The two mayoral candidates were reported killed on the same day. Their deaths bring the number of local politicians killed in the lead up to Mexico’s June elections to 17.
Two mayoral candidates were killed in two different parts of Mexico as the country heads to elections in June, authorities said.
Center-right mayoral candidate Noe Ramos of Ciudad Mante was fatally stabbed in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, said state attorney general Irving Barrios. Authorities are searching for the suspect.
Local media reported Ramos, who was seeking reelection, was meeting with residents in the street on Friday when the suspect stabbed him with a knife.
Meanwhile, in the southern state of Oaxaca, another mayoral candidate Alberto Antonio Garcia, was also found dead on Friday, according to the state prosecutor.
He and his wife Agar Cancino, who is the mayor of San Jose Independencia, were reported missing on Wednesday. Cancino was found alive.
The electoral board said such crimes “should not occur during elections.”
The electoral board said such crimes “should not occur during elections.”
Oh ok. Just wait til after June to stab politicians.
Seems like a preview of the orange mobster’s potential rule.
Proud Hombres
Proud Chicos
I don’t know a huge amount about Mexican politics, but I do know that it used to be a one-party state. I’m curious how much of this violence is a result of the PRI relinquishing power, how much is unrelated and how much predates it if anyone can educate me.
PAN started the contemporary Mexican war on the cartels under Calderon, but the conditions that enabled the Narcos to aquire their power were set during PRI’s long reign.
And that’s to say nothing of America’s role in all of it, so it’s complicated.
Let me give you a more balanced, proper context:
The one-party state started fading in the 1980s. When Reagan and Thatcher entered the world stage, Mexican politics shifted from the pseudocommunist rule (PRI) to a liberal form. It was still presented as a state party (PRI) but started making concessions to competitors in local elections, and congress (opposition parties have existed since the 1930s, they were just unable to win because the entire thing was rigged).
During the 90s, the political landscape had three major parties: Conservatives (PAN), Liberals (PRI), and a Leftists (PRD), this last one was founded in 1988 when the more leftist part of PRI left their ranks denouncing this political shift I explained earlier. Picture AOC and her gang leaving the democrats because they were becoming too moderate.
In the 2000 presidential election, the conservatives (PAN) won. The most relevant context I can give you for this, is the assasination of PRI’s presidential candidate in the previous election (1994) and the economic crisis of December of that same year. Both events created a general sense of instability within the ranks, and the conservatives took the opportunity in the following elections.
When PAN took over, on the very first month of their government, one major event happened: Chapo Guzman escaped prison, and for the following 15 years he slowly terrorized the country and became the famous person he is now. Organized crime (cartels) thrived since the 1970s, but Guzman was from a new generation of criminals, much more willing to make super public and super violent statements.
After the first PAN administration, some things improved, a lot of institutions became much more legit or democratic because the very fact of changing parties enhanced the checks and balances. But crime was still on the rise and top government officials and criminals were still heavily intertwined (more on that later).
At the beginning of the second PAN administration (reelection is not legal in Mexico, so new guy), the President decided to focus most, if not all of his efforts on stopping crime in what was called “the war against narcos”. He signed a cooperation agreement with the US (Merida Initiative) and waged an all out war against them. The results were disastrous. Crime rose like never before and some key battlegrounds experienced violence on the same level of the war in Iraq. Michoacan, Tamaulipas, Juarez, Tijuana were almost fully controlled by Cartels, and Chapo Guzman’s Sinaloa Cartel grew exponentially.
The end result was conservatives (PAN) dropping to third place in the 2012 Presidential Election and people opting for giving another chance to PRI. Chapo Guzman was promptly captured, managed to escape again and recaptured (PRI managed to capture him twice in a single term, while PAN failed to do so in two full terms). But crime didn’t stop. The concept of politicians being killed was already normalized at this point. PRI’s return to power failed, but they managed to put the public eye away from cartels and crime. They started talking about passing legislation, modernizing the economy, and so on. They even legalized same-sex marriage, to give you an example.
In 2018, a newly formed left-wing party (MORENA) won by a landslide, leaving PRI, PAN and PRD trailing by dozens of points. The current President has focused in building a welfare state, creating social programs, strengthening unions, worker’s rights, increasing the role of the state in the economy, and a generally leftist platform. But in terms of crime and violence, things have been basically the same. Not more crime than before (if you take population increase into account), but also not diminishing it.
