Mexican mayor murdered a few days after taking office

The mayor of a city in southern Mexico was assassinated less than a week after taking office, authorities said, a crime President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned Monday as “deplorable.”

Local media reported that Chilpancingo mayor Alejandro Arcos had been beheaded and his head was found on the hood of a pickup truck, but there was no official confirmation.

An investigation is underway to determine the motive and arrest those responsible, Sheinbaum told a news conference.

The killing was the latest in a series of deadly attacks on politicians in the violence-wracked Latin American country – and the second in recent days in Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero state.

The killing “fills us with outrage,” Guerrero state Governor Evelyn Salgado wrote on social media, without providing further details about the circumstances.

Arcos was elected in June as a representative of an opposition coalition that also included the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which denounced his killing as a “cowardly crime” and called for justice.

‘Enough violence and impunity! The people of Guerrero do not deserve to live in fear,” social media platform X said.

According to PRI President Alejandro Moreno, the killing came just days after the murder of another city official, Francisco Tapia.

“They had been in office for less than a week. Young and honest officials who sought progress for their community,” Moreno said on X.

Mexican politicians, especially at the local level, often fall victim to bloodshed linked to corruption and the multi-billion dollar drug trade.

– Family pays tribute –

Hours before his death, Arcos had posted photos on social media of visiting local communities affected by a recent hurricane.

In a message posted to Facebook after his death, Arcos’ family paid tribute to his “unwavering commitment to peace, unity and service to others.”

Guerrero, one of Mexico’s poorest states, has endured years of violence linked to wars between cartels battling for control over drug production and trafficking.

Last year, 1,890 murders were recorded in the state, home to the seaside resort of Acapulco, a former playground of the rich and famous that is now plagued by crime.

More than 450,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands have gone missing across Mexico in a spiral of violence since the government deployed the military to combat drug trafficking in 2006.

Tackling the cartel violence that makes murder and kidnapping an everyday occurrence in Mexico is one of the biggest challenges facing Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female president.

The former mayor of Mexico City, who was sworn in on October 1, has pledged to stick to her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” strategy of using social policies to tackle crime at its roots to tackle.

She will unveil her safety plan on Tuesday.

“We will be working particularly in some states with increased presence, intelligence and investigation, in coordination with the governors,” she said.

At least 24 politicians were killed in a particularly violent electoral process ahead of the June elections, which saw the ruling party’s main figure win in a landslide, according to official figures.