On 20 March 2025, amendments to Mexico’s General Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information were published, threatening civil society’s ability to monitor government actions, report corruption, and hold authorities accountable. The reform follows an earlier initiative by President Claudia Sheinbaum to dissolve the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information, and Personal Data Protection (INAI) and replace it with “Transparency for the People,” a body under direct government control. The dissolution of the independent oversight institution creates conflicts of interest by placing transparency mechanisms under the control of the executive branch. Without an impartial body to guarantee access to information, people must resort to the courts to challenge decisions, making transparency more difficult and costly to uphold.
Civil society organizations also express concern over other provisions, such as the increased number of grounds for classifying information as confidential. Vague criteria, including terms like “social peace” and “damage to the state’s interest,” grant authorities broad discretion to restrict access to critical information. This development is part of a broader trend of weakening autonomous institutions in Mexico, consolidating power within the executive and weakening a key check on governmental authority.