Supreme Court annulled AMLO’s decree on the Mayan Train and priority works

After the session of May 22, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) invalidated the presidential decree of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador with which some works and projects were classified as of National Security and public interest, among them, the construction of the mayan train in the Yucatan peninsula and the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

The reason for which it was annulled was that said agreement prevented the National Institute of Transparency and Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI) could fulfill its function before the population of Mexico. When a work is considered to be of national security, details such as costs, responsible parties and tenders for it become confidential.

Among the infrastructure works contemplated in said decree were the Mayan Train, the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the airports of Palenque, Chetumal and Tulum.

“The agreement affected INAI’s power to guarantee compliance with transparency obligations, thereby restricting the right of access to information in its collective dimension,” it was read.

“By majority, the Plenary determined that Article One of said Agreement, allowed, due to its breadth and ambiguity, that all information related to these projects could be considered confidential, which implied expanding the assumption of confidentiality of information through an act administrative and not by law, in contravention of the Constitution”, could be read in a communiqué of the plenary session of the court. The mentioned majority was six votes.

The decree that was declared unconstitutional by the SCJN was published by the Executive branch and was released in November 2021; Later, President López Obrador classified infrastructure projects as a national security issue on Thursday, May 18. That same day, the INAI filed a complaint before the Supreme Court.

“Decree by which the construction, operation, maintenance, operation, infrastructure, spaces, goods of public interest, execution and administration of the transport infrastructure, services and development poles for the well-being and equipment of both the Mayan Train and the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, as well as the airports that are indicated, are of national security and of public interest,” said what was published by the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF).

The agreement had originally been published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on November 22, 2021, the Plenary of the Supreme Court determined that there was a constitutional controversy (217/2021) that was promoted by the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data, against the Federal Executive Power.

This institute demanded the invalidity of the “Agreement by which the dependencies and entities of the Federal Public Administration are instructed to carry out the actions indicated, in relation to the projects and works of the Government of Mexico considered of public interest and national security, as well as priority and strategic for national development”, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on November 22, 2021.