2024-04-21 11:46:27
Two mayoral candidates in Mexico were found dead yesterday, bringing the death toll in the run-up to the June 2 election to 17.
One of the candidates was killed on Friday in the northern border state of Tamaulipas, BTA reports. Noé Ramos Ferrettis ran from the coalition of the opposition Party of National Action and the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico until 2000. He ran for re-election as mayor of the city of Ciudad Mante.
Another mayoral candidate in the southern state of Oaxaca was found dead a day after being reported missing. Alberto García has run for mayor of the city of San José Independencia in Oaxaca.
Oaxaca state prosecutors said Garcia was found dead, apparently beaten to death, on an island in a dam near the city. In the past, drug gangs operated in the area.
The June 2 national elections are shaping up to be the most violent yet.
Prosecutors in Tamaulipas said Ramos Ferretis was attacked on Friday, but gave no details other than they were investigating.
Local media reported that he had been stabbed and published photos showing the bloodied body lying on the pavement. Tamaulipas has long been torn by turf wars between drug cartels. Ciudad Mante is located in the southern part of the state, relatively far from border cities such as Reynosa and Matamoros.
In Oaxaca, the state electoral commission condemned the death of Garcia, who disappeared with his wife – the current mayor of San Jose Independencia – earlier this week. The wife was found alive.
The electoral commission called Garcia’s death “murder” and said such crimes “should not happen during elections”.
Drug cartels in Mexico have often assassinated mayors and mayoral candidates to control local police or extort money from municipal governments.
In early April, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged that drug cartels often seek to determine who will be mayor — either by fielding a candidate or by eliminating potential rivals.