Gunmen in Mexico shoot to death newly-elected mayor
Gunmen in Mexico have killed a newly-elected mayor of a city just south of the capital Mexico City after breaking into her residence less than a day after being sworn into office.
Temixco Mayor Gisela Mota was shot to death on Saturday along with two other people when the armed assailants stormed her home in the city, located in the central Morelos State, said Governor Graco Ramirez in an official statement.
The 33-year-old mayor and former member of the Mexican Congress had pledged during her election campaign to clean up the narcotics problem in Temixco, a city plagued by widespread drug trafficking and organized crime.
With a population of nearly 100,000 people, Temixco neighbors the resort and industrial city of Cuernavaca, which has been suffering from many kidnappings and extortion linked to organized crime groups.
The State of Morelos, which is one of Mexico’s states most affected by drug violence, also neighbors the Guerrero State, which is also heavily plagued by notorious drug cartels.
Ramirez said the suspected assailants had been captured following the fatal armed attack and vowed that there would be “no impunity” for those behind the assassination.
This is while Mota's Democratic Revolution Party issued a statement, describing her as "a strong and brave woman who on taking office as mayor, declared that her fight against crime would be frontal and direct.”
Over 100,000 people have been killed or gone missing since the narcotics-related violence throughout the Latin American country surged nearly a decade ago.
Mexico’s federal and local security forces remain deployed in Cuernavaca and municipalities near the Guerrero state border in what is referred to as "Operation Delta."
This is while local mayors and officials across Mexico are increasingly being targeted by the country’s drug cartels.
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