Two Mexican mayoral candidates reported killed in single day

MEXICO CITY: Two mayoral candidates were reported killed in Mexico on Friday, one in the country’s northeast and another in the south, authorities said — part of a wave of political violence ahead of June elections.

In Tamaulipas, a state plagued by organized crime situated on the US border, a manhunt was launched for the person who stabbed candidate Noe Ramos, according to state attorney general Irving Barrios.

Local media reported the center-right candidate, who was seeking reelection as head of the municipality of Mante, was walking through the streets to meet with residents when he was attacked by a man with a knife on Friday.

Ramos subsequently died of his wounds, state security spokesman Jorge Cuellar told Milenio television.

Meanwhile, in the southern state of Oaxaca, another mayoral candidate, Alberto Antonio Garcia, was found killed on Friday after going missing this week, according to the state prosecutor’s office.

Authorities had been searching for Garcia, a candidate with the ruling Morena party, and his wife, Agar Cancino, the current mayor of San Jose Independencia, after they were reported missing on Wednesday.

Cancino was found alive on Friday, but Garcia was dead, the prosecutor’s office said.

For years, the spiral of violence linked to organized crime has claimed the lives of Mexican politicians from various parties, especially those who hold or are seeking regional positions.

Since September 23, when the process for the June general elections began, 15 candidates for regional positions have been murdered, the consulting firm Integralia had reported before the deaths of Ramos and Garcia.

Earlier this month, an aspiring mayor in one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities, Celaya, was gunned down in the street during a visit to meet supporters.