Mayor shot dead in Mexico – one day after Claudia Sheinbaum’s historic election victory

The mayor of a city in western Mexico was killed on Monday, the regional government said, barely 24 hours after Claudia Sheinbaum was elected mayor of the Latin American country. first president.

The government of the state of Michoacán has “condemned the murder of the mayor of Cotija, Yolanda Sanchez Figueroa,” the regional interior ministry said in a post on social media.

The mayor’s murder came after Sheinbaum’s overwhelming victory sparked hope for change in a country ravaged by rampant gender-based violence.

Sanchez, who was elected mayor in the 2021 elections, was gunned down on a public street, according to local media. Her Facebook profile said she was “marked by my preparation and desire to make Cotija a better place to live.”

Authorities did not provide further details about the killing, but said a security operation had been launched to arrest the killers.

The politician was kidnapped in September last year as he left a shopping center in the city of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, which borders Michoacan.

Three days later, the federal government announced that she had been found alive.

According to local media reports, the kidnappers were among the powerful Jalisco Cartel – New Generation (CJNG), who allegedly threatened the mayor because she opposed the takeover of her municipality’s police force by a criminal group.

Michoacan is known for its tourist destinations and a thriving agricultural export industry, but is also one of the most violent states in the country due to the presence of extortion and drug gangs. In March, three farmers killed by a bomb apparently placed on a dirt road in Michoacan, just days after Mexico’s outgoing president acknowledged that an improvised explosive device had killed at least four soldiers, calling it a “trap” likely set by a cartel.

Election marked by bloodshed

At least 23 political candidates were killed in the campaign before the elections – including a mayoral candidate whose Murder was caught on camera last week. Alfredo Cabrera’s death came just one day after the election of a mayoral candidate in the central Mexican state of Morelos. murdered.

In the week before nine people were killed in two attacks on mayoral candidates in the southern state of Chiapas. The two candidates survived.

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

A mayoral candidate was shot last month just as she began her election campaign.

To increase security on election day, around 27,000 soldiers and members of the National Guard were deployed.