The mayor of a southern Mexican city was assassinated less than a week after taking office, authorities said Sunday, the latest in a series of attacks against politicians in the Latin American country prey to violence.
The assassination of Chilpancingo Mayor Alejandro Arcos “fills us with indignation,” Guerrero state Governor Evelyn Salgado wrote on social media, without providing further details on the circumstances.
Local media reported that Arcos had been beheaded, but there was no official confirmation.
Reuters reported that photos circulating on WhatsApp showed a severed head on top of what appeared to be Arcos’ vehicle, but the news agency could not independently verify the authenticity of the photos.
JESUS GUERRERO/AFP via Getty Images
Arcos was elected in June as part of an opposition coalition that included the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which denounced his assassination as a “cowardly crime” and demanded justice.
“Enough of the violence and impunity! The people of Guerrero do not deserve to live in fear,” he said on X.
His assassination came a few days after that of another municipal official, Francisco Tapia, according to PRI president Alejandro Moreno.
“They had been in power for less than a week. Young and honest civil servants who sought progress for their community,” Moreno said on X.
Guerrero, one of Mexico’s poorest states, has endured years of violence linked to internecine wars between cartels fighting for control of drug production and trafficking.
Last year, 1,890 murders were recorded in the state, which is home to the resort town of Acapulcoa former playground for the rich and famous, now ravaged by crime. Guerrero is among six states in Mexico that the U.S. State Department advises Americans to avoid altogether, citing crime and violence.
In Mexico, more than 450,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands have disappeared in a spiral of violence since the government deployed the army to combat drug trafficking in 2006.
Politicians, particularly at the local level, to be the victim of a bloodbath linked to corruption and the multi-billion dollar drug trade.
Combating the cartel violence that makes murders and kidnappings commonplace in Mexico is among the major challenges we face. Claudia Sheinbaum, First female president of Mexico.
Sheinbaum, the former Mexico City mayor who was sworn in Oct. 1, pledged to stick to his predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” strategy of using politics social approach to attack the root causes of crime.
She must unveil her security plan on Tuesday.
At least 24 politicians have been assassinated during a particularly violent electoral process that preceded the June elections, which the main ruling party won by a landslide, according to official figures.
In June, at least three Guerrero politicians were killed. Acacia flowerswho represents Malinaltepec, was killed just days after assassination of Salvador Villalba Floresanother mayor of the state of Guerrero elected in the June 2 elections. Earlier in the month, a local municipal councilor was shot dead as she left her home in Guerrero.
His killing came days after the mayor of a western Mexican town and his bodyguard were killed. killed in front of a gymjust hours after Sheinbaum won the presidency.
