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  • 7 August 2014

    IFAI Orders Disclosures by Mexican Oil Company

    Mexico’s Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI) has ordered Pemex Exploration and Production to disclose information on major contracts. PEP should provide information on four large contracts with the company Seadrill for exploratory oil drilling, IFAI determined. Commissioner Joel Salas Suarez said the oil company gave incomplete and contradictory answers, denying […]

  • 30 May 2014

    Mexican Court Orders Release of Documents on Massacre Investigations

    By Michael Evans and Jesse Franzblau Evans and Franzblau work at the National Security Archive. This report first appeared May 29 in Migration Declassified. Can the Mexican government continue to hide evidence from the public about grave human rights atrocities? A pair of access to information cases now moving through the Mexican justice system may put […]

  • 19 May 2014

    Puente Elected to Head Expanded IFAI in Mexico

    Ximena de la Puente Mora has been unanimously elected by the other six commissioners as the president of the Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI). She was elected for a three year term at the first meeting of the expanded commission, whose members were recently selected by the Senate. The wholesale […]

  • 2 May 2014

    FOI Weak in Most Mexican States, Fundar Reports

    A new report on state freedom of information laws in Mexico delves into the quality of the 32 state laws, finding more than half of them deficient. The detailed index by the nongovernmental organization Fundar looks at three main categories: regulatory provisions, institutional design and the process to access public information. Of the 32 states, […]

  • 1 May 2014

    Mexican Senate Picks Seven New Commissioners

    The Mexican Senate April 30 selected the seven new commissioners for the Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI). All seven candidates got more than 100 votes, above the two-thirds needed (74). There were objections that politics had trumped expertise in the decision-making (See CNN report). One of those selected, Eugenio Monterrey […]

  • 25 April 2014

    25 Candidates Selected for 7 Slots on Mexico’s IFAI

    Twenty-five persons have been advanced for seven seats on Mexico’s Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI). An expert committee chose them from 147 candidates after a series of hearings and announced the nonbinding list (below) April 21. Final selection requires the votes of two-thirds of the Senate and approval by President […]

  • 11 April 2014

    Las reformas de transparencia en México, Parte II

    Por Jesse Franzblau El Senado de México ha terminado el proceso de evaluar 158 aspirantes, siete de los cuales estarán en el fundo de decisiones cruciales con respecto al gobierno abierto y el derecho a la verdad. Para los activistas por la transparencia y defensores de derechos humanos, la selección de los siete asientos del […]

  • 7 April 2014

    Mexico selection of new IFAI important for migrant rights

    By Jesse Franzblau This report was posted April 4 on Migration Declassified. It is the second in a series on Mexico’s FOI reforms and information relating to migrant rights. See first report in English, Spanish. Mexico’s Senate is now in the process of selecting the country’s new information commissioners who will be at the center of […]

  • 4 April 2014

    Mexican court orders a new review of massacre

    By Michael Evans and Jesse Franzblau The following article was published March 28, 2014 in Migration Declassified, a project of the National Security Archive. In a case that with important ramifications both for access to information and for human rights investigations in Mexico, a federal judge declared last week that the country’s information commissioners can and should […]

  • 4 April 2014

    Masacre de San Fernando: los familiares tienen derecho a saber por qué

    Por Michael Evans y Jesse Franzblau Este artículo fue publicado 28 de marzo 2014 en Animal Político. En un caso de suma importancia con respecto al acceso a la información e investigaciones sobre derechos humanos en México, un juez federal declaró la semana pasada que los comisionados de IFAI pueden y están obligados determinar si […]

  • 10 March 2014

    Mexico’s Transparency Reforms, Part I: Migrant Rights and IFAI

    By Michael Evans and Jesse Franzblau This article first appeared March 7 in Migration Declassified, a project of the National Security Archive, the parent organization of FreedomInfo.org. Clearing the decks after a recent overhaul of Mexico’s transparency regime, the Mexican Senate last week rejected a request by the current group of Federal Institute for Access to Information (IFAI) […]

  • 28 February 2014

    Mexican Senate Declines to Reappoint Commissioners

    The Mexican Senate has rejected the requests of the four current commissioners of the Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI) to stay in office. The four commissioners — Sigrid Arzt, Maria Elena Perez-Jaen, Angel Trinidad Zaldivar and Gerardo Laveaga (the chairman) – will likely be gone by the first week in […]

  • 14 February 2014

    Mexican President Signs Transparency Reforms

    President Enrique Peña Nieto on Feb. 7 signed into law the new transparency reforms strengthening the Federal Institute for Access to Information (IFAI). The signing came at a ceremony. See reports (in Spanish) in CNN and El Universal. In an interview on CNN Miguel Pulido of FUNDAR welcomed the reform as “a message that we […]

  • 29 January 2014

    Sufficient Number of States Support Mexican FOI Reforms

    Having achieved sufficient support from the Mexican states, amendments to the Mexican Constitution making changes to the freedom of information law are another step closer to implementation. Eighteen state Congresses have ratified the reforms. The next stage, which could take a year, is for the Senate to write the implementation rules which later much be […]

  • 27 November 2013

    Mexican House Passes FOI Law Modifications

    The Mexican House of Representatives by a vote of 424-16 Nov. 26 endorsed legislation recently approved by the Senate to amend the freedom of information law. Among other things, the legislation provides full autonomy to the Federal Institute for Access to Information and Protection of Data (IFAI) , the regulatory and implementation authority. The members […]

  • 22 November 2013

    Mexican Senate Approves Reforms to Access Regime

    By Jesse Franzblau On Nov.  20, Mexico’s senate passed new reforms to the country’s transparency system, approving modifications and establishing greater autonomy for the country’s information oversight body – the Federal Institute for Access to Information and Protection of Data (IFAI). After a process that lasted more than a year and involved significant amendments, revisions, […]

  • 12 November 2013

    Challenges Faced in Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua

    By Alejandro Martínez This article was published Nov. 11 on the Knight Center Journalism in the Americans blog. After decades of a culture of virtually impenetrable secrecy within the Mexican government, in 2002 Mexico passed the Federal Access to Information and Personal Data Protection Act. Since then, it has become an often-cited model of how other […]

  • 25 August 2013

    Mexican House Passes FOI Bill With Altered Amendment

    The Mexican House of  Delegates on Aug. 22 overwhelmingly approved freedom of information legislation after a modification was made to a controversial provision that activists had said would undermine positive reforms. The House bill still would permit the government’s top legal official to ask the Supreme Court to override decision of Federal Institute for Access to […]

  • 22 August 2013

    Groups Condemn Amendments Passed by Mexican House

    Supporters of Mexico‘s freedom of information law are slamming a legislative change approved by several congressional committee that would make the Supreme Court the final legal authority in some instances instead of the Federal Institute for Access to Information (IFAI). In a statement issued Aug. 21, the Transparency Collective and México Informate, a coalition 15 […]

  • 23 May 2013

    What Happened With Transparency Legislation Reform in Mexico?

    By Guillermo Ávila Ávila is a researcher at Fundar, Center of Analysis and Research. As perhaps you already know, one of the main proposals of the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, during the presidential campaign was a very deep and comprehensive reform to foster the transparency policy in Mexico. He actually presented a bill, through […]

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