Mexico City Committees Advance Anti-Despojo Bill With Tougher Prison Terms and Fines

Overview

• United commissions in the CDMX Congress approved the dictamen unanimously, moving the proposal to a plenary vote.
• Baseline penalties are set at 6 to 11 years in prison and 200 to 1,000 UMA for occupying another’s property through violence, deceit, identity fraud, or by using a property or blocking its enjoyment.
• Aggravated cases carry 7 to 11 years and 1,000 to 4,000 UMA when victims are over 60, have disabilities, are minors, are pregnant, or are members of indigenous communities, and when public servants are involved.
• The draft adds new aggravating factors such as participation by notaries, organized groups, or use of falsified documents, and creates Article 238 Bis to punish keeping an illegal occupation after an authority’s order.
• Reforms also reach the Civil, Registral, and Notarial laws to enable criminal, civil, and notarial routes, and lawmakers say the changes target organized networks exploiting legal gaps, with one deputy citing 29,000 affected families.