Myriam Victoria Hernández Acosta was unanimously elected by 28 magistrates in a plenary session of Chihuahua’s Superior Court of Justice. Upon accepting the position, she stated that «the Judiciary delivers justice and doesn’t operate out of revenge.»

Text by Itzel Ramírez for La Verdad de Juárez, originally published November 13, 2021.

Translated by Elysse DaVega for Pie de Página in English.

Chihuahua’s judiciary has a new president: Myriam Victoria Hernández Acosta, who alleges that she was a victim of persecution for belonging to the group of 13 magistrates appointed in November 2014 after a reform by César Duarte Jáquez, the Chihuahuan ex-governor imprisoned in Florida and accused of embezzlement.

The ties between the new president of the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) and César Duarte are evident, considering that, according to sources, Hernández Acosta testified in favor of the ex-governor during his extradition process in the United States.

When questioned on the matter in a press conference she held after her appointment, Hernández didn’t deny her participation in Duarte’s defense.

«As magistrate, you declared César Duarte a political prisoner to U.S. authorities. What is your position on the legal processes against the ex-governor now as president of the TSJ?» she was asked.

«At the moment, the ex-governor isn’t an issue of concern in the Court. We will use all appropriate resources required to ensure due process, that is what we must do,» Hernández replied.

As of Nov. 12th, Hernández Acosta, 46 years old and magistrate in the Third Civil Chamber, is the first woman to head the Supreme Court of Justice, following Pablo Héctor González Villalobos’ resignation on November 4th, two years before the end of his sentence.

Hernández was elected unanimously from the 28 magistrates during the TSJ’s plenary session, which was convened specifically for the appointment.

Hernández’s rise to the presidency of the TSJ was so guaranteed that, days before the plenary session, the magistrate gave interviews to news outlets in which she spoke about the work she would do in the Judiciary. 

Even officials like César Jáuregui Moreno, Secretary General of the Government –who was the congressional coordinator of the National Action Party (PAN) when Hernández was appointed magistrate– spoke in favor of a woman occupying the presidency of the highest body of the state Judiciary.

In her speech, Hernández Acosta said that the Judiciary is working on showing a new side, one far from «revenge.»

“… We want to make sure our message to society is that we are a robust, honorable, and dignified power; a power that delivers justice; we offer a new vision to society. Know that the Judiciary delivers justice, and that it doesn’t operate out of revenge nor personal interests,» the magistrate stated in Nov. 12’s session, after she swore her oath.

Prior to this, Hernández stated that she had been a victim of persecution.

«I was a victim of persecution. [I’m going to] bring an end to using the Judiciary as an aggressor, as a sword. It would be incongruous of me, after having been a victim of those outside attacks, even from within the Judiciary, to do the same thing,» she assured in a press conference.

The magistrate said that she and the other 12 magistrates appointed in 2014 –the «oxygenators» of the Judiciary, as they were called– were persecuted by previous administrations, although she did not specify which ones.

«I was one of the magistrates on the ‘oxygenator’ team, who was questioned and persecuted from within. I know perfectly well that the persecution was there. I don’t partake in that kind of behavior, and because of this, I will not do the same thing,» she explained.

Duarte’s hand

The TSJ’s new president has been identified by members of the Judiciary as sympathetic to César Duarte, who appointed her as the head of the Third Civil Chamber in 2014.

According to sources with access to legal documents concerning Duarte’s case in the U.S., Hernández Acosta wrote a sworn declaration in which she declared that the ex-governor was a victim of «political persecution.» Duarte’s defense submitted the document to U.S. prosecutors and Magistrate Judge Lauren Fleischer Louis, who recently approved the extradition of the ex-governor to Mexico.

In September 2016, just days after Duarte stepped down, Hernández Acosta was one of three people appointed by the TSJ plenary session to take a position within the Judicial Council. The decision was later thrown out by local Congress and an order from the Supreme Court of Justice.

Luis Villegas Montes and Gabriel Ruiz Gámez, both of whom are close to Duarte, were also on the Judicial Council.

According to news reports, Myriam Hernández is married to Óscar Jaime Erives Hernández, former chief of the TSJ’s Department of Security and current director of Public Security in the municipality of Camargo.

This report was originally published by La Verdad de Juárez, which is part of the Media Alliance organized by Red de Periodistas de a Pie. You can read the original here.

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