Mexico
What's New
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7 March 2013
Right to information laws “will accomplish little” in poor countries, according to the author of new World Bank study, “unless concerted efforts are made to address the broader enabling environment, and appropriate capacity building strategies are devised.”
The report…
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28 January 2013
The inauguration of Gerardo Laveaga as the new head of the Federal Institute of Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI) was accompanied by strong criticisms from a fellow commissioner.
Commissioner Angeles Trinidad Zaldivar called Laveaga “inexperienced and lazy.” In…
Read more news….
freedom of information: overview
Transparency is a threshold issue affecting every other issue in Mexico today—issues such as social relations, the environment, education, corruption, state security, accountability, human rights, and democratic governance.
The access to information law passed in 2002 represents a vital element of Mexico’s democratic transition and has become a model worldwide. Mexico has set a new international standard for transparency legislation with the creation of a Federal Access to Information Institute (IFAI), charged with implementing and overseeing the law at the national level and Infomex, a website that allows users to file access to information requests electronically to federal and local government bodies.
Over 300,000 requests have been received since the law was implemented. In March 2007, a comprehensive reform of Article 6 of the Mexican Constitution was passed in the federal Congress, and within three months it was approved by a majority of state legislatures, signaling a major victory for the right-to-know movement in Mexico. It establishes principles of transparency and provides minimum standards for access to public information at the federal, state, and municipal levels.
LEARN MORE: in-depth overview | news archive | ngos | chronology | further reading | excerpt from Global Survey
NGOs and civil society
Colectivo por la Transparencia: a coalition of eleven Mexican organizations that work in transparency and freedom of information issues.
Derecho A Saber: a webpage dedicated to the right to know in Mexico. This site contains the latest FOI news and normative information about access to information at the federal and state levels.
IFAI — Mexico’s Federal Institute for Access to Public Information: This autonomous organization was established by Mexico’s freedom of information law to promote the transparency regime, monitor developments in open government and access to information, and settle disputes between citizens and government bodies over responses to FOI requests.
Infomex: Mexico’s web-based filing system allows citizens to make information requests to federal and local government entities.
Portal de Obligaciones de Transparencia (POT): Webpage that concentrates all public information that federal government agencies must proactively disclose electronically.
ZOOM: A keyword search engine where users can search for government responses to federal FOI users in Mexico, as well as IFAI resolutions.
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21 December 2012
The Mexican Senate on Dec. 20 unanimously approved amendments to the freedom of information law, increasing the powers of the FOI oversight body.
Under the legislation, supported by new president Enrique Peña Nieto, the Federal Institute of Access to Information…
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12 November 2012
The Mexican Senate is considering significant changes to the Mexican freedom of information regime, most considered positive by FOI advocates, and getting to the stage where the specifics are being debated.
The drafting of constitutional amendments and legislation is under…
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16 August 2012
The Mexican government has expanded its Open Government Partnership national action plan beyond the first one created last September, incorporating more suggestions from civil society.
The Expanded Action Plan (in English) presented during a press conference in Mexico City June 6 includes…
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23 April 2012
The Mexican Senate has approved the appointment of Gerardo Laveaga as a commissioner of the Federal Institute of Access to Information, notwithstanding doubts about his experience and independence raised by nongovernmental organizations.
A coalition of 11 groups had opposed his…
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22 September 2011
The Mexican commitments made in its Open Government Partnership action plan promise a range of information disclosures about government services, release of databases and creation of online windows for commercial and corporate transactions, among other things.
Mexico is one of…
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25 August 2011
Efforts by the eight conveners of the Open Government Partnership to draft their national “action plans” are slowly emerging, according to a FreedomInfo.org survey.
However, in most countries the development of a plan does not appear to involve the wide…
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24 June 2011
Proposed amendments toMexico’s freedom of information law are “stuck,” according to activists, who believe that no legislative action is likely this year because of the 2012 elections .
Congress has gone in the recess until September, after opposition from several…
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24 June 2011
An extensive new report examines access to information policies and practices in seven Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.
The report is titled “?Venciendo la Cultura del Secreto. Obstáculos a la implementación de políticas y…
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24 May 2011
A major study in Mexico has identified a variety of non-legal factors that facilitate a strong transparency system.
