Mexican mayor-elect kidnapped weeks before taking office

Mexico City, September 6 (dpa/GNA) – A mayor-elect has been kidnapped in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas just weeks before he took office.

Authorities said Thursday they have launched an investigation into his whereabouts.

According to media reports, Aníbal Roblero Castillo was kidnapped by armed individuals on Tuesday outside a café in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital of Chiapas.

The exact motives behind the incident were initially unclear.

Videos are circulating on social media that allegedly show the exact moment of the 54-year-old’s kidnapping.

Castillo is expected to take office in Frontera Comalapa on Oct. 1. The municipality, with a population of about 67,000, is near the Guatemalan border, an area where two drug cartels clash over drug and migrant trafficking routes.

The region has seen increasing violence in recent months, causing many villagers to flee their communities.

GNA