Thursday, June 6, 2024, this morning, I noticed another article about Mexico. Just a day before Claudia Sheinbaum had won the election for the first female president of Mexico, the mayor of Cotija, Yolanda Sanchez Figueroa, and her bodyguard have been shot and killed.
Gunned down on a public road, near a gym, she was shot nineteen times. Her bodyguard, Jesus V. was also shot and killed by the same gunmen. These men were inside a white truck, which was moving as they were shooting towards the mayor and her bodyguard. She was the Municipal President of the town Cotija.
Sanchez was elected in 2021 as the Cotija mayor. She wanted to make Cotija a good place to live for the people in that town. Last September, she had been kidnapped, just outside a shopping mall in Guadalajara, Jalisco, near Michoacan. But three days later, she was released and alive. These kidnappers are the CJNG, or Jalisco Cartel New Generation. They had kidnapped her to threaten her for opposing their takeover of her municipality’s police force.
Michoacan is filled with drug trafficking gangs, violence, and extortion, although it is also a tourist destination and an agricultural exporting industry. Three farmers had been killed in March by a bomb that was implanted in a dirt road. Around a week before, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had stated that some kind of bomb had killed four soldiers. This bomb appeared to be set up by a cartel as a trap.
It was likely set up by the Jalisco Cartel New Generation because the soldiers were inspecting the camp that is mostly used by the CJNG. Although the soldiers fought with this cartel, they were attacked by drones, which are commonly used by cartels to fight other cartels and authorities. Cartels make most of their money via drug dealing and trafficking. These drug cartels appear similar to Italian Mafia gangs. Even a thirteen-year-old boy joined the cartel, even though he loves animals and he wants to be a veterinarian some day. Many young people in Mexico appear to have lost hope in following their real dreams because they feel that the cartels are their only option for making their own money.
It seems to be a trend that mayoral candidates are shot and killed, right before an election. Since last month, there was a total of 23 mayoral candidates who were killed. Alfredo Cabrera’s murder occurred just one day after the mayoral candidate of Morelos was murdered. Nine people were killed against mayoral candidates of Chiapas. Six people were killed in La Concordia, which includes the mayoral candidate Lucero Lopez, during a campaign rally. A female mayoral candidate was shot as she started her campaign.
For security purposes during elections, Mexico has deployed 27,000 soldiers and National Guards.
