By The newspaper
Mar 31, 2024, 16:28 PM EDT
Alleged hitmen shot dead Guillermo Torres Rojas, mayor of the municipality of Churumuco, in the state of Michoacán, western Mexico, on Saturday night, state authorities reported this Sunday.
Torres Rojas was shot around 10:30 Saturday night. According to a statement from the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) cited by the EFE agency, those responsible were a pair of armed men who broke into the El Infierno restaurant, located in the west of the Historic Center of the city of Morelia, capital of Michoacán. .
The hitmen fired at least four bullets into the mayor’s chest, although his 13-year-old son was also collaterally wounded by a gunshot.
Torres Rojas, 39 years old, died of cardiac arrest at the Star Médica private hospital, in the south of Morelia, as a result of the shooting, according to the police report published by the Mexican media Milenio.
After the attack, police and agents of the Mexican Army began operations in various parts of Morelia, in search of the murderers who managed to flee on a motorcycle, EFE detailed.
Who was Torres Rojas?
Guillermo Torres Rojas won the mayoralty of Churumuco in the 2021 elections, championed by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), although months later he resigned from that political institute to join the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), founded by the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Churumuco is a municipality located in the Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán, where there is a strong fight between criminal organizations calling themselves the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG), the Churumuco Cartel, the Zicuarán Cartel and the Knights Templar.
On January 6, the Civil Guard (state police) deployed an operation in Churumuco, which caused citizen protests that according to state authorities were organized by one of the drug trafficking cartels.
During the protests, a Civil Guard agent was kidnapped by armed civilians, who murdered him and abandoned him on a highway in Churumuco.
They mourn his death
Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, governor of Michoacán, mourned the death of Guillermo Torres Rojas through a message on his X account, formerly called Twitter.
“It is with regret that we receive the sad news of the death of Guillermo Torres Rojas, municipal president of Churumuco. Our most sincere condolences to his family, friends and community in these difficult times. We will not rest until we clarify these unfortunate events and find those responsible,” said Ramírez Bedolla.
With information from EFE.
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