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Mayoral candidate shot dead at campaign rally in Mexican state of Guerrero | Political news

The murder of Alfredo Cabrera is the latest in a series of attacks ahead of Sunday’s elections.

A mayoral candidate was shot dead at a campaign rally in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, the latest in a series of attacks ahead of Sunday’s elections.

Alfredo Cabrera was murdered on Wednesday in the town of Coyuca de Benitez. A video published by local media shows a person approaching him during the campaign rally and firing several shots at him from close range.

Cabrera’s killing is another of the deaths in the run-up to the presidential, congressional and local elections on June 2. The government said on Tuesday that at least 22 people running for local office had been murdered since last September.

On Tuesday, a mayoral candidate was killed in the central state of Morelos, while another was shot and wounded in the western state of Jalisco, authorities said.


Cabrera was part of an opposition coalition that supported Xochitl Galvez, a center-right senator and businesswoman of indigenous origin who is currently in second place in the presidential election in the polls.

Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado condemned the “cowardly” murder and told Channel X that she had called on prosecutors to apply “the full force of the law against the person or persons responsible.”

According to the public prosecutor’s office, the alleged attacker was killed at the crime scene.

Security concerns

Drug cartels have frequently carried out political assassinations in order to gain control of local police forces or extort money from local governments.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador admitted in early April that the cartels often tried to determine the mayoral post – either by putting forward their own candidates or by eliminating potential competitors.

“They make an agreement and say, ‘This person is going to be mayor; we don’t want anyone else to register to run.’ And anyone who does so knows what to expect,” he said at the time.

In response to the recent killings, the government has provided bodyguards for around 250 candidates, while candidates for local government offices – who are most at risk – are at the bottom of the list when it comes to security.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), one of the opposition coalition parties, accused the government of “not making the slightest effort to ensure the safety of the candidates.”

About 27,000 soldiers and members of the National Guard will be deployed to provide greater security during Sunday’s elections.