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CNN
4 hours ago
- Business
- CNN
Mexico will hold historic judicial elections on Sunday. Some believe it will hurt democracy
Mexico is scheduled to hold its first-ever judicial elections on Sunday, with hundreds of judges, magistrates and justices on the ballot across the country. It's an unprecedented contest that supporters say will democratize the courts, but critics fear it could make them more susceptible to the influence of politicians or criminal groups. Almost 900 federal positions will be in play, including all nine seats of the Supreme Court, as well as some 1,800 local positions in 19 states. Sunday's event will be the first of two voting phases, with the second one set for 2027. The vote is the result of a constitutional reform that was approved last year during the final weeks of Andrés Manuel López Obrador's presidency. He had argued that the change was necessary to stem impunity in the courts and give voters a greater say in the judicial process. But opponents saw the move as an attempt by López Obrador to strengthen the power of his ruling Morena party by overhauling the very judiciary that often blocked some of his policy proposals. Critics also worry that by having judges elected through popular vote, the independent authority of the courts could be compromised, and with it, their ability to uphold the law and keep other powers in check at a time of rampant crime and corruption. Before the reform was enacted, Supreme Court judges were nominated by the president and approved in the Senate, while federal judges were selected by a judicial commission using exams and coursework that evaluated candidates on a meritocratic basis. In the new system, federal candidates will be elected by the public after being vetted and nominated by Evaluation Committees of the three branches of government. Unlike other elections, those running for a judicial post can't be nominated or supported by any political party, according to Mexico's electoral authority. They also can't receive public or private funding, meaning they must finance their campaign on their own – a rule that reform supporters say reduces the likelihood of being influenced by political actors, but critics say favors wealthier candidates. Candidates are also prohibited from buying campaign ads on TV or radio, but they can promote themselves on social media or through interviews and other forums. Once in office, elected judges will be evaluated by a newly established Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal, which will have the power to investigate and sanction judicial personnel, except for Supreme Court justices and electoral magistrates. Some of those sanctions include suspensions, financial penalties, dismissals and disqualifications. Although the rules prohibit political parties from providing direct support to a candidate, critics warn that they could still influence the race by encouraging voters to elect people aligned with their interests. Local media have reported that some politicians and their supporters have been accused of distributing pamphlets, or cheat sheets, which provide suggestions on who to vote for. Just days ahead of the election, the National Electoral Institute (INE) – which is organizing the vote – said it was investigating two complaints related to the use of such pamphlets. 'The law is very clear about who cannot intervene in this – neither governments of any level nor political parties,' INE adviser Claudia Zavala said in an interview with Milenio TV. CNN has reached out to Zavala for more information. Another concern is that political parties could theoretically have a say in which candidates are nominated in the first place. If a single party holds sway over the three branches of government, which oversee the candidates' nomination process, that party could influence who gets on the ballot. 'Right now, numerically, who holds the most influence over these branches of government – executive and legislative, specifically – would be the Morena party,' said Stephanie Brewer, director for Mexico at the Washington Office on Latin America. There's similar apprehension about the new Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal that's meant to supervise judges in office. Brewer says that if political actors manage to influence it, they could subsequently exert pressure on the judges it oversees. One of the biggest concerns rights groups are warning about is that elections could also be influenced by criminal groups. In previous races, Mexican cartels have used violence to impact the outcome of a vote – often by attacking or assassinating candidates they oppose. Last year, the country saw a record number of victims from political-criminal violence, with Data Cívica, a human rights organization, reporting 661 attacks on people and facilities. Many of the victims either held or were running for municipal-level positions. This year, the think tank México Evalúa warned that eight states have a high risk of political-criminal violence in the upcoming judicial elections, saying that it is 'highly likely that, through violence, organized crime will seek to seize judicial powers, especially at the local level.' Several political attacks have been recorded in the lead-up to the elections, though most of them involved candidates in mayoral races. Miguel Meza of the rights groups Defensorxs says he has not yet seen any attacks against judicial candidates, but that other risks remain. 'Cartels (could) identify possible winners and offer them support in exchange for loyalty,' he said, noting that such actions have happened before, and although they haven't seen it in this election, 'in others, it could intensify.' Defensorxs has also raised questions about some judicial candidates. While many have extensive experience in the judicial field, Defensorxs has determined that some are 'linked to organized crime, sexual offenses, political-religious sects, and other irregularities.' One of them served nearly six years in a US prison on drug offenses, after being accused of smuggling over 4 kilograms of methamphetamines, according to Reuters. That candidate said on Facebook that he faced an 'unjust' judicial process and has 'moved on.' Another candidate was a defense attorney who joined the team that represented drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman in 2016, a decision she has defended by telling the AP, 'Everyone has a right to an effective defense.' Meza said his group has filed complaints to INE against some of those candidates but was told that electoral authorities couldn't invalidate their candidacy at this point. If one of them ends up winning an election, Meza said, the group was told it could try to challenge the victory with the electoral tribunal. CNN has reached out to INE for more information. A poll by Pew Research Center found that most Mexicans approve of the judicial reform. Although the policy sparked protests in September when Congress was voting on it, 66% of people surveyed earlier this year said they backed it, with approval being higher among Morena supporters and younger adults. Still, the judicial election faces heavy criticism from opposition groups. Former President Vicente Fox of the PAN party has urged people not to vote on Sunday. 'The judicial election is not democratic. It's a farce, it's a hoax … Don't go. Don't waste your time,' he said on X. Several civil organizations and opposition figures have indicated that they will boycott Sunday's vote, and some have called for a nationwide protest on election day. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has pushed back against those calls, urging Mexicans to participate in the electoral process and decide who will make up the judiciary. 'It's better for millions of people to vote than for the president and the Senate of the Republic to decide,' she said.
