Sawt Falasteen - Indigenous rights defender elected head of top Mexican court

The change in the key post, long reserved for elite jurists, follows unprecedented elections on Sunday in which Mexico became the first country in the world to choose judges at all levels at the ballot box.

Aguilar, a constitutional law specialist and member of the Indigenous group Mixtec, is now one of the highest profile Indigenous leaders in Latin America.

During his campaign, he proclaimed "it's our turn" and denounced the "exclusion and abandonment" of native peoples.

Around 20 percent of Mexicans identify as Indigenous.

Aguilar was a legal advisor to the now demobilized Zapatistas during negotiations with the government following an armed uprising in 1994.

He has said Mexico's Indigenous peoples are owed a "a significant debt."

Aguilar worked at the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples under President Claudia Sheinbaum's predecessor and mentor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador -- both of whom have criticized what they say is the elite's grip on the judiciary.

The trailblazing judicial elections have been controversial in the Latin American nation.

The overhaul was initiated by Lopez Obrador, who frequently clashed with the Supreme Court over whether his policy changes were unconstitutional

Despite confusion and low turnout -- with only about 13 percent of eligible voters participating -- Sheinbaum declared the election a success.

Her opponents, however, branded it a "farce" and warned it would consolidate the ruling party's power, as it already dominates both houses of Congress.

The majority of Mexico's Supreme Court justices quit over the judicial reforms last year and declined to stand for election.

Aguilar follows in the footsteps of Benito Juarez, Mexico's first Indigenous president who also led the Supreme Court from 1857 to 1858.

H.Darwish--SF-PST