The results were presented at The First Global Conference on Transparency Research held May 19-20 at Rutgers University-Newark, N.J. (See overall report…
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12 May 2011
By Gabriela Ruiz
Visiting researcher at The National Security Archive and FOIA Officer at the Chiapas Access to Information Institute
Reforms to the Mexican Federal Law of Transparency and Access to Information are stalled in the Congress because of objections…
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7 April 2011
By Gabriela Ruiz
Visiting researcher at The National Security Archive and FOIA Officer at the Chiapas Access to Information Institute
The México Infórmate FOI advocates network celebrated its second annual meeting in Cancún March 17-18, trading success stories and planning strategy.…
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7 April 2011
By Gabriela Ruiz
Visiting researcher at The National Security Archive and FOIA Officer at the Chiapas Access to Information Institute
On March 16, the Mexico Infórmate network unveiled its 2010 Yearbook, which showcases the activities celebrated during the second annual…
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1 April 2011
A handful of potentially harmful proposals to change the Mexican freedom of information law were defeated March 30 as a key congressional committee approved a package of more positive reforms.
Although approval by several other committees and the full lower…
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7 January 2011
Mexico: A new video documentary on FOI in Mexico has just been released, entitled ¿Qué Pasó con mi Dinero? / What happened to my Money?
Spanish version, here: http://www.fundar.org.mx/indicepresupuestoabierto2010/index.html
Version with English subtitles, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTZSt25if4E&feature=related
United States: The new U.S.…
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17 November 2010
Open government advocates have something to celebrate in Mexico this week, as the legislature approved a budget over the weekend of Nov. 13-14 that avoids the severe cutbacks that threatened the independent federal institute that implements Mexico’s widely-praised access-to-information law.
The…
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1 October 2010
Budget cuts proposed by the Mexican president would degrade the activities of the Federal Access to Information Institute (IFAI), according to comments made as supporters of the Mexican access to information law conducted dozens of workshops and other activities this…
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17 February 2010
By Lilia Saúl Rodríguez (liliasaul@gmail.com)
Translated by Jesse Franzblau
(Disponible en español)
www.twitter.com/liliasaul
On October 11th, 2001, the Oaxaca Group (an alliance of academics and journalists) presented the Federal Access to Information Law (Ley Federal de Transparencia y Acceso a la…
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17 February 2010
Por Lilia Saúl Rodríguez (liliasaul@gmail.com)
www.twitter.com/liliasaul
El 11 de octubre del 2001, el Grupo Oaxaca (que reunió a académicos y periodistas) presentaba la propuesta de Ley Federal de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información ante la Comisión de Gobernación y…
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5 February 2010
Por Emilene Martínez Morales (emilene@mexicoinformate.org)
http://www.twitter.com/mxinformate
En lo que va del año el Gobierno Federal, a través de la Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) y la Secretaría de Gobernación (Segob), ha manifestado un claro interés en debilitar al Instituto…
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5 February 2010
By Emilene Martínez Morales (emilene@mexicoinformate.org)
Translated by Jesse Franzblau
(Disponible en español)
http://www.twitter.com/mxinformate
Since the start of the year, President Felipe Calderón through actions undertaken by the Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de la República – PGR) and the Secretariat of…
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2 December 2009
The goal of strengthening the media as one way to fight corruption was adopted by the World Bank in 2006, but the promise has gone virtually unfulfilled, according to research by freedominfo.org.
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7 October 2009
Open government advocates offer first-hand accounts of FOI promotion in Latin America
Latin America’s leading open government advocates recently released a report, bringing together data from 17 countries and offering new findings on the status of freedom of information in…
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25 August 2009
By Jesse Franzblau and Emilene Martinez-Morales
Washington, DC — The US government’s August 24, 2009, release of a controversial CIA 2004 Inspector General report on torture brings new attention to the issue of how information on human rights abuses is…
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19 June 2009
By Greg Michener
In the last year or so, Latin America has been abuzz with news on right-to-know campaigns. But some countries have been buzzing louder than others. Uneven media attention to transparency policy is a global phenomenon with serious…
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19 May 2009
By Greg Michener
2008 was a big year for freedom of information movements in Latin America. Three countries passed access to information laws last year (Uruguay, Chile, and Guatemala), officially institutionalizing the publics right to know. Varying degrees of media…
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14 April 2009
Over the past few months, the World Bank has recently published a series of extremely useful reports by experts on access to information laws. Using comparative case studies, together these reports provide an overview of the whole life cycle of access to information (ATI) legislation, from adoption to implementation and enforcement. One report examines the role of civil society groups in the formulation and adoption of access to information laws in Bulgaria, India, Mexico, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Another examines the institutional and logistical nuts-and-bolts of implementation, using Mexico as a case study, while the third report looks at models of enforcement in several countries: South Africa, Mexico, Scotland, India, and Hungary.
