Since September, at least 28 candidates for local office have been assassinated across Mexico. Cartels, bands or gangs would seek to “impose candidates” in elections.
Nine people were killed in two attacks against candidates in the local elections on June 2 in Chiapas, in southern Mexico, the prosecutor’s office in this region, a new target for organized crime, said on Sunday. One of the two candidates was injured in these attacks which occurred during the night from Saturday to Sunday in Villa Corzo and Mapastepec, the prosecutor’s office said in its press releases.
The prosecution initially announced three deaths in Villa Corzo, before confirming that one injured person had died in hospital. Five people were killed in Mapastepec. Overtaken by the violence of organized delinquency, Chiapas has for several days been experiencing attacks against candidates for municipal elections.
Thursday evening, six people were killed in Concordia near Villa Corzo, including candidate Lucero Lopez during an ambush after a campaign rally. In San Cristobal de las Casas, the tourist capital of Chiapas, the candidate for president of the municipal council of the Partido Verde, Linda Higuera Gutiérrez, also denounced an attack against her campaign team.
Dangerous political engagement
Since September, at least 28 candidates for local office have been assassinated across Mexico, according to the latest figures from the NGO Data Civica as of Thursday. The violence affects all parties, whether the ruling left-wing Morena, the PRI-PAN-PRD opposition coalition, or the Movimiento ciudadano.
Cartels, bands or gangs seek to “impose candidates” in the elections, the prosecutor for electoral crimes in the state of Michoacan (West), Victor Serrato, recently explained to AFP. The procedure is more or less the same: “criminals choose a candidate” and let others know that they “do not have the right” to introduce oneself.
Read alsoFight between cartels, homicides, kidnappings… Delving into the heart of the border of Chiapas, the poorest state in Mexico
Mexico is preparing to organize the biggest elections in its history on June 2: presidential, Congress and Senate, nine governorates out of 32 states, and a myriad of local elections. A little more than 20,000 mandates are to be filled in total.
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