Two more candidates killed in Mexico in run-up to July 1 elections

Fernando Angeles Juarez, shot dead leaving his hotel Posada del Bosque in the state of Michoacan on Thursday morning, is the 121st candidate to be killed.

Two mayoral candidates in Mexico have been killed in less than 24 hours, bringing to at least 18 the number of candidates slain so far in campaigns leading up to the July 1 elections.

An independent mayoral candidate was gunned down in the conflict-ridden rural town of Aguililla in the western state of Michoacan on Wednesday. Michoacan Gov. Silvano Aureoles vowed to catch those responsible for killing candidate Omar Gomez Lucatero.

Aguililla is an extensive but sparsely populated mountain township where drug gangs and vigilantes have been active.

Fernando Angeles Juarez, the mayoral candidate for the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, was killed early Thursday in Ocampo, also in Michoacan.

The party said issued a statement saying that he was assassinated, and it called on the government to provide protection for people running for office.

Gomez was running as an independent candidate after he left the PRI. He became the mayor of Aguililla shortly afterward in 2014 when Jose Cruz Valencia was arrested and had to leave office

Angeles and Gomez are the latest victims of attacks against local politicians running for office in the upcoming elections. Similar attacks recently killed Alejandro Chavez Zavala, who was running for mayor of Taretan, and Miguel Amezcua Manzo, aspiring town councilor of Santiago Tangamandapio, both in Michoacan state.

Omar Gomez Lucatero was the 120th politician murdered in Mexico since September 2017. Photo | EFE

Chavez and his wife, Mary Dimas, were shot by an unknown assailant driving a black Ford Lobo while leaving the city following a campaign event. Alejandro's brother, Julio Chavez Zavala, took his place in the presidential race.

According to consulting firm Etellekt, there have been 121 murders and 400 attacks against politicians since September 2017. Out of the murdered, 29 were precandidates and 16 candidates, and 80 of them belonged to opposition parties. The rest were mayors, former mayors, militants, social leaders, councilors or representatives.

The same firm also recorded 351 murders against non-elected government officers.