Mayor candidate murdered in Mexico two days before vote

A mayoral candidate was murdered in central Mexico on Friday, local authorities said, less than 48 hours before general elections plagued by the killing of at least 25 political hopefuls.

A statement from the Puebla state prosecutor’s office confirmed the death of Jorge Huerta Cabrera on Friday afternoon, in the city of Izucar de Matamoros where he was a candidate.

The prosecutor’s office said it was investigating.

Huerta Cabrera’s wife and one of his colleagues were wounded in the attack, authorities added.

He was a candidate for the Green Party, an ally of the governing Morena party.

“His life was taken from him in an unjust and violent way,” another local candidate, Eliseo “El Chino” Morales, said in a statement posted on social media.

Campaigning for Sunday’s elections, in which a new president, federal legislators, state governors and thousands of local officials are to be elected, has been marked by a wave of attacks against candidates that spiked in the last week.

The federal government reported 22 candidates killed as of Tuesday. Since then, three more deaths have been recorded.

Some non-governmental organizations have reported a higher toll, including Data Civica, which has counted around 30 killings of candidates since campaigning began in late September.

On Wednesday, the campaign period closed ahead of Sunday’s vote, in which about 100 million Mexicans, of a population of 129 million, are eligible to cast ballots.

Tackling the cartel violence that makes murder and kidnapping a daily occurrence in Mexico will be among the major challenges facing the next president — likely to be the first woman to lead the country.