Wikipedia

Yasmín Esquivel Mossa

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Esquivel and the second or maternal family name is Mossa.

Yasmín Esquivel Mossa (born September 15, 1963)[2] is a Mexican lawyer and public official who serves as a justice of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation since 2019. Since then, she has served in positions such as account secretary of the presidency of the Superior Agrarian Court or magistrate and president of the Superior Chamber of the Court of Administrative Litigation.

Yasmín Esquivel Mossa
Esquivel in 2013
Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation
Incumbent
Assumed office
March 12, 2019
PresidentAndrés Manuel López Obrador
Preceded byMargarita Beatriz Luna
Personal details
Born (1963-09-15) September 15, 1963 (age 61)
Mexico City, Mexico
SpouseJosé María Riobóo (c. 2012)[1]
Alma materNational Autonomous University of Mexico (LLB)
Complutense University of Madrid (PhD)
Anahuac University
Panamerican University
OccupationLawyer

By late 2022 and early 2023, Esquivel's academic standing has been questioned due to multiple accusations of plagiarism allegedly committed in her licentiate and doctoral theses, which Esquivel has denied.

Career and education

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Esquivel Mossa studied law at the Escuela Nacional de Estudios Profesionales (ENEP) Aragón[a] of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and earned a licentiate in 1987 and a Doctor of Law degree from the Complutense University of Madrid and the Universidad Anáhuac, which she obtained in 2000.[3] She also did postgraduate work in administrative law and fiscal law in the Mexican financial system at Panamerican University.[4]

As a public official, she began her career in the legal and government subdelegation of the mayor's office in Coyoacán in 1985. She was a civil servant in the office of the Attorney General of the Federal District and in the Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers.[5] In the legal field, Esquivel served as study and account secretary of the presidency of the Superior Agrarian Court from 2000 to 2004.[3] She was a magistrate of the Superior Chamber of the Court of Administrative Litigation in 2009, and was its president from 2012 to 2015.[3][6]

Justice of the National Supreme Court of Justice

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Esquivel was selected in 2019 to replace Justice Margarita Beatriz Luna at the National Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN). President Andrés Manuel López Obrador nominated her and she was ratified by the Senate of the Republic.[3][4][7] Her selection engendered some disapproval from opposition parties as she is married to José María Riobóo, the president of Grupo Riobóo [es], one of the main advisers of president López Obrador on infrastructure issues[4][5] and one of his main contractors during his tenure as head of government of Mexico City between 2000 and 2005,[8] stating that the minister could have potential conflicts of interest.[9][10] In this regard, Esquivel said that prior to meeting Riobóo, she already had her own professional career as a federal and local magistrate, that she should not be seen as "the wife of" anyone and in the event of any conflict of interest related to Riobóo, she would excuse herself immediately.[1]

On April 20, 2022, Esquivel blocked the delivery of the investigation report of alleged acts of illicit financing by Pío López Obrador, brother of the president of Mexico, to the National Electoral Institute.[11] The report was requested by the institute to the Attorney General of Mexico following a ruling by the Electoral Tribunal of the Judiciary of the Federation to determine the situation of Pío, who the previous year gained notoriety due to the leaking of a 2015 video in which David León Romero [es], a coordinator from the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, gave him cash without a specific origin for "the movement".[12] Esquivel determined that the report could not be released because doing so would violate Pío's human rights, including his right to privacy.[13]

Esquivel expressed interest in becoming the first female president of the SCJN.[14]

Allegations of plagiarism

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Licentiate degree

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In December 2022, Guillermo Sheridan, scholar and researcher at UNAM, presented an investigation denouncing that Esquivel's licentiate thesis copied verbatim several segments of another student's thesis published the previous year. According to the investigation, Esquivel's thesis Inoperancia del sindicato de los trabajadores de confianza del Artículo 123 Apartado A ("Inoperability of the union of workers of trust under Article 123 Section A"), presented in September 1987, copies 90%[15] of the thesis presented by Édgar Ulises Báez Gutiérrez, student of the Faculty of Law of the university at Ciudad Universitaria campus in July 1986 and titled Inoperancia de los sindicatos en los trabajadores de confianza del Artículo 123 Apartado "A" ("Inoperability of unions for workers of trust under Article 123 Section 'A'").[16] She denied the accusation, calling the report "totally false".[17] Authorities of the Facultad de Estudios Superiores Aragón[a] announced that they would investigate the report in detail and that if the plagiarism was confirmed, they would act in accordance with institutional regulations.[18] Afterwards, UNAM acknowledged that there was "a high level of coincidence" in both documents and that the university would determine Esquivel's status.[19]

