Attackers gunned down a mayor in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero on Wednesday (October 6), while a state politician was also shot to death in the neighbouring state of Morelos.
While attacks on public officials are not uncommon in Mexico, these come at a time when the security strategy of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is being sharply debated. He has placed tremendous responsibility on the armed forces rather than civilian police for reining in Mexico’s persistently high levels of violence.
Guerrero’s security coordination group confirmed the killing of Conrado Mendoza, mayor of San Miguel Totolapan, in a statement. The remote township is in Tierra Caliente, one of Mexico’s most conflictive areas which is disputed by multiple drug trafficking gangs.
In 2016, Totolapan locals fed up with abductions by the local gang ‘Los Tequileros’ kidnapped the gang leader’s mother to leverage the release of others. Late on Wednesday, local media outlets said at least eight people were killed in the attack, but there was no confirmation from authorities.
In Cuernavaca, Morelos State Attorney General Uriel Carmona said two armed men traveling on a motorcycle fatally shot state Deputy Gabriela Marin as she exited a vehicle. Local outlets said Marin, a member of the Morelos Progress party, was killed at a pharmacy in Cuernavaca, while a person with her was reportedly wounded in the attack.
Morelos Governor Cuauhtemoc Blanco denounced the attack and said on Twitter that security forces were searching for the attackers. He wrote: “I condemn the cowardly murder of local deputy Gabriela Marin.
“The security operation has been deployed in order to find those responsible. In Morelos we are not going to allow attacks that harm our society.”
The deaths of Mendoza and Marin brought the number of mayors killed during Lopez Obrador’s administration to 18 and the number of state politicians to eight, according to data from Etellekt Consultores.
Mexico’s Congress this week is debating the president’s proposal to extend the military’s policing duties to 2028. Last month, politicians approved Lopez Obrador’s push to transfer the ostensibly civilian National Guard to military control.
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