Lawyer who once defended drug kingpin ‘El Chapo’ questions critics of her judicial victory

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) – Of the roughly 2,600 judges elected for the first time by Mexicans earlier this month, Silvia Delgado García received more attention than almost any other because she once helped represent drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

That single client in a nearly two decade career as a criminal defense attorney in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, made Delgado standout in the historic June 1 election, name recognition that may have helped her victory formally certified Thursday.

Delgado won a spot as a criminal court judge in Ciudad Juarez in the June 1 election. At Thursday’s ceremony, Delgado smiled, got emotional and received hugs.

Speaking to reporters later, she said it was time for her defense work to stop being described as a “tie” to the drug lord. She was just doing her job, she said.

“The only thing that we do is a job,” she said. “The decision to enter in this electoral process was very simple: I wanted to strengthen my career helping the community. I’ve helped so many here, helping defend.”

In 2016, Delgado García was a member of Sinaloa cartel leader Guzmán’s legal team when he was temporarily held in a prison in Ciudad Juarez before being extradited to the United States. He was eventually tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison in the U.S.

Some critics of electing judges, and a human rights litigation group called Defensorxs, had labeled Delgado García “high risk” before the vote, because “she defends alleged drug traffickers.”

Hailed as a way to make corrupt judges accountable to the people and clean up Mexico’s judiciary by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the historic elections that covered more than 2,600 positions ranging up to the country’s Supreme Court, drew only a paltry 13% voter participation.

Critics feared it would politicize the judiciary and offer organized crime an easier path to influencing judicial decisions. Mexico’s governing Morena party was poised to gain control of the Supreme Court as a majority of the winners had strong ties to the party or were aligned ideologically.

On Thursday, Delgado noted that she had been called out for petitioning the court that Guzmán be given a blanket in prison. “Is it bad that if a person is not accustomed to the cold that he have a blanket?” she asked. “I have been in the eye of the hurricane for that reason.”