Traitors to the homeland; denounce page to promote hate speech against opponents

After the Electric Reform proposed by Morena failed to pass in the Chamber of Deputies because it did not reach two thirds of the vote, a website called traidoresalapatria.com appeared to expose the identity of each of the legislators who voted against the initiative sent by the President of the Republic.

Although the portal was deactivated shortly after drawing the attention of some reporters, such as Laura Brugés, this page highlighted the message “Damned are those who with their words defend the people and by their deeds betray them” in a clear relation to the deputies who decided not to support Morena's electricity project on last Sunday, April 17.

In its transparency section, traidoresalapatria.com indicated that its function was to establish a record of how the deputies, from all parties, carried out the vote for the Electricity Reform, and stated that it was clearly possible to observe that “they sold Our Homeland to our eyes. No more! We are watching them.”

At the session on Monday, April 18 in San Lázaro, Miguel Torruco Garza, from Morena, when he went up to the tribune, his first words were to quote Benito Juárez: “Damn those who with their words defend the people of Mexico and who with their deeds betray them”, and later emphasized that on that day his party would pass the Mining Law arguing that “No traitor to the homeland will turn off the light of national hope.”

On the website that later appeared online, the 224 legislators who voted against were listed, and in addition to exposing the full name and face of each of them, there was a link that allowed them to look at their profile and send them messages through social networks.

At least four federal deputies from the National Action Party denounced that this Tuesday Morena supporters vandalized their legislative liaison houses, where they painted with the word “traitor”. Those affected were Ana María Esquivel, Jorge Arturo Espadas Galvan, Ector Jaime Ramirez Barba and Fernando Torres Graciano.

In the city of León, Guanajuato, the protesters were led by Morena's councilor, Oscar Antonio Cabrera. “Politicians must understand that if they don't do something right they will be singled out, that they no longer feel untouchable,” one participant told local media.

In Mexico City, fellow panist Maryjose Gamboa reported that she was the victim of acts of intimidation when she left a hotel to travel to the Chamber of Deputies and pointed out Morena's supporters of causing damage to her vehicle and was subsequently assaulted.

Journalist Laura Brugés pointed out that one of the media linked to this page is Los Reporteros MX, identified with the working-class and that she recently published a report on the assets of journalist Carlos Loret de Mola, pointed out at the morning conferences of the federal executive to lead a campaign against the government of Morena.

The National Autonomous University of Mexico and Article 19 clarify that there is no exact definition, but point out that this behavior is understood as an abusive, insulting, intimidating, harassing expression that incites violence, hatred, hostility or discrimination against specific groups.

European studies on human rights indicate that this discourse is understood as the promotion or instigation of hatred, humiliation or contempt of a person or group of persons, as well as harassment, discrediting, spreading negative stereotypes, stigmatizing or threatening that person or group of people and justification of such manifestations on ideological, racial or religious grounds.

The platform, which claims to be of citizen origin and participation, clarified that its intention was not to invite hatred or much less to hunt the deputies who expressed their vote in the opposite direction of the official party, so it was withdrawn, however, some users on social networks took on the task of tracing the true origin of this initiative.

Although Morena assured that their promise to expose in public squares around the country the names of the federal deputies they consider “traitors” does not pose a risk to the physical integrity of their political adversaries, the page traidoresalapatria.com suddenly emerged, a website website that showed the photograph, full name and party of each legislator who voted against the initiative of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The tracking of the records revealed that the hosting of the site is registered in Toronto, Canada and that it was developed by Remedio MX, a platform designed to invest remittances from Mexicans in projects such as the Mayan Train, as detailed by political consultant Juan Ortiz.

The analysis shows that Remedio MX shares hosting on the same server as Kei Partners, the company where José Ramón López Beltrán serves as an advisor, as he explained after it was discovered that he lived with his family in a house in Houston, Texas, which allegedly belonged to an oil businessman.

In addition, it was established that the developer of the website traidoresalapatria.com is Brando Pérez, a software engineer who works for Ana and José, a hotel-spa located in Tulum.

After what the opposition called the April 17 vote a triumph of democracy and the counterweight between the Powers of the Union, the leaders of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), Mario Delgado and Citlalli Hernández, declared last Monday that the identity of each of the deputies who voted would be made known. against the Electricity Reform promoted by the Fourth Transformation and accused them of being “traitors to the homeland”.

Mario Delgado, president of the party, challenged opposition legislators to face the people after stopping the progress of the electrical project of the obradorismo.

“Why are they afraid that people will find out about their vote? Who do they represent? Why are they afraid that the people know that they betrayed the homeland?” said Delgado on his social media.

In her participation in the rostrum of the Senate of the Republic, Morenist Citalli Hernández repeatedly called the members of the other benches “traitors” and justified that denouncing and pointing out those who the 4T movement “believes are serving foreign interests” is not promoting hate speech.

After returning momentarily to her post as Senator to vote in favor of the Mining Law, Citlalli Hernández said she would be reinstated as Morena's secretary general in order to report on energy sovereignty and the “betrayal of the country of the opposition bloc.”

Article 123 of the Federal Penal Code establishes that treason is acts against the independence, sovereignty or integrity of the Mexican Nation with the purpose of subjecting it to a foreign person, group or government.

This concept was created at the time when Mexico was involved in conflicts with foreign nations, so it still considers sanctions against those who take part in acts of hostility against the Nation, by means of military actions under the orders of a foreign State or cooperates with it in any way that may harm Mexico.

The law indicates that a prison sentence of five to forty years and a fine of up to fifty thousand pesos will be imposed on the Mexican who commits treason, for which he would have to be reported to the justice authorities.

In his morning conference on April 18, López Obrador himself called the deputies who did not support his bill as “traitors” and “country vendors” and said: “Yesterday an act of treason was committed against Mexico by a group of legislators who, instead of defending the interests of the people, of the nation, instead of defending the interests of the people, of the nation, instead of defending the interests of the people, of the nation, the public became frank defenders of foreign companies that are dedicated to prosper, to steal”.

There, the federal executive acknowledged that this is his first failure in the legislative branch because in his three years of administration all his initiatives have been approved thanks to the fact that his party has a majority in both Houses.

Weeks ago, the Tabasqueño also urged the ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation to define if they were on the side of the country, so they should opt in favor of the constitutionality of the reforms that their national transformation movement implemented in 2021 in the Electricity Industry Law.

After the vote on April 7 in the Plenary of the highest court, the leading figures of Morena extolled the patriotic value of the four ministers who prevented the declaration of unconstitutionality of various articles of that law and widely disseminated the names of the seven members of the Court who spoke out against the legality of amendments to the regulatory framework of the National Electricity System.

On that occasion, a broad campaign was also circulated on social networks to expose the seven ministers who were labeled “traitors to the homeland” and accused of obeying the interests of foreign companies operating in Mexico.

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