Name: Mauricio Iván Del Toro Huerta

Interview # 4

Name: Mauricio Iván del Toro Huerta

Position:Secretario Instructor en la Sala Superior

Place:Mexico City

Date:January 17, 2018

Observations:

The conversation started 20 minutes late and it lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes.
‘In the Constitution, in the article 2, it is mentioned the term multicultural. Is often perceived and/or interpreted as a skill for them to learn castellano (Spanish) but it needs to be interpreted in both sides: we need to learn Nahuatl or Tzotzil or any other language from the 68 indigenous groups as part of our basic education’. Del Toro, said.
About the staff members working at the Tribunal Electoral.‘Part of the problem is, many of those who work at the Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación (Electoral Public Defender Office for Native Peoples and Indigenous Communities) is that they lack an integral education or intercultural experience which means they do not have professional training in other fields such as Anthropology, Sociology or Humanities in general (social theories) their educational and professional background is based on Law (in a broad sense) with very specific duties-tasks. Therefore, when staff members receive files-cases from the different states with very different social-cultural circumstances, they want to frame such cases into a specific procedure which very often falls into our own views (law-political system) which can be very different from their usosinternosnormativos. Another example, when we call PEOPLES or INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES, there is a reason for this. There has been a theoretical and social discussion among anthropologists why we need to call them in such way. And unfortunately, this staff from the Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación, do not know that. They are not aware of such discussions. They are doing their job on a day to day basis, which can be very monotonous filing case after case and that’s it. The indigenous culture -any culture- within Mexico is very complex, it needs a lot of attention and time to understand it’.Del Toro said.
‘Part of my concern has always been to be able to understand such indigenous realities. I am trained as a lawyer myself, but I have taken an intellectual obligation to take seminars, short courses throughout the year in the last 20 years or so, to be able to understand such realities. Therefore, when I receive specific cases from the state of Oaxaca, Chiapas, or Guerrero, I want to consider as many social and cultural variables as possible’. Del Toro said.
‘The Colonial system prevails not only in some procedures but also in the mentality of our society. Think about it: as an independent nation, we have 200 years. The colonial system had 300 years or so…so as a nation, we are very new in many ways.’ Del Toro said.
Del Toro suggested, thefollowing link: La Colonizacion de lo Imaginario – Sociedades IndigenasbySerge Gruzinskifrom Editorial FCE.He also suggested to look into the Sistema de Pueblos y Barrios, because they keep the old territorial uses and customs before the colonial system, before the Conquista. we may have an idea how many barrios are in CDMX, but a precise number, that would be a challenge to find out.
About the presidential indigenous pre-candidacy of Mary Chuy. ‘The one who supports her is the Catholic Church and foreigners. I have nothing against her, but I don’t think she has a chance of being a formal candidate for the coming elections in july 2018.’ Del Toro said.