Mexico: Vice-Minister of Livestock of Zacatecas state murdered

The deputy secretary (vice minister) of Livestock of the Mexican state of Zacatecas(north), Juan Francisco Bañuelos, was murdered in an area with a presence of organized crime groups, local authorities reported Wednesday.

The crime took place during the afternoon in the municipality of Valparaiso, a difficult-to-access mountainous area where he was from, the state prosecutor's office said.

"We join the grief that overwhelms the family of Juan Francisco Bañuelos Marquez, undersecretary of Livestock (...) for his death," the government of Zacatecas posted on the social network Facebook reported by AFP.

The message calls on the state prosecutor's office to carry out "the corresponding investigations so that neither this, nor any other case, remains unpunished".

According to media reports, residents of the area said that shots were heard but authorities were slow to arrive because Valparaiso is nestled on top of the sierra de Zacatecas.

The official, who was also a prosperous cattle rancher, was originally from that municipality and, according to the press, was spending the Christmas holidays with relatives. In addition to being undersecretary of Livestock, he had been a candidate for the presidency of Valparaíso for the Morena political party.

In the vast mountainous area of northern Mexico, which spans several states, there is the presence ofcriminal groups that control the cultivation of illicit plantations or the transfer of drugs.

On Tuesday, also in the middle of the festivities, Martin Ramirez Ruiz, president of the board of the Christmas Fair in the city of Chilpancingo, in the southern state of Guerrero, also hit by violence linked to organized crime, was shot dead.

The promoter of this celebration, which has been held for two centuries, was dancing at a street party when unknown assailants got confused in the crowd and opened fire. Another man also died.

Since December 2006, when a controversial military anti-drug operation was launched, Mexico has accumulated more than 450,000 violent deaths and tens of thousands of disappearances, according to official figures.