Mexican Mayor-Elect Assassinated Near Acapulco – Official

Local prosecutors reported that the mayor-elect of a small municipality near Acapulco in Mexico was assassinated early Monday. This incident is part of a series of attacks targeting politicians.

Salvador Villalba Flores, who was set to take office in October in Copala, a town with about 4,000 residents, was shot dead while travelling on a highway.

Guerrero state prosecutors confirmed the murder and announced an investigation but provided no further details.

According to the local newspaper El Sur de Guerrero, Villalba, a retired Navy captain, was usually protected by National Guard escorts but was travelling alone to Mexico City when he was killed. The newspaper reported that Villalba was taken off the bus near San Pedro Las Playas and shot.

Villalba had decided to run for mayor after his friend, a candidate, was murdered in June 2023. His assassination follows a spate of violence during Mexico’s campaign season, which began last September. Data Civica, a non-governmental organisation, reported that more than two dozen political candidates have been killed since then.

In Mexico’s general election on June 2, an overwhelming majority elected Claudia Sheinbaum as the country’s first woman president. Alongside the presidential election, Mexicans voted for members of Congress, several state governors, and numerous local officials, totalling over 20,000 positions.

Earlier this month, a local councilwoman was shot dead as she left her home in Guerrero, CBS News reported. This murder occurred shortly after the mayor of a town in western Mexico and her bodyguard were killed outside a gym, just hours after Sheinbaum’s victory.

Acapulco, once a favourite destination for the rich and famous, has become one of the world’s most violent cities due to increased bloodshed over the past decade. Recently, five people were killed in an armed attack in Acapulco, only three days after 10 other bodies were found in the city.

Guerrero, located along Mexico’s Pacific coast, is heavily affected by drug cartel violence and recorded 1,890 murders in 2023. Since the Mexican government deployed the army to combat drug trafficking in 2006, over 450,000 people have been murdered, and thousands have gone missing, according to CBS News.

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