El Chapos former lawyer and a drug smuggler are running for judicial election in Mexico

When residents in the state of Durango vote in Mexico’s first judicial elections next weekend, Leopoldo Chavez will be on the ballot for federal judge — despite the nearly six years he served in a US prison.Chavez was convicted on drug offenses: for smuggling over 4 kilograms of methamphetamines in 2015.Durango is part of Mexico’s Golden Triangle, a cartel-controlled region growing marijuana and opium poppies.“I’ve never sold myself as the perfect candidate,” Chavez said in a video he shared on Facebook.He said he had nothing to hide and had served his time.

He declined to comment to Reuters.In the nearby Pacific coast state of Jalisco, Francisco Hernandez is running to be a criminal magistrate even though the last time he served as a judge he was dismissed by the Federal Judiciary Council after an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and corruption.He told Reuters the accusations were “slander and defamation.” “Let the people judge me,” he said.And in Nuevo Leon, Fernando Escamilla is hoping to become a federal criminal judge and says the legal work he did advising lawyers for members of the ultra-violent Los Zetas cartel should not be held against him.His knowledge of extradition law, on which he advised the capos, made him an asset, he told Reuters in an interview.“Does being an advisor on international or extradition law give you a bad public reputation? I don’t think so, since that’s the only thing that demonstrates that you have the ability and knowledge to handle these types of situations,” Escamilla said.Ahead of the elections on June 1, civil organizations, judge associations and some Mexican lawmakers are raising serious concerns about a vote that critics warn could jeopardize the country’s rule of law.The controversial judicial overhaul was proposed by leftist former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and supported by his protege, President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Both said it would root out corruption in Mexico’s...