Ambassador warns of risks of AMLO's drug cartels law for Mexican justice

(Bloomberg) — A senior U.S. official said a plan to elect judges through referendums would make it easier for drug cartels to infiltrate Mexico's judiciary.

The proposal, the core goal of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's judicial reform, represents a “major risk” to the functioning of the country's democracy, according to US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar.

Salazar said Mexico's judiciary needs capable judges to handle complex legal cases involving extradition or commercial disputes, but the reform proposal would relax the qualification and experience requirements needed to work at all levels of the judiciary, he said.

“Direct elections would also make it easier for cartels and other evildoers to exploit politically motivated and inexperienced judges,” it said in a statement released on Thursday.

Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, said popular election of judges would curb corruption in the judiciary and prevent business interests from being put above the common good. Salazar praised Mexico's efforts to eradicate corruption in the judiciary but said popular election of judges would not solve the problem.

The reform would also jeopardize U.S.-Mexico trade relations, which depend on investors' confidence in the Mexican legal system, Salazar added.

“It would also weaken efforts to make North American economic integration a reality and would cause turbulence as the debate over direct elections will continue for years to come,” he said.

The reform will be discussed in the Constitutional Committee of the House of Representatives next week. This is the first step towards debate in both houses of Congress in September. Since the reform would change the constitution, it would need the support of a two-thirds majority in Congress.

The ruling Morena party and its allies won two-thirds of the vote in the lower house and missed the two-thirds majority in the Senate by just three seats in this year's elections.

On Thursday, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum had already stated that if the reform was passed, the President would not appoint the Supreme Court judges because expert committees would examine the suitability of the candidates before the referendum. She denied that the reforms would lead to judges being on the government's side.

For more articles like this, visit bloomberg.com