In Mexico, a mayor is brutally murdered just days after taking office – Dnyuz

The mayor of a capital in southwestern Mexico was assassinated on Sunday, less than a week after taking office. The official’s death was the second in days in Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero state, and reflected some of the most horrific days of the country’s drug war.

Alejandro Arcos Catalán, 43, was sworn in as mayor of Chilpancingo last Monday. Just before he took office, the region was flooded by heavy rains and buffeted by the winds of Hurricane John.

On Sunday, Mr. Arcos Catalán visited some affected communities and delivered water and other necessities to residents. “We are working non-stop to reopen roads for affected communities,” he said on social media. “Together we will rebuild Chilpancingo.”

Hours later, his killing was confirmed by the attorney general’s office in Guerrero and other state authorities. He had been beheaded, according to an official with knowledge of the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly. His head remained on a white pickup truck; the rest of his body was inside the vehicle, the official said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the murder of Mr Arcos Catalán.

Days before he took office, a group of armed men shot his intended security minister, a former head of the Guerrero police special unit. And last Thursday, the secretary general of the municipal council was shot dead in broad daylight.

The case of Mr. Arcos Catalán is yet the most gruesome murder of a Mexican politician since President Claudia Sheinbaum’s inauguration last week. It brought back memories of the tactics used in the darkest days of Mexico’s drug war, when criminals publicly displayed dismembered bodies to terrorize the population.

Ms. Sheinbaum inherits many challenges from her mentor and predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, perhaps the most pressing of which is cartel violence, though she has repeatedly minimized the issue on the campaign trail and since taking office.

“We do not share this idea that there is widespread violence in the country,” she told supporters earlier this year, as cases of murdered candidates began to pile up ahead of June’s general election.

A total of 41 candidates for public office were killed, making it one of the deadliest election cycles in Mexico’s recent history.

The first days of Ms. Sheinbaum’s administration have already been marked by violence.

Last week, Mexican soldiers shot dead six migrants after apparently mistaking them for cartel members. And government data shows that an average of 81 people per day have been killed across the country so far in October. If the trend continues, this could be the most violent month in recent years.

In Sinaloa state, a war between rival factions of the powerful Sinaloa cartel has led to a spike in deaths and kidnappings in northwestern Mexico, although Ms. Sheinbaum has responded by saying the state does not have the highest murder rate. Instead, she has focused attention on Guanajuato, an opposition-ruled state where fighting between two cartels over racketeering operations and territory has led to brutal mass killings.

Ms. Sheinbaum is expected to unveil her national security plan on Tuesday and is expected to place great emphasis on an approach rooted in improved intelligence and research.

Her predecessor, Mr. López Obrador, relied heavily on the military and National Guard to patrol the country’s most restive regions, although that rarely led to direct confrontations with criminal groups. Ms. Sheinbaum has pledged to continue this strategy.

In recent years, Chilpancingo has been the focus of deadly clashes between rival cartels battling each other to infiltrate and control the local economy. The city was governed by the president’s Morena party until Mr. Arcos Catalán, a candidate from a coalition of opposition parties, was elected.

On Sunday evening, after his murder was confirmed, the streets of Chilpancingo emptied. Some schools suspended classes on Monday.

“We have always talked about a peace project. It has been our banner, our proposition. And that is what we strive for,” Mr. Arcos Catalán said in a radio interview after the killing of his colleagues, asking state and federal authorities to protect him and his team. ‘We need them. We need them to move forward.”

The post In Mexico, a mayor is brutally murdered just days after taking office first appeared in the New York Times.