Mexican court employees call 5-day strike to protest proposed funding cuts

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican court employees say they will go on a five-day strike starting Thursday to protest proposed funding cuts, threatening an already creaky court system. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has proposed eliminating funds for the judicial branch, arguing that judges made too much money and often protect criminals. The court employees’ union denied that its members, like typists and bailiffs, are overpaid and said the cuts would affect them. Mexican courts have never been known for their speed; a court recently handed down sentences against five soldiers in the 2010 killing of two university students, after trials that last almost 13 years.