Mexico’s Farcical Referendum

Mexicans are days away from what President Andrés Manuel López Obrador considers a momentous experience. On Aug. 1, citizens will participate in the country’s first national referendum to decide whether past presidents should be judged for their alleged misdeeds. The fates of Carlos Salinas, Ernesto Zedillo, Vicente Fox, Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto will allegedly be determined by the voice of the people. But what the government has trumpeted as a victory for participatory democracy and an opportunity to combat corruption is a far cry from the sort of transitional justice...

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