MEXICO CITY — The mayor of a state capital in southern Mexico has been killed only one week after he took workplace, officers stated Sunday.
Alejandro Arcos was sworn in final Monday as mayor of Chilpancingo, a metropolis so violent {that a} drug gang overtly staged an illustration, hijacked a authorities armored automobile and took police hostage in 2023 to win the discharge of arrested suspects.
Chilpancingo is the capital of Guerrero state, the place Acapulco is situated.
The state prosecutors’ workplace issued an announcement Sunday confirming Arcos had been killed, however supplied no particulars.
Alejandro Moreno, the nationwide chief of the Institutional Revolutionary Occasion, or PRI, lamented Arcos’ killing and stated the newly put in secretary of town council had additionally been murdered three days earlier.
“They had been in office less than a week,” Moreno wrote on his social media accounts. “They were young and honest public servants who were seeking progress for their community.”
Chilpancingo has lengthy been the scene of bloody turf battles between two drug gangs, the Ardillos and the Tlacos. The battle has resulted in dozens of ugly slayings and a few high-profile scandals.
A earlier mayor was caught on video apparently holding a gathering with leaders of one of many gangs at a restaurant. She was subsequently expelled from her social gathering.
In July 2023, federal officers stated an illustration held by a whole lot of individuals in Chilpancingo that month had been organized by the Ardillos gang to win the discharge of two gang leaders arrested for medicine and weapons possession.
The demonstrators largely blocked all visitors on the freeway between Mexico Metropolis and Acapulco for 2 days, battled safety forces and commandeered a police armored truck and used it to ram down the gates of the state legislature constructing.
The demonstrators kidnapped 10 members of the state police and Nationwide Guard, in addition to three state and federal officers, and held them hostage to implement their calls for earlier than releasing them.
