After a murder, cartels loom over Mexico's new system of electing judges

Security authorities work at the crime scene where the former head of the highest court in Mexico's Guerrero state, Judge Edmundo Roman Pinzon, was gunned down in his car outside the Palace of Justice, in Acapulco, Mexico December 11, 2024. REUTERS/Javier Tinoco

ACAPULCO, Mexico (Reuters) - Clericalworkers in an Acapulco courthouse heard the shots ring out as they were wrapping up their workday. Gunmen had opened fire on Magistrate Edmundo Roman Pinzon, a former president of the highest court in Guerrero state, killing him instantly as he tried to pull out of the parking lot.

The December 11 killing happened months before thousands of candidates will vie for federal judge and magistrate positions in an election that marks a sea change in how Mexico runs its judicial system after years of rampant lawlessness.