Mexico: a candidate for local office is murdered hours before the start of the elections

This is Israel Delgado, 35, an aspiring trustee (comptroller) of the town of Cuitzeo, who was shot on Saturday night near his home, the Michoacán prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The prosecution explained that the candidate was outside his home with other people. While the candidate was talking, two individuals riding a motorcycle shot him. After the attack, the criminals fled. Israel Delgado died at the scene.

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After being informed of the events, personnel from the Crime Scene and Expert Services Unit (USPEC) moved to the scene to carry out the respective actions. During the inspection, 223 caliber ballistic evidence was collected for subsequent analysis.

Once the expert procedures had been carried out, the candidate’s body was transferred to the Forensic Medical Service (Semefo) so that the legal autopsy could be performed and the investigations to continue to clarify the facts were carried out.
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Since last September, when the electoral process began with internal party contests, some 26 candidates have been murdered. The Data Cívica organization reports thirty crimes.

This week alone, four candidates were shot downthe last of them last Friday in the state of Puebla (center).

Due to a series of attacks and the presence of alleged criminals, the authorities of Chiapas (south) decided to suspend the elections in two municipalities of that state bordering Guatemala.
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(You can read: Mexico: the politicians and candidates murdered during the wave of violence in these elections)

Mexico’s largest election will also go down in history this Sunday as the most violent, with At least 31 candidates murdered and more than 200 political homicides, while the opposition denounces that organized crime puts votes in almost 30% of the territory at risk.

“This has been the most violent election in the modern history of our country. In hard terms, in numbers, from September 2023 to May 26, 2024, one week before the election, we have counted 749 total victims of attacks of violence “, explains Armando Vargas, senior consultant at Integralia, to EFE.

Integralia, a political consultancy, reported 150.5 percent more attacks in this electoral process, which officially began in September, compared to the last midterm elections in 2021, which includes murders, armed attacks, threats, kidnappings and disappearances.

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Within this, it documented 34 murders of applicants, a figure that rises to 231 homicides when also considering officials or former officials, politicians, family members and collateral victims.

Regarding who the victims were, it is estimated that nine out of 10 were seeking a municipal position, details the Integralia consultant.which “strengthens the hypothesis that political violence is a mechanism for crime intervention in elections.”

Furthermore, the majority were opponents of the local government, and this “would suggest that criminal groups could be promoting certain political projects to expand their networks of impunity by eliminating threats, that is, opposition candidates.”