Mayor-elect assassinated in southwest Mexico

MEXICO CITY

The elected mayor of a southwestern Mexican town was shot and killed while on his way back from a trip to Mexico City, authorities said Monday.

According to initial reports, Copala Mayor Salvador Villalva, a former captain in the Mexican Navy, was pulled off the bus where he was traveling by gunmen, who shot him moments later.

Villalva, who was elected in the June 2 national elections, had assigned National Guard troops for security but they were not with him when he was shot since security was only provided within Guerrero, the state where Copala is situated.

Political violence in Mexico marked the last elections on June 2. With 37 killings of political candidates for various positions, including mayor, the campaigns were the most violent in the country's history, with Guerrero, a coastal state, among those hardest hit.

With eight killings of political candidates, the international tourism hotspot was a testament to the violence and insecurity plaguing the entire country.

However, the spate of killings was not limited to candidates; organized crime took the lives of allies and even family members of the candidates. Mexican think tanks such as Laboratorio Electoral counted a total of 84 murders from June 2023 to this June 2.

The Mexico Avanza party, the minor political party whose banner Villalva ran under, even withdrew from the mayoral race in Teloloapan, Guerrero after alleged threats from organized crime.

But Evelyn Salgado, the state’s governor, gave assurances that the elections would be peaceful and deployed 27,000 National Guard troops for that purpose.

Political violence has spread beyond Election Day. On June 7, councilwoman Esmeralda Garzon was shot and killed outside her home in Tixtla, Guerrero.

In addition, Candy Espinoza Rios, a candidate of the ruling Morena party alliance, disappeared from Copala along with her family amid threats.