Reuters
5 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
El Chapo's former lawyer and an ex-drug smuggler are on the ballot to be judges in Mexico
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, May 24 (Reuters) - When residents in the state of Durango vote in Mexico's first judicial elections next weekend, Leopoldo Chavez will be on the ballot for federal judge - despite the nearly six years he served in a U.S. prison. Chavez was convicted on drug offenses: for smuggling over 4 kilograms of methamphetamines in 2015. Durango is part of Mexico's Golden Triangle, a cartel-controlled region growing marijuana and opium poppies. "I've never sold myself as the perfect candidate," Chavez said in a video he shared on Facebook. He said he had nothing to hide and had served his time. He declined to comment to Reuters. In the nearby Pacific coast state of Jalisco, Francisco Hernandez is running to be a criminal magistrate even though the last time he served as a judge he was dismissed by the Federal Judiciary Council after an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and corruption. He told Reuters the accusations were "slander and defamation." "Let the people judge me," he said. And in Nuevo Leon, Fernando Escamilla is hoping to become a federal criminal judge and says the legal work he did advising lawyers for members of the ultra-violent Los Zetas cartel should not be held against him. His knowledge of extradition law, on which he advised the capos, made him an asset, he told Reuters in an interview. "Does being an advisor on international or extradition law give you a bad public reputation? I don't think so, since that's the only thing that demonstrates that you have the ability and knowledge to handle these types of situations," Escamilla said. Ahead of the elections on June 1, civil organizations, judge associations and some Mexican lawmakers are raising serious concerns about a vote that critics warn could jeopardize the country's rule of law. The controversial judicial overhaul was proposed by leftist former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and supported by his protege, President Claudia Sheinbaum. Both said it would root out corruption in Mexico's flawed judiciary and allow the people to decide who should be a judge. Around 5,000 candidates are vying for more than 840 federal positions, including all Supreme Court justices. But with the vote just over a week away, Mexican rights group Defensorxs says it has identified about 20 people vying for positions that have criminal indiscretions, corruption allegations against them or past links to cartels, including a defense lawyer who represented drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. An analysis by the Judicial Electoral Observatory (OEJ), made up of non-profit organizations, has also flagged more than 130 candidates with a high probability of winning in the absence of opposing candidates, and criticized problems in the design of complicated ballots that feature hundreds of names and may confuse voters. The reform, passed in September 2024, was criticized by then U.S. ambassador Ken Salazar, who served during the administration of President Joe Biden, as a threat to Mexican democracy. Critics say the reform, one of the most broad-ranging to be attempted in recent years by any country in the Western Hemisphere, risks removing checks and balances on the ruling Morena party and allowing organized crime groups greater influence over the judicial system. The reform reduces the number of Supreme Court judges to nine from 11, cuts the length of their terms to 12 years, abolishes a minimum age requirement of 35, and halves necessary legal practice to five years. It also scraps some benefits for judicial workers and creates a five-person disciplinary tribunal, which critics argue is insufficient to oversee a 50,000-member judiciary. Defensorxs president Miguel Meza said that the candidates his organization had flagged revealed grave flaws in the government vetting system, which was meant to verify eligibility criteria including: Mexican citizenship by birth, a bachelor's degree in law, "good reputation," and a record clean of serious crime. Meza said his organization has been making its way through the list of candidates and had identified other problematic names that they had yet to publish. Meza said aspiring judges were apparently not screened for foreign convictions or who they had legally represented. He put much of the problem down to rushing the election. "Everything we're seeing is the result of trying to fast-track this reform," Meza said. Sheinbaum's office and Mexico's federal judiciary did not respond to a request for comment on the reform or the vetting. Both the ruling coalition and the electoral authority have tried to distance themselves from questions about eligibility, saying it is too late to do anything before the election. Victorious candidates proven to be ineligible will have to be removed after the vote, election authorities said. A Mexican association of magistrates and judges, JUFED, said the list of controversial candidates confirms its view that the reform is a threat to judicial independence in Mexico. "What's happening with the election is dangerous," said JUFED national director Juana Fuentes. "There is a serious risk that criminal interests or groups, or people representing them, could become involved." Most of Mexico's sitting Supreme Court justices announced they would not participate in the elections and instead will resign. Candidates cannot use campaign materials that link them to a political party, participate in events organized by political parties or accept donations of any kind. Perhaps the candidate who has garnered the most headlines is Silvia