Morena looks suspiciously at the judicial election of June 1. The presentation in society of its great transformative commitment, a tremendous shake to the foundations of the Judiciary, moderately worries its factions. Mexico has chosen its judges from this summer by popular vote and the certainty that there are candidates of doubtful origin, some linked to organized crime, already rumbles in Congress and in the National Palace. This Wednesday, the president, Claudia Sheinbaum, urged that, if there are applicants with “any criminal relationship,” decisions are reported and made.
It is not a minor issue, given the general joy of the ruling party with the electoral contest. Outside face, doubts do not exist. The Guinda party assumes the election of 881 positions, between ministers of the Supreme Court, electoral magistrates and federal judges, as a fundamental step in its country project. For Morena, the Judiciary embodies the evils of Mexico, corruption, nepotism and clientelism, influence peddling. Its recast appears on the horizon as a promise of definitive change. Hence the appearance of controversial profiles on the ballot.
“I think it is time to withdraw candidacies that do not meet the requirement, there are not many,” said the president, cautious in tone and words, banishing all urgency, every alarm sensation. “If there is any case in which [el candidato] does not comply with the Constitution, due to any criminal relationship, or that does not have average [en sus estudios] what the Constitution demands, [la denuncia] It can be presented from my particular point of view, and we will see what the court decides, ”he added. Sheinbaum referred to the Electoral Court of the Judicial Power of the Federation.
The president has thus collected the glove of her movement colleague, the president of the Senate, Gerardo Fernández Noroña, who on Tuesday faced the matter from the Upper House. “We have detected some drug dealers who are wanting to access. They should not participate, they do not meet the constitutional demand for probity,” said Noroña. The Legislator, former Rival of Sheinbaum for the presidential candidacy, took the opportunity to give the Judiciary a pin, ensuring that most undesirable profiles have sneaked into the contest at the proposal of the judges themselves.
-Neither Noroña nor Sheinbaum have directly pointed to any candidate, but for weeks there are at least two names that are somehow linked to drug traffickers. This is Silvia Delgado, who in 2016 was part of Joaquín’s legal team El Chapo Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa cartel, and who now aspires to the criminal judge in the state of Chihuahua; and Fernando Escamilla, one of the lawyers of the defense of Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, aka Z-40, once leader of the Los Zetas poster, transferred in February to the United States.
But they are not the only ones. The Defensorxs organization has documented up to 13 cases, 11 of which qualifies as “highly risky candidates.” Among the 13 are supporters of the Church of the Light of the World, led by the Criminal Criminal Naasón Joaquín García, convicted of child abuse in the United States, people accused of workplace and sexual harassment, former officials linked to serious crimes, such as the disappearance of a journalist, or the death of visitors in a prison.
According to Defensorxs, most of the highly risky candidacies passed the filters of the Congress. A few months ago, in the primary stage of implementation of the reform of the Judiciary, each of the powers of the State, Executive, Legislative and Judicial, formed an expert committee to analyze the candidacies presented to the different positions chosen in June. Each committee accepted some candidates and discarded others. Apparently, the filter with larger holes was handled by the Legislative Power Committee, which depends on the official majority.
Noroña has said that it is not a matter of blaming anyone, but of purifying the few cases detected. Sheinbaum has not even entered the controversy. One and the other have insisted that the bad profiles must be out of the contest, and not wait after the election to disqualify them, a possibility with which the National Electoral Institute has threatened this week. Meanwhile, candidates continue to campaign, supposedly with their own means. The choice is approaching and, in most cases, the fight is to publicize their names before the voting day.
