Defamation and calumny may soon cease to be criminal offenses in Mexico after key senators from all three major parties came out in favor Friday of legislation to decriminalize the so-called "honor crimes."

The Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) committed themselves Friday to passing a bill already approved last year by the Chamber of Deputies that would treat libel-like accusations as civil cases rather than the hard crimes, often leading to jail time, they are considered now.

The political force with the largest representation in Con- gress, President Calderón´s National Action Party (PAN), is said to be divided on the issue and hasn´t taken a public position.

But Sen. Santiago Creel, coordinator of the PAN bloc in the Senate, said in Valle de Bravo, State of Mexico, on Friday that he supports the bill.

"These issues should be treated civilly rather than criminally," Creel said, referring to defamation and calumny charges. "That´s the position I´m going to put forward to my PAN colleagues in the Senate."

The support came one day after EL UNIVERSAL president and director general Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz urged the Senate to make decriminalization of defamation and calumny a top priority.

Such charges, he said, are being used to intimidate journalists and, as a consequence, deprive society of its right to being fully informed.

The issue has been in the public eye over the last year after journalist Lydia Cacho was arrested and briefly jailed after a businessman mentioned in her book about child pornography rings accused her of defaming his character.

The charges were dismissed last month by a Mexico City judge, the only jurisdiction in the nation where crimes of honor have already been decriminalized.

PRI Sen. Carlos Jiménez Macías said he will put the matter on the agenda as soon as next week.

"This reform is elemental for the future of press freedom in this country," he said.

PRD Sen. Carlos Stele agreed.

"We have to take advantage of the moment created by the timely calls of newspapers like EL UNIVERSAL," he said.