TEXISTEPEC – A mayoral candidate from Mexico’s ruling party in the Veracruz state was shot dead along with four others in her company. This marks the second death of a local candidate in the run-up to the June 1 election, authorities announced on Monday.
There were reports later Monday that two federal agents were killed in another part of the state.
The attack targeted Yesenia Lara Gutiérrez, of the Morena party, as she led a caravan of supporters in Texistepec on Sunday. Additionally, the assault left three people injured.
On Monday, Veracruz Governor Rocío Nahle, also affiliated with President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Morena party, confirmed that one of the victims was Lara Gutiérrez’s daughter.
Texistepec is a town of 20,000 southwest of the important petroleum industry port of Coatzacoalcos.
“No (elected) position is worth dying for,” Nahle said in a press conference Monday, where she promised justice.
“All of the state’s power will be present in coming days so that the elections are free and democratic,” she said.
At a wake Monday in Texistepec, family and friends mourned Lara Gutiérrez and spoke about the fear the violence stirred around the election.
“We can’t continue with the insecurity, we’re tired of all of this, this is terrorism,” said supporter Joaquín Fonseca. “There are five people dead, not one. We’re living the worst of the terrorism.”
Family friend Cruz Morales said the violence is so bad that “we’re afraid to go into the fields, to go see our family in the evening, because we don’t know what’s going to happen to us on the way.”
Lara Gutiérrez was the second mayoral candidate killed in Veracruz during the campaign. On April 29, the first official day of campaigning, gunmen killed Germán Anuar Valencia, also from the governing party at his campaign headquarters in Coxquihui in the northern part of Veracruz.
Nahle said that 57 local candidates had requested security offered by the state and federal government. It was not immediately clear if Lara Gutiérrez had.
Municipal elections are scheduled in Veracruz’s 212 municipalities for June 1.
Local candidates are historically the most vulnerable to election violence as organized criminal groups seek to gain control of local governments.
Later Monday, local press reported that two federal agents and a third person were killed in an attack in the coastal city of Boca del Rio, Veracruz. An Associated Press photojournalist saw federal agents and soldiers maintaining a perimeter around the scene of the shooting.
Neither state nor federal authorities immediately responded to requests to confirm the toll.
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Alemán reported from Xalapa, Mexico.
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