Mexico: Mayor in San Luis Potosi shot to death

The mayor of a town in the north-central Mexican state of San Luis Potosí was fatally shot on Sunday, according to local authorities.

He was Jesús Eduardo Franco, mayor of the municipality of Tancanhuitz, who was killed along with three other people, according to reports from the state prosecutor's office picked up by AFP.

"We deeply regret the death of our colleague Eduardo Franco, municipal president of Tancanhuitz," Rita Rodriguez, president in the state of the Morena party, to which the mayor belonged, wrote on the social network X Rita Rodriguez. "We ask the authorities to reach the ultimate consequences and find those responsible," she added.

For its part, the local prosecutor's office said it launched an investigation into the murder of the mayor and three other people. It added that the victims were found inside a vehicle in Tancanhuitz.

In recent years, dozens of local officials have been targeted in the violence linked to organized crime that plagues Mexico.

One of the most shocking cases was that of Alejandro Arcos, mayor of Chilpancingo, capital of the southern state of Guerrero. Arcos was assassinated on October 6 and his head placed on top of a pickup truck. The murder occurred just six days after Arcos became mayor of the town.

According to official figures, more than 450,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands have disappeared in the country since December 2006, when the government launched a controversial anti-drug operation in the country taken over by drug gangs.

Wine businessman murdered in central Mexico

Meanwhile, a prominent wine businessman was murdered in the state of Guanajuato, in central Mexico, a region hit by violence linked to organized crime, authorities said Sunday.

He was Ricardo Vega, owner of the viñedo Cuna de Tierra, located in the town of Dolores Hidalgo, Guanjuato.

"I deeply regret and strongly condemn the cowardly murder of Ricardo Vega, owner of the Cuna de Tierra vineyard. In Guanajuato insecurity reigns," said on the social network X, Mauricio Trejo, mayor of San Miguel de Allende, a city frequented by U.S. tourists and where Vega's company has offices.

For its part, the Mexican Wine Council, an organization of wine producers in Mexico, lamented the death of the businessman.

"It is with deep sadness that we bid farewell to Ricardo Vega, dear friend, visionary leader and tireless defender of Mexican wine. Rest in peace," the organization said on its social networks.

According to the local press, the businessman was murdered on Saturday, but the fact was known until this Sunday.

The local newspaper A.M. reported that Vega was attacked by armed men when he was driving in his truck on a road linking the city of Celaya, Guanajuato, with the central state of Querétaro.

The newspaper added that so far an attempted robbery or a direct attack is being investigated.

Guanajuato, a thriving industrial state in central Mexico with several tourist cities, has been rocked by violence linked to organized crime for a number of years.

On December 12, the dismembered bodies of at least five people were found dismembered and stuffed in plastic bags in the state's Salvatierra municipality.