The Mexican Senate approved the decriminalization of slander and libel, reported the newspaper El Universal on Nov. 29. Mexico joined El Salvador as the second country in Latin America to decriminalize honor crimes, according to Newswatch.
Efforts to decriminalize crimes like slander and libel in the Penal Code began in earnest in 2007 but supporters had to overcome the 1917 Press Law, according to Article 19. Furthermore, 16 Mexican states have laws in effect that punished similar crimes with jail time, according to Milenio. Mexico City was the first entity to decriminalize honor crimes in 2006; Veracruz state in 2010 and Puebla in 2011 recently decriminalized these crimes.
Last week, the Mexican Supreme Court ended a seven-year trial where the newspaper La Jornada accused a magazine of damaging its reputation. The Court indicated that freedom of expression supersedes the right to honor.
In September 2011, a federal deputy proposed punishing anyone who defames a candidate or political party with six years in jail but the bill was defeated that same month, reported El Universal.