President López Obrador expressed that "any error, any anomaly, committed by Minister Yasmín when she was a student, when she presented her undergraduate thesis, is infinitely less than the damage caused to Mexico by [Enrique] Krauze and the man making the accusation, Sheridan", and that the investigation was carried out to attack his government.[20] Esquivel later shared letters of support and defense of her career from various lawyers and professors, including one from Martha Rodríguez Ortiz, her thesis advisor.[21] Rodríguez considered that the investigation arose from a "misogynist conspiracy" after Esquivel announced her interest in becoming the first woman to preside over the SCJN.[22] Subsequent investigations determined that Rodríguez was an advisor for both theses and that there are at least eight other theses with similar problems. In addition, there is a 1993 thesis (advised by another professor) and a 2010 thesis (advised by Rodríguez) with identical fragments and similar wording to that of Báez.[23][24]

On Christmas Day, Esquivel announced a complaint for plagiarism with the Mexico City's prosecutor's office, led by Ernestina Godoy Ramos, affirming that she began writing her thesis in 1985 and that she would continue with the process to become president of the SCJN on January 2, 2023.[25] In her complaint to the prosecutor's office, Esquivel mentions the existence of a notarized declaration said by Báez, in which he admits that he plagiarized Esquivel's thesis.[26] After six days of investigation, the prosecution allegedly determined that Esquivel had not plagiarized the thesis based on evidence provided by her.[27] On January 2, Norma Lucía Piña Hernández was elected as the president of the court.[28] Hours later, the prosecutor's office issued a statement saying that although they received Esquivel's complaint, they determined that they could not proceed with the investigation since the statute of limitations had expired.[29][30] Subsequently, it was revealed that Báez's notarized admission was a letter purportedly written and signed by him and sent to Rodríguez's home, something Báez denied having done.[27]

On January 11, UNAM determined that Esquivel "substantially" copied Báez's thesis but that they did not have the authority to remove her bachelor's degree, which remained pending the Secretariat of Education's decision.[31] The university also reported that it would implement technological measures to prevent plagiarism. Báez announced that he would file a lawsuit against Esquivel for plagiarism and for filing false testimony with the city prosecutor's office.[32]

On February 13, 2023, Esquivel requested a writ of amparo against the plagiarism investigation at UNAM, citing that she was not guaranteed "the right to honor, to an adequate defense, to due process, to legal certainty and to legality".[33]

Doctorate degree

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On February 24, 2023, the Spanish newspaper El País published an investigation into the alleged plagiarism in Esquivel's 2009 doctoral thesis, which was coordinated by the Anáhuac University in collaboration with the Complutense University of Madrid—according to Esquivel's curriculum. In the press release, the journalists found multiple uncited fragments of twelve works by other authors, equivalent to 46.5% of fragments identical to the corresponding original works.[34] Esquivel's attorney attributed the error to quotation marks; when asked about it, López Obrador said it was "not newsworthy".[35] Anáhuac University declined to sanction Esquivel because its guidelines only establish sanctions within the first three years after obtaining a degree.[36] Complutense University, on the other hand, disassociated itself from the thesis and denied any collaboration in her doctoral degree.[37]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b In 2005, the Escuela Nacional de Estudios Profesionales system was renamed Facultad de Estudios Superiores (FES).

