Indigenous lawyer to head Mexico’s supreme court after direct election

<p>Hugo Aguilar, who has links to governing party, topped unprecedented and controversial popular vote</p><p>An Indigenous lawyer from the state of Oaxaca is set to become the president of Mexico’s supreme court following the country’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/30/mexico-judges-election">unprecedented elections to appoint its entire judicial system by popular vote</a>.</p><p>Activists hailed the election of Hugo Aguilar, a member of the Mixtec Indigenous group, as a symbolic victory – while noting that Aguilar, who topped the poll of candidates for the supreme court, had long since shifted from his own roots as an activist to a figure much more closely aligned with the state, and involved in controversial mega-projects such as the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/15/mexico-maya-train-yucatan-cancun-environment">Maya Train</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/04/hugo-aguilar-mexico-supreme-court-election">Continue reading...</a>