Overview

• A judge in Mexico City acquitted Israel Vallarta, who had spent nearly 20 years in provisional detention without trial.
• Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez and President Claudia Sheinbaum announced his release, condemning the 2005 arrest as a staged television operation.
• Evidence that Vallarta’s confession was obtained under torture and re-enacted on live television undermined the prosecution and sparked a diplomatic rift with France.
• Florence Cassez, who was released in 2013 after the Supreme Court found procedural flaws, has said Vallarta’s freedom completes her own liberation journey.
• The case drove landmark judicial reforms under the López Obrador administration, culminating in unprecedented magistrate elections on June 1 to address systemic corruption and delays.