Notably, during this past couple of years, the United States aprehended Genaro Garcia Luna, a key intelligence official under PAN’s first term and Secretary of Security (the guy in charge of fighting cartels) during PAN’s second term. He was found guilty of being part of Chapo’s cartel and currently in prison. Chapo’s rise during both PAN’s administrations now has an explanation. This also sheds some light on this political violence — the line between politicians and criminal organizations is often blurred or non-existent (I’m not criminalizing the victims, sometimes the crooked guys are their rivals).
Mexico will have its Presidential election in 6 weeks. PRI, PAN and PRD are now running the same candidate to face MORENA. Polls suggest a similar MORENA landslide will happen, but polls are prone to fail. So, the party that managed to defeat the state party are now effectively trying to bring it back, but this time they merged with them.
Hope this helps.
It does. Thank you.
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Man, anyone refering to a sitting President as “poo poo” (kks) is barred from claiming others are propaganda accounts. It’s also absurd to pretend the Mexican Government would make propaganda accounts for effing Lemmy. Ever heard of ROI?
I did not list any atrocities by any President and unlike you, i’m not fixated in any particular administration. List whatever you want and I’ll stand by it, but I’d advise to list a balanced and objective account of drug-related violence in the last 30 years or so, to put things in perspective and help OP understand his main question, which is the impact of a state party running the country for 70+ years in all of this.
Official data suggest an increase in murder that’s lower than the population increase. Same thing happened under the last PRI’s term (2012-2018) That’s what I stated, and even conceded that it meant things are basically the same instead of taking the officialist approach of claiming it diminished.
Don’t get so fired up my man, both approaches to security suck. PRI, PAN, MORENA, they’re all over their heads when it comes to fighting Cartels, precisely because they got too close to power since the 1970s during the state-party rule. Mexico faces the same issue the US faces with lobbying, but instead of corporations, they’re drug cartels.
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Very interesting, thank you.
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This is a laughably ignorant take.
You should probably explain how or this comment is easy to ignore.
I gave proper context in my own comment. Explaining political violence just considering the current administration is preposterous. This is an issue that has been there since the 1970s and came to full force in the 2000s with the rise of Chapo Guzman.
This guy’s take is the equivalent of an avid Fox News watcher explaining you what is Antifa or the BLM movement.
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I’m not defending amlo and couldn’t care less. Acussing me of being a “MAGA kid” while using a ridiculous nickname to refer to the president is telling. “Sleepy Joe huehuehue” energy there.
Well, I was in my early 20s during Calderon’s administration and got carjacked at gunpoint twice, had friends whose parents were kidnapped, people across the board forced to close their businesses because they couldn’t keep up with the threats and extortion from the Cartels. None of that shit is happening now, but really hasn’t happened since PAN left. That’s my personal experience. Not to mention the booming economy.
And even if I personally see that difference, I know not to get carried away by testimonial evidence and i’m saying things are the same, which is a huuuge concession to make.
Some people unironically call for this to happen in the US
I always hear about cartels but like how does a kid end up a cartel? The size of these organizations imply the cartels have recruiting and training infrastructure.
If they have a political assasination program it means they have political goals and outreach. Like how is it nobody is making an effort to channel people away from these organizations?
Apathy and weakness. The two mexican national sports!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Two mayoral candidates were killed in two different parts of Mexico as the country heads to elections in June, authorities said.
Center-right mayoral candidate Noe Ramos of Ciudad Mante was fatally stabbed in the northeasternstate of Tamaulipas, said state attorney general Irving Barrios.
Local media reported Ramos, who was seeking reelection, was meeting with residents in the street on Friday when the suspect stabbed him with a knife.
Politicians have often fallen victim to organized crime in Mexico, especially those seeking or holding regional offices.
“They make an agreement and say, ‘this person is going to be mayor; we don’t want anyone else to register to run,’ and anybody who does, well, they know” what to expect, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in April of drug cartels’ efforts to contol local politics.
Earlier this month, mayoral candidate Bertha Gaytan was shot in the street in Celaya, one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities.
The original article contains 253 words, the summary contains 151 words. Saved 40%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Tile for glorious Spain to bring back order within its rebel colonies. 🦅🦅🦅
I thought situation in Catalonia is pretty stable.
