Day 696 — Zaldívar Clarifies Constitutional Test for Barring Fugitives From Candidacies

On August 28, 2026 (Day 696, Friday), retired Supreme Court justice Arturo Zaldívar appeared at the mañanera to clarify the constitutional criteria — Article 38 — governing when a person under investigation or with an arrest warrant can be barred from running for office, following questions raised after Sheinbaum's August 25 announcement of a dual-nationality candidacy ban tied to fugitive ex-Tamaulipas governor Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca. Zaldívar said merely having an arrest warrant does not by itself suspend a person's political rights; two elements must be shown together — an active arrest warrant and evidence the person is actively evading justice ("que una persona sea prófuga de la justicia") — distinguishing the constitutional text from how the Supreme Court and Electoral Tribunal have applied it in practice. Sheinbaum said the clarification was needed because "una cosa es lo que dice la Constitución y las leyes y otra lo que" the courts have resolved case by case.