4 mayors in Mexico have requested federal government for cover after a colleague was once beheaded ultimate week within the southern state of Guerrero, officers stated Tuesday.Mayor Alejandro Arcos were sworn into place of business not up to every week earlier than he was once murdered.Federal Public Protection Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch stated 4 mayors asked coverage on Monday, an afternoon after Arcos’ stays have been discovered. The requests got here from Guerrero and every other violence-plagued state, Guanajuato.
The location in Guanajuato is so dangerous that forward of the rustic’s June elections, a minimum of 4 mayoral applicants have been killed.Garcia Harfuch didn’t say why the mayors requested for cover. He additionally did not give a lot element at the investigations into Arcos’ killing, pronouncing handiest that the mayor had left his workforce at the back of to wait a non-public assembly simply earlier than his demise.
Mayor of Chilpancingo Alejandro Arcos poses for a selfie picture on the unknown location, on this handout symbol got on October 7, 2024.
Alejandro Arcos by way of Fb by way of Reuters
Arcos had informed native media he wanted extra coverage, however Garcia Harfuch stated no formal request were gained. State and federal governments can be offering mayors bulletproof automobiles, further bodyguards and emergency alert programs.
Arcos’ homicide got here days after the killing of every other town reliable, Francisco Tapia, in line with Institutional Innovative Celebration president Alejandro Moreno.”That they had been in place of business for not up to every week. Younger and fair officers who sought development for his or her group,” Moreno stated on X.
Other people accumulate to mention good-bye to the coffin of past due Chilpancingo Mayor Alejandro Arcos all the way through his funeral cortege in Chilpancingo, Guerrero State, Mexico, on October 7, 2024.
JESUS GUERRERO/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
The state capital, Chilpancingo, is ruled by means of two warring drug gangs, the Ardillos and the Tlacos. One staged an indication of loads of other folks, hijacked a central authority armored automobile, blocked a significant freeway and took police hostage in 2023 to win the discharge of arrested suspects.Gangs and drug cartels in Mexico steadily goal mayors and different native officers to press calls for for extortion bills, executive contracts and the appointment of henchmen to municipal police forces.
No less than 24 politicians have been murdered all the way through a specifically violent electoral procedure main as much as the June election that the important thing ruling celebration determine gained by means of a landslide, in line with reliable figures.In June, a minimum of 3 politicians in Guerrero have been killed. Acacio Flores, who represents Malinaltepec, was once killed simply days after the killing of Salvador Villalba Flores, every other mayor from Guerrero state elected in June 2 polls. Previous within the month, an area councilwoman was once gunned down as she was once leaving her house in Guerrero.Her homicide got here a couple of days after the mayor of a the town in western Mexico and her bodyguard have been killed out of doors of a health club, simply hours after Claudia Sheinbaum gained the presidency.Mexico president laws out new “battle on medication”Sheinbaum on Tuesday dominated out launching a brand new battle in opposition to drug cartels, as she introduced a countrywide safety plan aimed toward decreasing raging prison violence.Sheinbaum, the primary girl to guide the Latin American country, stated her executive would prioritize tackling the foundation reasons of crime, in addition to making higher use of intelligence.”The battle on medication won’t go back,” the leftist president informed a information convention, relating to an offensive introduced in 2006 involving the army and supported by means of america.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum speaks all the way through a press convention to provide her safety plan for confronting Mexico’s dire safety state of affairs, on the Nationwide Palace, in Mexico Town, Mexico October 8, 2024.
Henry Romero / REUTERS
Since then, a spiral of prison violence has left greater than 450,000 other folks useless and tens of 1000’s lacking.
Sheinbaum, a former Mexico Town mayor who was once sworn in on October 1, pledged to keep on with her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs no longer bullets” means of the usage of social coverage to deal with the reasons of crime.”We don’t seem to be in search of extrajudicial executions, which is what was once going down earlier than. What are we going to make use of? Prevention, consideration to the reasons, intelligence and presence” of government, she stated.Whilst Lopez Obrador prioritized prevention over drive, he controversially put the Nationwide Guard beneath the keep watch over of the military.Critics stated the transfer marked every other step towards the militarization of the rustic — a declare that each Lopez Obrador and his best friend Sheinbaum have denied.”There are households that as of late wouldn’t have get admission to to dependable municipal police or to a completely bolstered state police drive. That is the place the Nationwide Guard will play crucial position,” Sheinbaum’s public safety minister, Omar Garcia Harfuch, stated.AFP contributed to this record.
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