Scrutinized Judicial Reform Passes Mexican Senate

In a vote marred by accusations of corruption and political persecution, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador secured the passage of his controversial bid Tuesday night to amend the constitution and radically reshape the Mexican judiciary. While initially lacking one vote necessary to meet the requisite two-thirds majority necessary for constitutional amendments, the president and his allies managed to secure victory when two members of the opposition bloc failed to maintain their united front. The night of the vote, Senator Miguel Ángel Yunes Márquez of the National Action Party (PAN) crossed the aisle to cast his vote in favor of the judicial reform, while Senator Daniel Barreda of Citizens’ Movement was absent from the chamber entirely due the sudden arrest of his father by the government of Campeche.

A furious opposition denounced Yunes as a traitor, asserting that the politician— a member of a political dynasty from the state of Veracruz and longtime enemy of the president—had traded his vote for the protection of his family in a number of criminal investigations opened against them by the state government (now controlled by López Obrador’s party, Morena). “It is obvious that there has been a bargain for immunity,” asserted PAN’s Senate leader, Marko Cortés. Other opposition members denounced him as a “traitor to the nation.” Yunes defended himself, saying, “it is no treason to act in accordance with my principles.”

The absence of Barreda created further outrage amongst the opposition, who initially believed the senator himself had been arrested and so prevented from casting his vote, an accusation denied fervently by Morena on the Senate floor. He could not be reached, however, witnesses confirmed that his father’s house had been raided by the Morena-controlled government of the state of Campeche. On Wednesday morning, Barreda confirmed to the media that his father and a local legislator had been arrested by police, and Barreda had left the capitol to secure their release, which occurred at 11pm that same evening, preventing him from attending the Senate vote.

The passage of the amendment means that, starting next year, all federal judges in Mexico (including the justices of the Supreme Court) will be elected by popular vote.