The mayor of a city in southern Mexico was killed while on a trip to a local village, prompting an "aggravated murder" , the local authorities announced yesterday, France Press reported, quoted by BTA.
Acacio Flores, mayor of Malinaltepec, was killed just days after another elected official from the state of Guerrero was killed – Salvador Villalba Flores, just elected in the June 2 general election.
Flores' body was found with a bullet in the head in the back of a van in Malinaltepec, a day after he was detained in a local village, a human rights activist involved in the negotiations for his release told AFP.
Guerrero's prosecutor's office announced it had opened an "aggravated murder" investigation. One of the directions of the investigation is that the reason for the crime may have been a dispute over land ownership.
About thirty elected officials or candidates in local elections were killed during the campaign for the June 2 election, according to data from the non-governmental organization "Data Civica". (Data Civica). This vote was the largest in the history of Mexico and brought left-wing candidate Claudia Sheinbaum to power.
In 2023, 1,890 people were killed in Guerrero state, mainly as a result of violence and settling scores between criminal organizations, notes AFP.