Mexico: a candidate is killed in the middle of the campaign …

A mayoral candidate in the Mexican municipality of Moroleón, in the violent state of Guanajuato, was assassinated while leading an election campaign. One hour before the crime Alma Rosa Barragán, of the Citizen Movement party, carried out a live broadcast on Facebook inviting the inhabitants of the municipality to come and listen to their electoral proposals and giving some details about where he was. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador condemned the savage murder and said the case was under investigation. He also asked the population not to be afraid to go out and vote in the regional elections on June 6.

The attack took place around 6 p.m. Tuesday in Moroleón, the same town where eight days ago, the candidate for the local deputation by the alliance formed by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Juan Guzmán Ramírez, was shot but survived. Barragán was at a campaign event on the outskirts of the municipality, just four kilometers from where the attack on Guzmán Ramírez took place, when she was attacked with bullets. The candidate died at the scene and two other people were injured, so they were rushed to the local hospital.

“Yesterday (Tuesday) is very unhappy. Our condolences to his relatives. It is an unfortunate situation because it occurs in the middle of the electoral process”President López Obrador said at his usual morning press conference at the National Palace. The president assured that this attack comes from “people who want to create instability” and claimed that they were people linked to organized crime.

He recalled that Guanajuato is a state where there are many clashes “unfortunately between groups”, and stressed that they are collaborating with the state authorities in the investigation and will continue to provide protection to candidates who do so. make the request. He insisted that These types of crimes aim to scare society away from going to the polls in the June 6 elections..

In a statement, the citizens’ movement, for which Barragán was a candidate, demanded that the authorities “swift justice, thorough investigation and punishment of those responsible for this scandalous event”. Barragán is the third candidate to be assassinated in this electoral process in Guanajuato, a state which since 2018 has concentrated the highest number of intentional killings committed in Mexico. The first victim was Juan Antonio Acosta Cano, who was the National Action Party (PAN) candidate for mayor of Juventino Rosas and was assassinated on January 12 while exercising in the streets of said municipality. Later, Alejandro Galicia Juárez, a candidate for the post of PRD adviser in the municipality of Apaseo El Grande, was killed in a gunshot attack.

According to the Guanajuato Government Secretariat, eight candidates have so far requested a personal security measure. for the feeling that their integrity is in danger. The electoral campaign in Mexico is marked by strong violence, with at least 88 politicians murdered, including 34 candidates or candidates, according to consulting firm Etellekt. In the middle of this time Mexico will celebrate its election day on June 6 to elect 500 federal deputies, 15 of 32 state governors, 30 local congresses and 1,900 city councils, in what is considered the biggest elections in the country.