Politician killed during election campaign (VIDEO)

The murder of a mayoral candidate in southern Mexico is the latest in a string of attacks ahead of nationwide elections

Mayoral candidate Alfredo Cabrera was assassinated on Wednesday in Mexico’s southern Guerrero state during a campaign event, the local governor has said. The murder is the most recent in a series of more than 20 acts of violence ahead of this weekend’s elections.

A video published by local news outlets and spread on social media shows a person with a gun in their hand approaching Cabrera before shooting him in the head several times, causing chaos and panic among his supporters attending the event.

Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado Pineda condemned the “cowardly” murder of Cabrera, a candidate for an opposition coalition in the town of Coyuca de Benitez. She wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that state prosecutors had been told to apply “the full weight of the law against the person or persons responsible.”

The prosecutor’s office said later that an investigation into the murder had been launched, although the alleged attacker was killed at the scene.

#ÚLTIMAHORA | Se da a conocer el video del momento del asesinato de Alfredo Cabrera, candidato del PRI-PAN-PRD a la alcaldía de Coyuca de Benítez, Guerrero pic.twitter.com/HOFbB6Jb6F

— Azucena Uresti (@azucenau) May 30, 2024

Cabrera’s murder adds to the rising death toll in the run-up to Mexico’s presidential, congressional, and local elections scheduled for June 2. The newspaper El Universal reported on Tuesday that the election campaign in the state of Guerrero had seen five mayoral and one deputy candidates killed.

On Tuesday, the Mexican government reported that at least 22 people running for local office had been murdered since September 2023, but non-governmental organizations put the figure much higher.

Nearly 400 Mexican politicians and journalists fell victim to violent attacks from September 2023 to April 2024, according to data tracked by Mexico City-based consultancy Integralia, which shows that out of 127 candidates for government positions, 24 were killed.

Condeno de manera enérgica los lamentables hechos en los que perdiera la vida el candidato a la presidencia municipal de Coyuca de Benítez por la coalición PRI, PAN y PRD, Alfredo Cabrera Barrientos. (1/3)

— Evelyn Salgado Pineda (@EvelynSalgadoP) May 30, 2024

The consultancy ranked Guerrero, Chiapas, and Puebla as the country’s most dangerous states when it comes to political violence.

In a separate report, Integralia highlighted that local criminal groups “take advantage of the electoral situation to expand their control over governments and local markets.” The groups are expected to increase their political violence and strengthen their authority, “leaving communities and organizations vulnerable to crimes such as extortion, rent collection or theft.”