Mexican Election Season Begins, Along With Murders, As Mayoral Candidate Is Killed

Armed gunmen killed a mayoral candidate from Mexico’s ruling party, Morena, this week during an event on the first day of campaigning for municipal elections in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, the Associated Press reported. 

Anuar Valencia was killed in the small rural town of Coxquihui in east-central Mexico just after an event launching his campaign when more than two dozen gunmen started shooting at his campaign headquarters. 

Before the shooting, state interior secretary Ricardo Ahued Bardahuil said that candidates from different parties had already filed 20 reports to the state prosecutor’s office over security issues. 

Municipal elections will take place in Veracruz’s 212 municipalities on June 1. 

Election violence has been a serious problem in Mexico, and attacks on politicians are on the rise, according to Reuters. Last year, dozens of candidates or aspiring candidates were killed in the runup to Mexican elections in June. 

Analysts say municipal political candidates in Mexico are the most vulnerable to election violence due to organized crime groups’ attempts to control local governments and police. 

Earlier this week, another local Mexican politician, Jose Luis Pereira, a senior member of the Teocaltiche city government, was shot and killed while dining at a restaurant in western Mexico’s troubled Jalisco state, CBS News reported. 

The state’s municipal police chief was murdered on April 15.