References

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  1. ^ a b Martínez Huerta, David (March 4, 2019). ""No soy la señora de...": Yasmín Esquivel, esposa de Riobóo, defiende aspiración" ["I am not the Mrs. of...": Yasmín Esquivel, Riobóo's wife, defends aspiration]. Expansión (in Spanish). Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  2. ^ "Yasmín Esquivel Mossa". Nexos (in Spanish). Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d "Perfil. Yasmín Esquivel Mossa, ministra de la SCJN" [Profile. Yasmín Esquivel Mossa, SCJN Minister]. El Universal (in Spanish). March 12, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "Yasmín Esquivel Mossa es elegida nueva ministra de la SCJN" [Yasmín Esquivel Mossa is Elected New SCJN Minister]. El Economista (in Spanish). Notimex. March 12, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Yasmín Esquivel, la nueva ministra de la SCJN y sus presuntos vínculos con AMLO" [Yasmín Esquivel, the New SCJN Minister and Her Alleged Links with AMLO] (in Spanish). Infobae. March 13, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  6. ^ "Sesión del 26 de noviembre de 2009" [Session of November 26, 2009] (PDF). Diario de los Debates de la Asamblea Legislativa del Distrito Federal (in Spanish) (31): 21, 28. November 26, 2009. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  7. ^ Sánchez, Jacob; Xantomila, Gabriel (March 12, 2019). "Yasmín Esquivel Mossa es la nueva ministra de la SCJN" [Yasmín Esquivel Mossa is the New SCJN Minister]. El Sol de Mexico (in Spanish). Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  8. ^ Ureste, Manuel; Verificado 2018 (June 13, 2018). "Verificado.mx: El gobierno de López Obrador sí dio adjudicaciones directas por 170 mdp al contratista Rioboó" [Verificado.mx: López Obrador's government did give direct awards for 170 million pesos to the contractor Rioboó]. Animal Político (in Spanish). Retrieved December 24, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Corona, Sonia (March 12, 2019). "El Senado mexicano elige a la nueva ministra del Supremo bajo la sombra del conflicto de interés" [Mexican Senate elects new Supreme Court justice under the shadow of conflict of interest]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  10. ^ "Oposición al nombramiento de Yasmin Esquivel a la Suprema Corte en México" [Opposition to Yasmin Esquivel's appointment to Mexico's Supreme Court]. Washington Office on Latin America (in Spanish). March 15, 2019. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  11. ^ Murillo, Eduardo (April 20, 2022). "Frenan entrega al INE de carpeta por casos de Pío López Obrador y David León" [Pío López Obrador and David León's case file is held up for delivery to INE]. La Jornada. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  12. ^ Frías, Diana (October 20, 2022). "Dinero no era para AMLO, era para el movimiento: Pío López Obrador" [Money was not for AMLO, it was for the movement: Pío López Obrador]. XEVT (in Spanish). Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  13. ^ "Ministra Yasmín Esquivel frenó entrega del expediente de Pío López Obrador por Derechos Humanos" [Minister Yasmín Esquivel stopped delivery of Pío López Obrador's human rights file]. Infobae (in Spanish). April 21, 2022. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  14. ^ Ureña A., Carla Erika (December 22, 2022). "Una ministra presidenta" [A female minister president]. Letras Libres. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  15. ^ "Caso Yasmín Esquivel: coincidencia en el 90% y el año de sustentación de la tesis original que reveló la UNAM" [Yasmín Esquivel case: coincidence in 90% and year of submission of the original thesis revealed by UNAM]. Infobae (in Spanish). December 31, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  16. ^ Sheridan, Guillermo (December 21, 2022). "Una ministra pasante: Yasmín Esquivel, candidata a presidir la SCJN, plagió su tesis de licenciatura" [An Intern Minister: Yasmín Esquivel, Candidate to Preside Over the SCJN, Plagiarized Her Undergraduate Thesis]. LatinUS (in Mexican Spanish). Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  17. ^ "Acusan a ministra Yasmín Esquivel de plagio de tesis; internautas reaccionan" [Minister Yasmín Esquivel Accused of Plagiarism of Thesis; Netizens React] (in Spanish). Publimetro. December 21, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  18. ^ Torres, Octavio (December 22, 2022). "FES Aragón investigará presunto plagio de tesis de ministra Yasmín Esquivel" [FES Aragón will investigate alleged plagiarism of minister Yasmín Esquivel's thesis]. Expansión. