El difícil futuro de la transparencia

Mexico’s long struggle to establish transparency, marked by the creation of the INAI, faces a significant reversal under the current administration. The government has proposed dismantling the autonomous INAI and replacing it with a centralized, non-autonomous body within the Executive branch. This structural shift abandons the multi-branch oversight model, consolidating power in a single appointee rather than a collegial board. Consequently, the institutional framework regresses to the pre-2014 era, prioritizing administrative control over independent scrutiny. This centralization severely undermines the practical effectiveness of access to information rights. By replacing a commission of commissioners with a single decision-maker, the system removes collective deliberation and increases the burden on citizens. Individuals seeking redress must now navigate costly and time-consuming legal battles through specialized courts, rendering the remedy largely inaccessible for many. The change signals a dangerous trend toward opacity, where the lack of autonomy threatens to erode the hard-won improvements in data quality and availability established over the past two decades. For open data initiatives, this development highlights the critical importance of institutional autonomy in safeguarding data transparency. When oversight bodies lack independence from the executive power they monitor, the integrity of public information is compromised. This case serves as a stark warning that technical access mechanisms are insufficient without robust, independent governance structures. It underscores that true open data requires political will protected by autonomous institutions, rather than centralized control that may prioritize government interests over public accountability.

Source: milenio.com
Published on 2025-02-27

El difícil futuro de la transparencia

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