Mexico: Federal deputy shot dead in Veracruz

Authorities reported that a deputy in Mexico's federal congress was shot dead Monday in the state of Veracruz, where he was a representative. Benito Aguas Atlahua was a representative of the 18th district of the municipality of Zongolica.

"The State Attorney General's Office reports that, regrettably, the federal deputy for the 18th district of Zongolica, Benito Aguas Atlahua, has died as a result of wounds caused by an act of aggression with a firearm," the Veracruz Attorney General's Office wrote on X.

Following the attack, the deputy was transferred to a hospital for medical attention and was in serious condition.

In this regard, the Attorney General’s Office also detailed that at the scene of the attack, which occurred in the community of Tepenacaxtla, part of the municipality of Zongolica, the body of a man identified as Agustín Linares was also found.

Aguas Atlahua was a militant of the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM), which together with the Labor Party (PT) and Morena, the party of President Claudia Sheinbaum, make up the ruling coalition that controls with large majorities the Mexican bicameral congress, recalls AFP.

Veracruz, located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, is a territory disputed by criminal groups due to its strategic location for the transfer of drugs into the United States and the passage of undocumented migrants into the country.