You should know about what’s happening in Cuauhtémoc

Alessandra Rojo de la Vega, Mayor-elect of Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City. Photo credit: Nadya Murillo / El Sol de Mexico.

Last week a Mexico City elections court nullified the election victory of Alessandra Rojo de la Vega over her Morena challenger, Caty Monreal, for the mayoralty of Cuauhtémoc. The district is one of the largest and most important in Mexico City. It was one of the few in the city which President López Obrador’s (AMLO) ruling Morena party didn’t win during June’s elections.

The Electoral Tribunal of Mexico City (TECDMX) found Rojo de la Vega engaged in “gender based political violence” against Monreal. If allowed to stand, the ruling would leave the critical city district without a mayor or any of its newly elected councillors and force a special election. Rojo de la Vega would also be forced to pay Monreal a penalty and will be placed on Mexico’s national register of abusers of women.

Rojo de la Vega rejected the allegations made against her and has said she will appeal TECDMX’s judgement with the Electoral Tribual of the Judicial Branch of the Federation (TEPJF). The TEPJF is the highest electoral court in Mexico. It has twice overturned the lower court’s findings, and ruled in favour of Rojo de la Vega, since June.

Numerous feminist organisations operating in Mexico City denounced TECDMX’s ruling, calling it a “perverse use of feminism,” and signalling their collective support for Rojo de la Vega’s victory to be preserved.

Caty Monreal praised TECDMX’s decision, saying “it’s a precedent to not make women invisible again.” Monreal is the daughter of high-profile Morena Senator Ricardo Monreal, a former governor of Zacatecas and close ally of AMLO’s. She has in the past faced questions regarding contracts her company acquired from the state of Zacatecas. Her father also served as Mayor of Cuauhtémoc and maintains influence over the district’s bureaucracy, according to previous mayor, Sandra Cuevas.

The charge of “gender based political violence” is in response to criticisms Rojo de la Vega levied at Monreal regarding her family, an offense the lower court referred to as “familism.”

Rojo de la Vega was herself the victim of an assassination attempt in an early-morning attack after a campaign rally. The Morena-affiliated Mexico City Attorney General has alleged the shooting was fabricated. Monreal suffered no publicly documented violence during the campaign.

There have been large rallies since the June vote in support of Rojo de la Vega’s victory. Critics of AMLO and Morena point to events in Cuauhtémoc as evidence of Morena’s creeping anti-democratic tendencies.