Mexico's upcoming judicial elections
May 27, 2025
Mexicans will vote in judicial elections for the first time on June 1. Mexicans will choose among roughly 5,000 candidates vying for more than 840 federal judge and magistrate positions, including all Supreme Court justices.
Mexico's electoral authority is investigating complaints that political groups, including ruling party Morena, are trying to sway voters in the upcoming judicial elections, reports Reuters.
And 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, reports Reuters.
And an analysis by the Judicial Electoral Observatory, 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. (Reuters)
Judicial reform has been highly controversial, though, according to the Pew Research Center, two-thirds of Mexicans approve of the law passed last year under former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The ruling Morena party “argues that judges have long been controlled by those who nominate them and have defended the interests of their patrons. Electing judges through a direct vote, the argument goes, should make them more accountable to their constituents and responsive to citizens’ problems,” according to an International Crisis Group explainer.
“Critics, on the other hand, argue that the election will in fact make the judges more vulnerable to influence from political forces, special interests and, worst of all, organised crime. The question of whether judges’ independence will wax or wane following direct elections is of critical importance in Mexico, where a rash of lethal violence has been driven in large part by sky-high levels of impunity for serious crime.” (International Crisis Group)
More Mexico
“Mexico is already one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, but it has got particularly awful in the last six months,” Sinaloa state journalist “Daniel” told the Guardian in a special on reporters in conflict zones.
Brazil
Despite increased public awareness and legal advances, gender-based violence in Brazil has reached record levels, with widespread mistrust in state institutions, defunded protections under former president Jair Bolsonaro, and persistent cultural misogyny fueling a crisis that demands urgent, systemic response, write Manoela Miklos and Samira Bueno in Americas Quarterly.
“Three years after the British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian activist Bruno Pereira were murdered in the Amazon, two major new projects will celebrate their lives and work – and the Indigenous communities and rainforests both men sought to protect,” reports the Guardian.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was diagnosed with labyrinthitis yesterday after suffering from vertigo — but is already back in the presidential palace, reports the Associated Press.
São Paulo state governor Tarcisio de Freitas and city mayor Ricardo Nunes are cracking down in the neighborhood known as Cracolandia, a downtown area that for decades has been home to thousands of drug users, reports the Associated Press.
Colombia
Colombia’s government and two FARC dissident groups have agreed to create three temporary locations for rebel fighters who wish to take part in demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration programs, reports Pirate Wire Services.
Venezuela
“A large portion of drug seizures in Falcón, Venezuela, appear to be staged by the authorities to project an image of effectiveness in the fight against drug trafficking,” reports InSight Crime.
Regional Relations
“Donald Trump does not have a Venezuela strategy. He is influenced by those around him, especially by whoever he spoke to most recently,” writes James Bosworth in the Latin America Risk Report. “When asked, Trump wants everything: cheap oil, access to business deals, a place to deport Venezuelans, legal justifications for his agenda, an image of US toughness and winning, and support from US voters and politicians, particularly those based in Florida, who hate Maduro and want him gone. With no clear priority among these goals, there are two groups trying to influence his policies.” (See yesterday’s post.)
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators wants to mandate sanctions against supporters of Haiti’s criminal gangs and is pushing the State Department to provide a list of the country’s most prominent gangs and their leaders — along with a report on the connections between the gangs and the Caribbean nation’s political and economic elites,” reports the Miami Herald.
Argentina
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy visited with his Argentine counterpart in Buenos Aires — President Javier Milei's government used the occasion to ratify its decision to withdraw Argentina from the World Health Organization. (Buenos Aires Times)
Migration
The threat of family separations underPresident Donald Trump’s policies is pushing some immigrants to self-deport from the U.S., reports the New York Times.
Critter Corner
Swimming with orcas in Mexico’s Baja California state is in a legal grey area, and increasingly popular. A proposed management plan seeks to keep tourists and whales safe, reports the Guardian.