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27 March 2009
By Peter Kornbluh
Special thanks to Marianna Enamoneta, Emilene Martinez-Morales, Carly Ackerman, Joshua Frens-String and Yessica Esquivel Alonso
On April 20th, Chile will become the most recent country to have a functioning Freedom of Information Act—and potentially establish a leading…
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20 March 2009
By Emilene Martinez-Morales
Mexico City, Mexico – Mexico’s civil society have maximized the potential of its Federal Access to Information Law to affect policies in local communities, advocate for citizens’ rights, and expose corruption at the highest levels of state.…
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13 February 2009
By Jesse Franzblau
Mexico City, Mexico – On January 30, 2009, in a testament to Mexicos frontrunner role in the global transparency movement, Guatemalas Vice President Rafael Espada led an official delegation to lay the groundwork for future collaboration with…
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28 September 2008
Washington, D.C., September 28, 2008 – Today’s celebration of International Right-to-Know Day marks a new watershed in the global reach of freedom of information laws – now on the books in more than 80 countries – and features celebrations in…
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28 September 2008
Silvina Acosta – Program Manager, Trust for the Americas
Emilene Martínez-Morales – Transparency Programs Coordinator, National Security Archive
Washington DC, – The Right to Know made headlines in Latin America during the past year. Just a few days ago the…
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18 January 2008
The Global Transparency Initiative has expressed concern about the decision by they International Monetary Fund to postponement review of the IMF Transparency Policy, originally scheduled for 2008.
GTI wrote to IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn Dec. 17 after learning from…
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12 December 2007
Open Sessions Include NGO Participation; Commissioners Plan Future Cooperation
By Kristin Adair for freedominfo.org
Information commissioners, government officials, and civil society representatives from around the world met at the 5th International Conference of Information Commissioners (ICIC) in Wellington, New Zealand,…
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20 June 2007
By Thoralf Schwanitz
According to the first statistics published by the German Freedom of Information Commissioner, the federal administration is still struggling to adapt to the new openness required by Germany’s Freedom of Information Act, which entered into force on…
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18 August 2006
By Emilene Martínez Morales and Jesse Franzblau, National Security Archive’s Mexico Project
Editing Assistance Farrah Hassen and Michael Baney
In the spirit of the right to know Mexican newsweekly Proceso has requested access to documents, tally sheets and ballots pertaining…
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14 July 2006
Emilene Martinez-Morales para freedominfo.org
Coordinadora de Programas de Transparencia, Proyecto Mexico, National Security Archive, George Washington University
Inglés
Grupos ambientalistas en México, desde el estado de Chiapas hasta Coahuila, están utilizando exitosamente la leyes de acceso a información impactando directamente…
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14 July 2006
Español
Environmental groups in Mexico, from the southern state of Chiapas to Coahuila on the U.S. border, are actively using access to information laws to directly impact ecological policies. Their work has shed light on the controversial La Parota Dam…
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20 January 2006
Mexico established a landmark precedent for the application of national freedom of information laws to the activities of international institutions when its Information Commission on Nov. 16, 2005 ordered the disclosure of documents related to a $108 million World Bank…
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6 October 2005
The International Monetary Fund has taken steps that may reduce the number of deletions made in the publicly disclosed versions of its key reports about member countries, including the significant Article IV reports.
The moves come after an internal report…
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28 September 2005
Since 2002, freedom of information advocates around the world have been working together to promote the right of access to information for all people and recognize the benefits of transparent and accountable governments. We use this day as a way…
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5 December 2003
The Inter-American Development Bank and Plan Puebla-Panama
Journalist Wendy Call reports on the controversy over the IDB’s multi-billion-dollar development plan for southern Mexico and Central America, with specific attention to information access, public consultation, and participation of stakeholders (and the…
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11 October 2003
by Thomas Blanton
The International Herald Tribune, October 11, 2003, p. 6
Last month (September 23, 2003), Armenia became the 51st country in the world to guarantee its citizens the right to know what their government is up to. Armenia’s…
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9 July 2002
By Kate Doyle <kadoyle@gwu.edu>, Senior Analyst and director of the Mexico Project, National Security Archive
Mexico is a country where a powerful executive branch has historically overshadowed a weak Congress, a dysfunctional judicial system and a malleable press. Its citizens…
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1 June 2002
Some 20 countries are about to embark on pilot programs with the World Bank in which they will disclose and disseminate more information than they have in the past – that is, more than what Bank policy currently requires.
The…
