The mayor of Chilpancingo, a city in southern Mexico, was murdered less than a week after being sworn into office. Authorities made this announcement on Sunday, which highlights the increasing number of attacks on politicians in Latin America’s crime-plagued nation.
In response to the killing of Mayor Alejandro Arcos, Guerrero state governor Evelyn Salgado stated that it “fills us with indignation,” without providing further details about the circumstances surrounding his death. Local media have reported that Arcos was decapitated, although there has been no official confirmation of this information.
Reuters has released photos on WhatsApp showing a severed head atop what appears to be Arcos’ vehicle; however, the news agency could not independently verify the authenticity of these images.
Arcos was elected in June as part of an opposition coalition that included the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which condemned his killing as a “cowardly crime” and called for justice. They also stated that they would continue to fight against violence and impunity, citing that the people of Guerrero do not deserve to live in fear.
This murder came only days after another city official was killed, according to PRI president Alejandro Moreno. He described Arcos and Tapia as “young and honest officials who sought progress for their community.”
Guerrero is one of Mexico’s poorest states and has experienced years of violence linked to turf wars between cartels fighting over control of drug production and trafficking. Last year, 1,890 murders were recorded in the state, which includes the beachside resort city of Acapulco.
Across Mexico, more than 450,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands have gone missing since the government deployed the army to combat drug trafficking in 2006. Politicians at the local level frequently fall victim to bloodshed connected to corruption and the multibillion-dollar drugs trade.
Tackling cartel violence is one of the major challenges facing Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first woman president. She has pledged to stick to her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs not bullets” strategy of using social policy to tackle crime at its roots.
She is due to unveil her security plan on Tuesday. At least 24 politicians were murdered during a particularly violent electoral process leading up to the June election that the key ruling party figure won by a landslide, according to official figures.
In June, at least three politicians in Guerrero were killed. Acacio Flores, who represents Malinaltepec, was killed just days after the killing of Salvador Villalba Flores, another mayor from Guerrero state elected in June 2 polls. Earlier in the month, a local councilwoman was gunned down as she was leaving her home in Guerrero.
Her murder came a few days after the mayor of a town in western Mexico and her bodyguard were killed outside of a gym, just hours after Sheinbaum won the presidency.
Source: CBS News
