International

Mexican President appoints new Supreme Court justice

Photo: Cuartoscuro

December 16 |

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, revealed this Friday that Bertha María Alcalde declined to become a minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), for having obtained fewer votes than Lenia Batres, who was ultimately appointed to that position.

In his morning conference López Obrador announced that Bertha Alcalde -who was part of the shortlist for the new minister of the Court- raised her hand for Batres Guadarrama to replace Arturo Zaldívar in the highest court of the country.

At the end of the morning conference the day before, the Chief Executive met with the three women who were part of the shortlist to define the appointment of the person who would replace former Minister Arturo Zaldívar in the Court.

However, this Friday, López Obrador mentioned that Bertha Alcalde’s decision was an act of dignity and principles because there are those who for a minor position “disgrace themselves” and “scratch themselves”.

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Meanwhile, regarding Lenia Batres, the President commented that like the other women proposed, she is honest, professional and with a vocation for justice: “Independent, incapable of receiving a slogan, a line, as they say colloquially, from anyone. First of all, I would not do it and neither would they accept that I would tell them, you vote like this, in the case of an injustice or to protect an act of corruption, no. We are talking about women of integrity. We are talking about women of integrity and honesty”, she pointed out.

Lenia Batres Guadarrama, a law graduate from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), took part in the founding of the Morena party and currently holds the position of Deputy Counselor for Legislation and Regulatory Studies of President López Obrador’s Legal Counsel.

In 2000 Batres held the position of advisor to the head of the Government of Mexico City, when López Obrador was part of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Between 2015 and 2018 she assumed the position of advisor to Claudia Sheimbaun when she was head of Tlalpan, a delegation of the Mexican capital.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra dies in campaign road accident

Presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra, representing the Partido de los Trabajadores y Emprendedores (PTE) in Peru, died in a traffic accident while traveling to a campaign event, local authorities confirmed Sunday.

Becerra, who also served as president of the centrist political party, ranked among the lowest in opinion polls in a crowded field of more than 30 candidates competing in the presidential election scheduled for April 12.

Recent surveys place Rafael López Aliaga at the top of voter preferences.

The accident occurred near the town of Ayacucho, in southern Peru, when the vehicle carrying the candidate overturned for reasons that remain under investigation.

“The candidate Becerra has died,” Balvin Huamani, mayor of the district of Pilpichaca, told RPP radio.

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According to Huamani, he personally transported the 61-year-old candidate to a local health center, where doctors confirmed his death.

The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) expressed condolences over Becerra’s passing and wished a speedy recovery to the three people who were traveling with him and were injured in the crash.

International

Noboa intensifies anti-cartel crackdown as violence persists in Ecuador

A close ally of Washington, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has pursued a hardline security strategy against cocaine cartels for more than two years, yet homicide, disappearance and extortion rates remain high across the country.

Between Sunday night and the morning of March 31, Ecuador’s armed forces will launch a “very strong offensive” with “advisory support” from the United States, Interior Minister John Reimberg announced Tuesday.

The government has kept details of the operation confidential and has not confirmed whether U.S. troops will be deployed on Ecuadorian soil, as has occurred at times during Noboa’s administration.

As part of the security measures, residents in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and El Oro will be subject to a nightly curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time for the next two weeks.

“We are in a war,” Reimberg said, urging citizens to remain indoors. “Do not take risks. Stay home and allow the security forces and our allies to do the work that must be done.”

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Although Ecuador does not produce cocaine, it has become a major departure point for drugs heading to the United States. Meanwhile, the violence associated with trafficking has increasingly affected the local population.

Bordering the world’s largest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has gone from being considered a relatively peaceful country to recording one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America—52 killings per 100,000 inhabitants—according to the **Observatory of Organized Crime.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate proposes death penalty amid crime surge

Peru is facing an unprecedented surge in crime ahead of its presidential election scheduled for April 12, with violence fueled by extortion networks and a wave of contract killings linked to organized crime.

Police data show that 2,200 homicides tied to organized crime were recorded in 2025, while extortion complaints increased by 19%, underscoring the growing security crisis in the South American nation.

Amid this backdrop, presidential candidate Álvarez has proposed reinstating the death penalty if elected, arguing that extreme measures are needed to curb the violence.

To implement the proposal, Álvarez said Peru would withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights—also known as the Pact of San José—which the country signed in 1978. The agreement prevents member states that have abolished capital punishment from reinstating it.

Currently, Peruvian law only allows the death penalty in cases of treason during wartime.

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“We have to leave the Pact of San José and apply the death penalty in Peru because those miserable criminals don’t deserve to live,” Álvarez told AFP during a campaign stop at a market in Callao, the port city neighboring Lima.

“An iron fist against those criminals,” he added, proposing to declare hitmen as military targets.

During the campaign event, Álvarez walked through stalls selling vegetables, groceries, and fish, greeting vendors while musicians played cumbia music nearby.

The 62-year-old candidate, who spent more than four decades working in television as a comedian, is a newcomer to politics and is running for president under the País para Todos party.

Polls place him fifth in voter preference with nearly 4% support in a fragmented race featuring 36 candidates.