2nd mayoral candidate killed in Mexico’s Veracruz state ahead of June 1 elections

TEXISTEPEC, Mexico — 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.”

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.