A candidate for a municipal oversight body was murdered in the Mexican state of Michoacán (west) hours before the start of the general elections this Sunday, the regional prosecutor’s office reported. This way, There are 26 candidates who were victims of crimes during the electoral process.
The last deceased was Israel Delgado Vega, 35 years old, candidate for trustee (comptroller) of the town of Cuitzeo for the Labor Party. The man was attacked with bullets on Saturday night near his home in the community of San Juan Benito Juárez, the Michoacán prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
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Delgado Vega was part of the team Rosa Elia Milan Painter, current mayor of Cuitzeo and candidate for re-election. According to reports, she was outside her home in the company of other people when He was attacked by two men on a motorcycle who fled. The Attorney General’s Office of the State of Michoacán (FGE) initiated an Investigation File in relation to the murder of the candidate.
That region was one of the hardest hit by political violencea phenomenon on the rise in Mexico since 2018 and behind which are organized crime gangs that dispute control of territories and seek to coerce local authorities.
However, this was not the only case of murder prior to these elections. Last Wednesday, José Alfredo Cabrera Barreintoscandidate for mayor of a district in southwestern Mexico, was shot dead at the closing ceremony of the campaign in the state of Puebla.
Given this crime, his widow was designated this Saturday as a substitute to participate in the election. The candidacy of Wendolin Solis Delgado37 years old, for the mayor of Coyuca de Benítez was accepted this Saturday night in an extraordinary session of the local electoral institute.
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In addition to this, a statement from the state prosecutor’s office confirmed the death of Jorge Huerta Cabrera, which occurred in the afternoon in the middle of the street, in the municipality of Izúcar de Matamoros, where he was a candidate. “The prosecutor’s office has carried out various investigative acts that continue and that include the removal of the body,” detailed a statement from the agency.
The authorities also reported that The politician’s wife and one of his collaborators were injured in the attack.. Huerta Cabrera, who according to local media was 30 years old, was competing for a seat in the Izúcar de Matamoros council with the Green Party, an ally of the ruling party Morena.
“His life was taken unjustly and violently”he said in a statement posted on social networks. Eliseo “El Chino” Moralescandidate for mayor of the municipality for the same party and close to the victim.
Electoral violence in Mexico: 320 cases and elections suspended
This Sunday’s election campaign, in which the president, federal legislators, nine governors and more than 20,000 local officials are elected, was marked by a wave of attacks against the candidates and that rebounded in the last week. In that sense, the federal government reported 22 murdered candidates as of Tuesday. Since then, four more candidate deaths have been recorded.
For its part, the organization Data Cívica reports thirty homicides of candidates since the campaign began The 23th of September. Meanwhile, the Third Electoral Laboratory Report entitled “Electoral Violence process 2023-2024” revealed that from June 4, 2023 to May 29, 2024 320 cases of electoral violence were recorded, of which 93 were murders (36 were applicants).
In addition to this, due to a series of attacks and the presence of alleged criminals, the authorities of Chiapas (south) decided to suspend the elections in two municipalities of that state bordering Guatemala: Pantelhó and Chicomuselo, inhabited by about 63,000 people. It was “determined not to hold elections” before “the situation of violence and ungovernability”said the regional Elections Institute (IEPC) in a statement
The electoral authority cited “acts of violence” like what happened on Friday morning, when unknown persons burned stationery for the elections at the IEPC facilities in Chicomuselo. In the case of Pantelhó, the electoral authorities indicated that, in the presence of alleged armed criminals, it was impossible to summon and train citizens to be responsible for receiving the vote.
On the other hand, less than twelve hours before the voting stations opened, the Guerrero prosecutor’s office reported the discovery on a rural road in Coyuca de Benítez de 51 artisanal explosives.
