Mexico: another newly elected mayor is murdered in the state of Guerrero

The Guerrero Prosecutor's Office reported that the mayor of the new regional party México Avanza (left) was murdered on the Acapulco-Pinotepa Nacional highway. This is Salvador Villalba Flores, who was elected in the recent elections in Mexico.

The authorities explained - according to AFP - that an investigation for qualified homicide was initiated, without giving more details.

El Sur de Guerrero, a newspaper from that region, noted that Villalba is a retired captain of the Navy Secretariat and had escorts from the National Guard, who, however, did not accompany him on the trip he was taking to Mexico City when he was murdered.

Furthermore, as AFP learned, Villalba decided to compete in the elections after the murder of his friend Jesús González Ríos, leader of the Green Party of Mexico in Copala, recorded on June 29, 2023.

Since the last elections, several political leaders have been assassinated in Mexico. Last week, the murder of the mayor of the municipality of Cotija, in the Mexican state of Michoacán, and Esmeralda Garzón Campos , councilor in the municipality of Tixtl, was also recorded.

The crimes occur at the end of the most violent electoral campaign in the contemporary history of Mexico. At least 70 people have been killed in cases related to electoral violence. Of these, more than 30 were candidates for public office.

"Political violence and widespread violence in Mexico have seen serious increases in recent years. National organizations such as Data Cívica have also initiated monitoring processes to understand how the increase in violence has been having strong impacts on the democratic life of the country," said the non-governmental organization Laboratorio Electoral.