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  19. ^ Guillén, Beatriz (December 23, 2022). "La UNAM reconoce 'un alto nivel de coincidencias' entre la tesis de la ministra Esquivel y la del año anterior" [UNAM recognizes "a high level of coincidence" between Minister Esquivel's thesis and that of the previous year]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  20. ^ Morales, Alberto (December 23, 2022). "AMLO: Cualquier error de la ministra Esquivel es menor al daño que han ocasionado Krauze o Sheridan" [AMLO: Any mistake made by Minister Esquivel is less than the damage caused by Krauze or Sheridan]. El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  21. ^ "Yasmín Esquivel comparte carta de sinodal para defenderse del señalamiento de plagio" [Yasmín Esquivel shares letter from synodal to defend herself from plagiarism accusation]. Aristegui Noticias (in Spanish). December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  22. ^ "Asesora de tesis de Yasmín Esquivel señala complot misógino por acusación" [Yasmín Esquivel's thesis advisor points out misogynist plot for accusation]. Nación 321 (in Spanish). December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  23. ^ "Martha Rodríguez, asesora de Yasmín Esquivel, dirigió al menos ocho tesis en las que se presume posible plagio" [Martha Rodríguez, Yasmín Esquivel's advisor, supervised at least eight theses in which plagiarism is presumed]. Infobae (in Spanish). December 23, 2022. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  24. ^ Guillén, Beatriz (December 23, 2022). "La tesis copiada de la ministra Yasmín Esquivel revela una cadena de plagios en la UNAM" [Minister Yasmín Esquivel's copied thesis reveals chain of plagiarism at UNAM]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  25. ^ "Ministra Esquivel denuncia ante fiscalía supuesto plagio de su proyecto de tesis; hay una campaña en mi contra, dice" [Minister Esquivel denounces alleged plagiarism of her thesis project before the public prosecutor's office; there is a campaign against me, she says]. Animal Político (in Spanish). December 25, 2022. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  26. ^ "Ministra Esquivel asegura que alumno al que plagió reconoció ante notario que ella era la autora original de la tesis" [Minister Esquivel assures that the student she plagiarized acknowledged before a notary that she was the original author of the thesis]. LatinUS (in Spanish). December 30, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  27. ^ a b Palacios, Surya (January 3, 2023). "La extraña historia con la que Yasmín Esquivel se dice inocente de plagio" [The strange story with which Yasmín Esquivel claims to be innocent of plagiarism]. Alto Nivel (in Spanish). Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  28. ^ De la Rosa, Yared (January 2, 2023). "Norma Lucía Piña, nueva presidenta de la Suprema Corte de Justicia" [Norma Lucía Piña, new president of the Supreme Court of Justice]. Forbes (in Spanish).
  29. ^ Espino, Manuel (January 2, 2023). "Concluye Fiscalía de la CDMX que Yasmín Esquivel no plagió tesis" [Mexico City District Attorney's Office concludes that Yasmín Esquivel did not plagiarize a thesis]. El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  30. ^ Rodríguez, Luis Carlos (January 2, 2023). "Ministra Yasmín Esquivel defiende autoría de su tesis en elección de presidente de la SCJN" [Minister Yasmín Esquivel defends authorship of her thesis in the election of the SCJN president]. El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  31. ^ "Mexico Supreme Court judge copied 'substantial part' of thesis, university says". Reuters. Mexico City. January 11, 2023. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  32. ^ "Edgar Ulises Báez demandará a ministra Yasmín Esquivel por escándalo de plagio de tesis" [Edgar Ulises Báez to sue Minister Yasmín Esquivel over thesis plagiarism scandal]. El Financiero (in Spanish). January 9, 2023. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  33. ^ Guillén, Beatriz; Raziel, Zedryk (March 1, 2023). "Una jueza federal impide a la UNAM resolver el caso del presunto plagio de Yasmín Esquivel" [A federal judge prevents UNAM from resolving the case of the alleged plagiarism of Yasmín Esquivel.]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  34. ^ Raziel, Zedryk; Guillén, Beatriz (February 24, 2023). "La ministra Yasmín Esquivel plagió en su tesis de doctorado" [Minister Yasmín Esquivel plagiarized in her doctoral thesis]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  35. ^ Dina, Eduardo (February 24, 2023). "Pudo haber algún error en un entrecomillado, dice abogado de Yasmín Esquivel" [There may have been an error in a quotation mark, says Yasmin Esquivel's lawyer] (in Spanish). Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  36. ^ "Ministra Yasmín Esquivel conservará doctorado; la Anáhuac ya no puede sancionarla por plagio" [Minister Yasmín Esquivel will keep her doctorate; Anáhuac can no longer sanction her for plagiarism]. El Sol de México. February 24, 2023. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  37. ^ "Universidad Complutense de Madrid se deslinda de Yasmín Esquivel tras escándalo por tesis doctoral" [Complutense University of Madrid dissociates itself from Yasmín Esquivel after doctoral thesis scandal]. Proceso (in Spanish). March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
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