Yucatán gubernatorial candidate injured in highway accident

A Yucatán gubernatorial candidate and supporters of presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum were injured in separate highway accidents Wednesday morning.

Joaquín Díaz Mena, the Morena party’s candidate for governor of Yucatán, said on social media that he was involved in a car accident while traveling on the highway to Mérida on Tuesday after a rally in Chemax, a municipality on the border with Quintana Roo.

In a post to X, Díaz said that some members of his team were injured, but he was fine.

However, in a subsequent voice message to X, the candidate announced that he had suffered “some bumps” in the accident in the commune of Seyé and would spend “a few days” in hospital.

In another post, he wrote that he suffered a “minor fracture” and an injury to his eyelid as a result of a “blow to the face.”

Díaz, best known as “Huacho,” added that he would need to undergo surgery later due to the injuries he sustained in the highway accident.

Citing preliminary reports, the newspaper El Financiero reported that the driver of the gubernatorial candidate’s vehicle was distracted before the accident on the highway occurred.

The SUV reportedly crashed into a stationary heavy vehicle. A photo posted on social media showed that the vehicle, a Ford Explorer, was significantly damaged.

Díaz, the driver and another person were taken to a hospital in Mérida. It was unclear what injuries the driver and the other person sustained, but they did not appear to be life-threatening.

Díaz is seeking to become the first governor of Yucatán to belong to the Morena party. According to a recent poll by the newspaper El Universal, he is more than 12 percentage points behind the PAN-PRI candidate Renán Barrera.

Supporter of Claudia Sheinbaum injured on the way to CDMX campaign rally

The Ministry of Civil Protection of Veracruz reported on X that 18 people were injured when a bus went off the road and overturned on the La Tinaja-Cosoleacaque highway in the Gulf Coast state.

The injured passengers were taken to local hospitals. The severity of their injuries was unclear, but according to a senatorial candidate from the Morena party in Veracruz, they are not life-threatening. Manuel Huerta Ladrón de Guevara said the injured were in stable condition in the hospital.

Rocío Nahle, Morena’s candidate for governor in Veracruz, said the bus involved in the accident was carrying Morena members and supporters to Mexico City, where they were to attend Claudia Sheinbaum’s “campaign closing event” in the Zócalo, the capital’s central square.

“I am in contact with the Veracruz authorities to take care of my colleagues from (the municipality of) Oluta who had a highway accident,” Nahle wrote on X.

The accident occurred in the municipality of Cosamaloapan in the south of Veracruz on the state’s border with Oaxaca. Authorities have not publicly commented on the cause of the crash.

Sheinbaum, the clear favorite for this Sunday’s presidential election, has not commented on the accident, but told Channel X that she had spoken to Díaz, the injured gubernatorial candidate.

The former mayor of Mexico City’s final campaign rally was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. on Wednesday in the Zócalo.

With reports from El Financiero, Reforma and Animal Político