After Mexico’s newly elected mayor is beheaded, others turn to federal authorities for protection

Four mayors in Mexico have asked federal authorities for protection after a colleague was beheaded last week in the southern state of Guerrero, officials said Tuesday.

Mayor Alejandro Arcos had been sworn in less than a week before he was assassinated.

Omar Garcia Harfuch, Minister of Public Security, said four mayors asked for protection on Monday, a day after Arcos’ remains were found. The requests came from Guerrero and another violence-ridden state, Guanajuato.

The situation in Guanajuato is so bad that at least four mayoral candidates were killed ahead of the June elections.

Garcia Harfuch did not say why the mayors asked for protection. He also did not provide many details about the investigation into Arcos’ murder, saying only that the mayor left his staff to attend a private meeting shortly before his death.

Arcos had told local media he needed more protection, but Garcia Harfuch said no formal request had been received. State and federal governments can offer mayors bulletproof vehicles, extra bodyguards and emergency alert systems.

According to Institutional Revolutionary Party President Alejandro Moreno, Arcos’ killing came days after the killing of another city official, Francisco Tapia.

“They had been in office for less than a week. Young and honest officials who sought progress for their community,” Moreno said on X.

The state capital, Chilpancingo, is dominated by two warring drug gangs, the Ardillos and the Tlacos. One organized a demonstration of hundreds of people in 2023, hijacked a government armored car, blocked a major highway and took police hostage to secure the release of arrested suspects.

Gangs and drug cartels are common in Mexico targets mayors and other local officials to make demands for extortion payments, government contracts and the appointment of accomplices to the municipal police.

At least 24 politicians were murdered During a particularly violent electoral process in the run-up to the June elections, the ruling party’s main figure won by a landslide, according to official figures.

In June, at least three politicians were murdered in Guerrero. Acacio Floreswho represents Malinaltepec, was murdered just days after the murder murder of Salvador Villalba Floresanother mayor from the state of Guerrero was elected in the June 2 elections. Earlier this month, a local councilor was shot as she left her home in Guerrero.

Her murder came a few days after the mayor of a city in western Mexico and her bodyguard were murdered killed outside a gymjust hours later Claudia Sheinbaum won the presidency.

Mexican president rules out new ‘war on drugs’

Sheinbaum on Tuesday ruled out launching a new war on drug cartels as she presented a national security plan aimed at curbing rampaging criminal violence.

Sheinbaum, the first woman to lead the Latin American nation, said her government would prioritize tackling the root causes of crime and making better use of intelligence.

“The war on drugs will not return,” the left-wing president said at a news conference, referring to an offensive launched in 2006 involving the military and backed by the United States.

Since then, a spiral of criminal violence has left more than 450,000 people dead and tens of thousands missing.

Sheinbaum, a former mayor of Mexico City who was sworn in on October 1, vowed to stick to her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs instead of bullets” strategy of using social policy to tackle the causes of crime to tackle.

“We are not looking for extrajudicial killings, which happened before. What are we going to use? Prevention, attention to the causes, intelligence and presence” of the authorities, she said.

While Lopez Obrador prioritized prevention over violence, he controversially placed the National Guard under the control of the armed forces.

Critics said the move marked another step toward the militarization of the country — a claim both Lopez Obrador and his ally Sheinbaum have denied.

“There are families today who do not have access to a reliable municipal police force or to a fully reinforced state police force. That’s where the National Guard will play an important role,” said Sheinbaum’s Secretary of Public Safety, Omar Garcia Harfuch.

AFP contributed to this report.