Authorities in southern Mexico announced Saturday that a mayor was assassinated, just a few days after another politician was killed in the same lawless cartel region.
The murder of Acacio Flores, who represents Malinaltepec, comes days after the killing of Salvador Villalba Flores, another mayor from Guerrero state elected in June 2 polls.
Prosecutors in Guerrero said in a statement that Flores’ death had been ruled a homicide and agents of the Ministerial Investigative Police were probing the case.
The body of Flores was discovered with a bullet wound to the back of the head in the back of a van in Malinaltepec, a human rights campaigner told AFP.
The rights activist had been involved in negotiations to free the politician after he was detained Thursday in an indigenous village. The mayor, who belongs to the Solidarity Encounter Party (PES), was attacked and kidnapped while traveling to Alacatlazala, local media reported.
The public prosecutor in Guerrero said a murder investigation had been opened, and they were reviewing possible land ownership disputes.
Evelyn Salgado Pineda, the governor of Guerrero, condemned the murder on social media and promised that authorities would “identify, locate and bring to justice the perpetrators.”
In the days leading up to his death, Flores had taken to social media to say he was “delivering results” and “leaving a mark on the most remote villages of the municipality.”
Since Mexico’s campaign season began last September, around 30 political candidates have been killed, according to Data Civica, a non-governmental organization.
In Mexico’s general election on June 2, leftist Claudia Sheinbaum was elected by an overwhelming majority as the first woman president of the country.
Since the election, two female politicians have been killed. An armed gunman shot and killed a local councilwoman as she was leaving her home in Guerrero earlier this month.
A few days before her murder, a Mexican mayor and her bodyguard were murdered outside a gym on the day Sheinbaum won the presidency.
| ÚLTIMA HORA: Fue asesinada Gisela Gaytán, candidata del partido Morena a la alcaldía de Celaya en Guanajuato, México.
La candidata fue atacada a balazos mientras se encontraba en un mitin en la comunidad de San Miguel Octopan. pic.twitter.com/Tc1PZGBMn5
— Alerta Mundial (@AlertaMundoNews) April 2, 2024
Guerrero, heavily impacted by drug cartel violence due to its position along Mexico’s Pacific coast, reported 1,890 murders in 2023. It is one of six Mexican states that the U.S. State Department recommends Americans avoid entirely due to concerns about crime and violence.
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