A district judge granted an immediate suspension of acts (*suspensión de plano*) to Mónica Zambada Niebla, protecting her against any acts of forced disappearance and torture, detention without an arrest warrant, as well as banishment and deportation—even though federal authorities have stated that no judicial warrant currently exists against her.
Zambada Niebla filed a legal challenge after she was detained—and subsequently released—on March 19 in the town of “El Álamo,” in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
The daughter of “El Mayo” sought protection against acts that would endanger her life, attacks on her personal liberty outside of due process, holding her incommunicado, deportation or expulsion, banishment, extradition, or forced disappearance.
In the *amparo* petition addressed to the judge, Zambada Niebla’s attorney noted that, pursuant to Article 15 of the *Amparo* Law, he requested that the petition for Indirect *Amparo* be formally accepted as filed on behalf of the petitioner.
“Given that her whereabouts remain unknown, I request that—once her physical location is ascertained—the court clerk assigned to this district court kindly proceed to obtain the petitioner’s signature and ratification of this document, as it has been filed on her behalf.
“Therefore, I appear before this court to seek the *Amparo* and Protection of Federal Justice in my capacity as legal representative, by virtue of the fact that the direct petitioners are currently unable to file for *amparo* relief against the acts of the authorities—which I shall specify in the corresponding section—and for the purpose of complying with the provisions of Article 15, given that the acts in question are of a grave nature, specifically: forced disappearance, unlawful deprivation of liberty, endangerment of life, banishment, and being held incommunicado,” the attorney detailed.
