2nd mayoral candidate killed in Mexico's Veracruz state ahead of June 1
elections
[May 13, 2025]
By IVÁN SÁNCHEZ and ALBA ALEMÁN
TEXISTEPEC, Mexico (AP) — Gunmen killed a mayoral candidate from
Mexico’s governing party in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz and four
others who accompanied her, the second such local candidate killing in
the state ahead of the June 1 election, authorities confirmed Monday.
There were reports later Monday that two federal agents were killed in
another part of the state.
The attack on candidate Yesenia Lara Gutiérrez of the Morena party
occurred Sunday when she was leading a caravan of supporters through
Texistepec. Three more people were wounded.
Veracruz Gov. Rocío Nahle, also of the Morena party of President Claudia
Sheinbaum, said Monday that Lara Gutiérrez’s daughter was among those
killed.
Texistepec is a town of 20,000 southwest of the important petroleum
industry port of Coatzacoalcos.
“No (elected) position is worth dying for,” Nahle said in a press
conference Monday, where she promised justice.
“All of the state’s power will be present in coming days so that the
elections are free and democratic,” she said.
At a wake Monday in Texistepec, family and friends mourned Lara
Gutiérrez and spoke about the fear the violence stirred around the
election.
“We can’t continue with the insecurity, we’re tired of all of this, this
is terrorism,” said supporter Joaquín Fonseca. “There are five people
dead, not one. We’re living the worst of the terrorism.”
Family friend Cruz Morales said the violence is so bad that “we’re
afraid to go into the fields, to go see our family in the evening,
because we don’t know what’s going to happen to us on the way.”
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Members of the general prosecutor's office and the Navy stand guard
near a vehicle involved in a shootout in Veracruz, Mexico, Monday,
May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Victoria Razo)
Lara Gutiérrez was the second mayoral candidate killed in Veracruz
during the campaign. On April 29, the first official day of
campaigning, gunmen killed Germán Anuar Valencia, also from the
governing party at his campaign headquarters in Coxquihui in the
northern part of Veracruz.
Nahle said that 57 local candidates had requested security offered
by the state and federal government. It was not immediately clear if
Lara Gutiérrez had.
Municipal elections are scheduled in Veracruz’s 212 municipalities
for June 1.
Local candidates are historically the most vulnerable to election
violence as organized criminal groups seek to gain control of local
governments.
Later Monday, local press reported that two federal agents and a
third person were killed in an attack in the coastal city of Boca
del Rio, Veracruz. An Associated Press photojournalist saw federal
agents and soldiers maintaining a perimeter around the scene of the
shooting.
Neither state nor federal authorities immediately responded to
requests to confirm the toll.
___
Alemán reported from Xalapa, Mexico.
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