Nine dead after attacks on Mexican mayoral candidates

Two attacks on mayoral candidates in Mexico’s June elections left nine people dead in the southern state of Chiapas, prosecutors in the organized crime-plagued region said Sunday.

The two candidates survived attacks Saturday evening and early Sunday in the municipalities of Villa Corzo and Mapastepec, although one was injured, a statement said.

The attacks marked an escalation of violence in Chiapas against politicians seeking office in the June 2 vote in which Mexicans will also elect a new president.

Last week, six people, including a minor and mayoral candidate Lucero Lopez, were killed in an ambush after a campaign rally in the municipality of La Concordia, neighboring Villa Corzo.

According to the NGO Data Civica, more than two dozen politicians have been killed since September last year.

The number of victims rises to over 50 people if relatives and other victims of these attacks are included.

Prosecutors said the attack in Villa Corzo targeted a motorcade carrying Mayor Robertony Orozco, who is seeking re-election for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s Morena party.

Three people died in the attack, another later in hospital.

Orozco was shot in both legs, the statement said.

– cartel rivalry –

In Mapastepec, attackers targeted the motorcade of mayoral candidate Nicolas Noriega, who escaped unhurt, but five other people were killed and two people were injured.

Since the government of then-President Felipe Calderón launched a controversial military offensive against drug cartels in 2006, more than 450,000 people have been murdered in Mexico due to increasing criminal violence.

Since then, the murder rate has almost tripled to 23 cases per 100,000 residents.

Polls show many Mexicans see insecurity as the most pressing challenge for the next government.

Election campaigns in Chiapas are often violent, but the situation has worsened due to a war between the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels in a region called La Frailesca, which includes Villa Corzo and La Concordia.

The cartels fight over drug trafficking routes and control of other criminal enterprises such as extortion.

Mapastepec is a strategically important area due to its proximity to the Pacific coast.

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