Delgado, who represented the notorious El Chapo, former chief of the Sinaloa Cartel, in 2016. She visited him weekly in prison to share updates before he was extradited to the United States and eventually sentenced to life in prison. Now, she hopes to become a criminal court judge in Chihuahua. On a recent afternoon in the border town of Ciudad Juarez, Delgado braved the sweltering heat to hand out flyers and chat to voters outside a local school. A single mom, who raised four children and put herself through law school, Delgado strikes a charismatic figure, in a black skirt suit and chunky heels. "I'm not corrupt," she said, "they can't burn you for having represented someone." "The best legacy I can give, as a human being and for my children and grandchildren, is to have been a person of integrity, who always defended people." She said she considers her work representing El Chapo, which included filing a petition that he be provided a blanket in prison, to be in line with her professional duties. Delgado is upfront about the reason she took on the job. It was, she says, a big step up for her as a lawyer; and one she'd take again. "I was interested because it was a career opportunity... Working on the case of such a famous figure." She said she had not had any contact with El Chapo's lawyers since the case, though she did agree to help his wife, a U.S.-Mexican dual national, take her children to the United States. She kept her harshest words for activist Meza, describing him as "irresponsible" and running a "Robin Hood group" bent on "directly attacking me." Meza said Defensorxs was not interested in "attacking" any candidate, but exposing the risks associated with them. "Our goal is to inform the public about these risks so they can take them into account when exercising their right to vote." "It seems clear to us that this risk exists in Silvia Delgado's case," he added. He did not identify other concerns apart from her legal work for El Chapo. Senate leader Gerardo Fernandez Norona, a powerful member of the ruling party, told Reuters the focus on the eligibility of certain candidates was a "racist, classist" media war aimed at discrediting the elections. "It's not important. It's not relevant," Norona said, adding that people found ineligible could be withdrawn after the vote. The INE electoral authority has made it clear that names cannot be removed ahead of the vote. Claudia Zavala, an electoral advisor at INE, said the body should have been included earlier in the vetting process, which was conducted by committee members selected by Congress, the judicial power and the executive branch of government. "It seems that splitting that function around other authorities was not ideal," she said. Now, all that can be done by INE is a post-election review of any formal complaints about candidates in order to prove a person is ineligible to hold office, Zavala said. If a winner does not meet the requirements, the role would go to the second-placed finisher. However, any investigation into a candidate's eligibility must be completed by June 15, Zavala said, when election results are finalized and positions confirmed. "The evidence must be very clear," she said.
Reuters
6 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Spain returns artwork seized during Civil War
MADRID, May 23 (Reuters) - Spain on Thursday returned paintings belonging to a former Madrid mayor that were seized for their protection during the 1936-39 Civil War and never returned under Francisco Franco's dictatorship. The seven paintings had been kept in several museums throughout Spain, including the Prado Museum in Madrid, where the handover ceremony to the family of Pedro Rico, Madrid's mayor as the Civil War broke out, took place on Thursday evening. In 2022, the Prado published a list of artworks that had been seized during the war and set up a research project to track down their legitimate owners. The government has identified more than 6,000 items, including jewellery, ceramics and textiles, as well as some paintings, sculptures and furniture, which were safeguarded during the war by Republican forces fighting Franco's Nationalists and never returned by Francoist institutions when he came to power. "It's a very important moment of justice and reparation that the Spanish government is doing for their families," said Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun. The paintings returned to Rico's family nine decades later were mainly scenes of everyday life by 19th-century artists such as Eugenio Lucas and his son Lucas Villaamil. Francisca Rico said she was very moved by the restitution of the paintings belonging to her grandfather, who was mayor between 1931-1934 and then in 1936 and who died in exile in France. "(They're ) finally doing what should have been done long ago," she said.
CNN
6 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Maikelys Espinoza's Bernal's grandmother speaks out on her son's detention in a maximum-security prison in El Salvador
María Escalona Fernández, grandmother of Maikelys Espinoza Bernal, joined a protest in front of the United Nations headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela. She says she won't be at peace until her son is released from a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
CNN
6 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Maikelys Espinoza's Bernal's grandmother speaks out on her son's detention in a maximum-security prison in El Salvador
María Escalona Fernández, grandmother of Maikelys Espinoza Bernal, joined a protest in front of the United Nations headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela. She says she won't be at peace until her son is released from a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
