By Deutsche Welle
05 May 2024, 18:18 PM EDT
Authorities reported that at least two people died in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas during an attack against a mayoral candidate. They noted that the official managed to escape unharmed, but one of the dead apparently was his son.
According to a report from the State Prosecutor’s Office, the attack against candidate Juan Gómez Morales, 48, of the local political party Chiapas Unidos, occurred on Friday in Benemérito de las Américas, a town near the border with Guatemala.
The Prosecutor’s Office carries out the investigation
One of the victims would be the candidate’s son, according to the regional party. Authorities identified him only by his first name.
The Prosecutor’s Office “is carrying out the corresponding procedures, interviews and field forensics, to clarify the facts,” the statement detailed.
The Chiapas Unidos leader, Conrado Cifuentes, told reporters that the other person killed in the attack would be a candidate for the municipal legislature.
He said that Gómez Morales was unharmed and is “somewhere,” declining to give details for security reasons.
“We very much regret and condemn the events that occurred today (Friday) in the municipality of Benemérito de las Américas, where our candidate Juan Gómez Morales suffered an attack,” said Cifuentes.
Chiapas candidates threatened
For more than two years, the municipality of Benemérito de las Américas, located in the Lacandona Jungle, has been immersed in a wave of violence due to the dispute over territory between criminal organizations.
According to this party, two of its candidates in Chiapas have been threatened to make them renounce their political aspirations.
On April 27, it was reported that Rey David Gutiérrez, candidate for mayor of Frontera Comala for the Labor Party, had been taken from his home by armed men.
The politician appeared on Wednesday, May 1, in a video on social networks assuring that he was fine. He briefly referred to his disappearance, but without confirming whether it was a kidnapping.
Since September 23, 2023, when the process for the June 2024 general elections began, 25 candidates for office have been murdered leading up to the elections on June 2 of this year, according to a report on electoral violence from the civil organization Data Cívica.
For several years, the spiral of violence linked to organized crime has reached politicians from various parties in Mexico, especially those who hold or aspire to regional positions.
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