Mexican court employees call 5-day strike to protest proposed funding cuts

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican court employees said Wednesday they will go on strike from Thursday through Tuesday to protest proposed funding cuts, threatening an already creaky court system.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has proposed cutting funds for the judicial branch, arguing that judges make too much money and often protect criminals.

The court employees’ union denied that its members — which include employees like typists and bailiffs — are overpaid, and said the cuts would affect them.

Mexican courts have never been known for their speed or efficiency. One court recently handed down sentences against five soldiers in the 2010 killing of two university students, after legal proceedings that lasted almost 13 years.

Despite some reforms, such multiyear trials are not uncommon in Mexico. That has contributed to the controversy surrounding López Obrador’s push to require more suspects to stay in jail pending trials that may last years, even if they end in acquittal.

Nor is it unusual for López Obrador to quarrel with other branches of government, especially the judiciary.

López Obrador regularly criticizes judges by name for court rulings he doesn’t like, accusing them of corruption or political bias. The president has also proposed reforming the constitution to make top court seats elected positions.