CHILPANCINGO, Mexico (AP) — A brand new mayor was once sworn in Thursday in a town in southern Mexico the place his predecessor was once killed and beheaded not up to per week after taking administrative center.The brand new mayor, Gustavo Alarcón, a physician, were elected as an alternative at the identical price ticket as deceased Mayor Alejandro Arcos within the June election.Arcos took administrative center on Oct. 1 within the violence-wracked town of Chilpancingo, the capital of the southern state of Guerrero. However his beheaded frame was once present in a pickup truck Sunday; his head were positioned at the car’s roof. Two rival drug gangs are combating to regulate the town.Alarcón took the oath of administrative center with a minimum safety element of a handful of law enforcement officials Thursday. He pledged to “paintings for the great of all” and battle the violence that has gripped Chilpancingo for years.Sooner than he was once killed, Arcos had advised native media he wanted extra coverage, however officers stated no formal request were won. State and federal governments can be offering mayors bulletproof automobiles, further bodyguards and emergency alert programs. It was once now not transparent if Alarcón were granted that more or less coverage.
Chilpancingo, a town of about 300,000, is ruled via two warring drug gangs, the Ardillos and the Tlacos. One staged an indication of masses of folks, hijacked a central authority armored automobile, blocked a significant freeway and took police hostage in 2023 to win the discharge of arrested suspects.
Previous this week, federal Public Protection Secretary Omar García Harfuch stated 4 mayors from different cities in Mexico had asked coverage on Monday, an afternoon after Arcos’ stays had been discovered. The requests got here from Guerrero and any other violence-plagued state, Guanajuato.
The location in Guanajuato is so dangerous that forward of the rustic’s June elections, no less than 4 mayoral applicants had been killed.However violence in Guerrero reached such extraordinary ranges that previous this yr, Roman Catholic bishops introduced that they had helped prepare a truce in any other a part of the state between two warring drug cartels.
On the time, former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador— who refused to confront the gangs — stated he licensed of such talks.“Monks and pastors and participants of the entire church buildings have participated, helped in pacifying the rustic. I feel it is vitally excellent,” stated López Obrador, who left administrative center Sept. 30.____Follow AP’s protection of Latin The usa and the Caribbean at