Puebla state authorities have been found guilty . . . ." That's pretty decisive. In the second, however, the language is less specific. " . . . Marin and 29 other state officials played a role in events. . . ."

Either way, I'm not sure what the penalties involved in this sort of thing could be. Is there really any chance to prosecute corruption in Mexico? Seems slim.

More on this to come, I'm sure.