• MURDER: A Mexican federal judge in charge of criminal proceedings was killed Tuesday morning along with his wife in the Pacific state of Colima, authorities confirmed. Local media reported that both were gunned down in a residential neighborhood in the state’s capital city of the same name.
• JUDGE: In January, federal judge Uriel Villegas had been transferred to Colima from the state of Jalisco where he dealt with cases involving the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel (CJNG). The last known killing of a federal judge in Mexico occurred in 2016, according to Reforma newspaper.
• PURPOSE: “It is the State’s obligation to guarantee the safety of all citizens. But above all, those with courage and purpose take the risk to protect the rights of all”, said Mexico’s Supreme Court president Arturo Zaldívar. Colima is Mexico’s smallest states but it is the state with the highest murder rate.
• CASE: Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) said it will was in charge of the investigation into the murders of judge Villegas and his wife. Graduating as a lawyer in 2001, Villegas held several positions in Mexico’s judicial sector including in the states of Sonora, Guanajuato and Jalisco.
