Alejandra Cuevas Moran. Photo: Google

By KELIN DILLON

After 522 days of imprisonment in Mexico’s Santa Martha Acatitla prison, Alejandra Cuevas Moran – the niece of Mexican Attorney General (FGR) Alejandro Gertz Manero – is one step away from securing her release from lockup, as the country’s Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) could potentially order her immediate release in a hearing scheduled for Monday, March 28.

Following the death of her father, Federico, Cuevas Moran was accused by Gertz to have committed negligent homicide, something Cuevas Moran and her family vehemently deny, in what the family says was an attempt by Getz to extort Federico’s assets, finances and belongings into his own possession.

The Attorney General then used his position to secure arrest warrants against Cuevas Moran and her elderly mother in what the family calls an abuse of power that has put Cuevas Moran in prison ever since, despite almost no evidence to back up Gertz’s claims. 

Though a judge granted an amparo against the arrest warrant in September 2021, Gertz once again used his influence at the Attorney General’s Office to change the amparo (appeal), and while the situation seemed close to resolution, SCJN President Arturo Zaldívar decided to take on the case after determining the lower courts could not reach a decision impartially.

While the SCJN has already previously discussed the Cuevas Moran case on Monday, March 14, an inconclusive vote led the court to further research into Cuevas Moran’s unique situation, which will all come to a head in the upcoming SCJN hearing.

The new project, headed by Minister Alfredo Gutiérrez, is expected to put an end to Cuevas Moran’s suffering, and is set to offer her and her mother plain and simple protection alongside Cuevas Moran’s immediate release.