Justice in Mexico He entered a stage of uncertainty, after some unprecedented elections of judges marked by abstentionism and concerns about judicial independence and the economic relationship with the United States.
With a participation of between 12% and 13%, The Mexicans elected two thousand 680 officials on Sunday, from ministers of the Supreme Court to First Instance Judges, a unique case in the world.
Among the thousands of candidates were former mafia lawyers, such as Silvia Delgado, who in 2016 advised the drug trafficker Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, condemned to life imprisonment in the United States.
Those applications fed suspicions on the possible interference of politicians and criminals in the Judiciary.
The concerns They reach the vital relationship with the United States for the review of the T-MEC commercial agreement, Scheduled for this year, according to the British firm Capital Economics.
The choice “can complicate” these negotiations, The consultant warned, in the midst of the tariff pressures of US President Donald Trump, Mexico and Canada.
Last August, when he was still a senator, the current Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, signed a letter in which the Foreign Relations Committee warned that The reform that gave rise to the elections would put in “danger economic and safety interests” bilateral.
What comes now?
The National Electoral Institute is expected Announce in the next few hours the nine members of the Supreme Court, and in the following days to the others chosen.
The highest court was the apple of discord that led the leftist president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) to promote the election of judges through a constitutional amendment.
The Court blocked several projects by López Obrador, So this and its successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, accuse outgoing ministers and other judges of defending corrupt interests, an impunity that exceeds 90% and nepotism.
“It is not a reform that seeks to improve the justice system, but to capture it,” Juan Jesús Garza said, a specialist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
The left already controls the legislative and most governments of the second Latin American economy.
Three minis of the current Supreme, related to the government, They sought to stay in office.
The elections did not require a minimum percentage of participation to be valid, but The high abstentionism weakens the official argument that citizens longed to choose their judges, says Garza.
“As much as the election is valid in the legal, political and ethical will be very difficult to “defend it, This doctor warns in the philosophy of law.
The elections were signed by confusion in the multiplicity of ballots and extensive lists of applicants.
Some voters met the candidates for Tiktok And they decided their support even after contacting them by telephone or by simple “intuition”, according to testimonies obtained by AFP in Mexico City and Guadalajara (west).
The little knowledge of the profiles and doubts about the suitability of the applicants also generate uncertainty. Besides, Some rulings could be delayed because the new judges will just assume functions in September.
“Justice will not change overnight (…) on the contrary, It will be delayed even more in what the positions are assigned, “says Garza.
But there is also the possibility that many officials of the current Judiciary, who participated in the elections, keep your positions.
“The best scenario would be that Let’s have judges and judicial career magistrates, ” The former Magistrate Carlos Soto commented. Other four thousand judges will be elected in 2027.
Opposition parties, very weakened, They had called abstentionism by warning that the elections would consolidate an “authoritarian regime.” Under this argument, about a thousand people protested Sunday in Mexico City.
But Sheinbaum, who is serving a year after being chosen and Enjoy a popularity of 70%, He argues that those who defend this thesis just want to maintain the “corruption and privileges” of the Judiciary.
Experts agree that justice reform Does not attack the roots of the problem, In a country where about 30 thousand homicides are recorded every year and there are more than 120 thousand disappeared due to drug trafficking violence.