Mexico’s campaign season came to a bloody end when a gunman fatally shot an aspiring mayor during a rally on Wednesday, days before the country is expected to elect its first female president.
His killing brings to at least 23 the number of candidates killed in what has been a particularly violent election process in the Latin American nation, according to an official count.
Alfredo Cabrera, a mayoral candidate for an opposition coalition, was shot in the southern state of Guerrero, causing chaos and panic among people attending the rally.
Cabrera’s murder was caught on camera, with the footage showing him smiling and flanked by fans before he was shot several times.
The prosecutor’s office said that “the alleged attacker was killed on the spot.” According to witnesses, three people were also injured and two others were arrested.
FRANCISCO ROBLES/AFP via Getty Images
Cabrera belonged to the same opposition coalition as presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez, who expressed outrage over his killing.
“He was a generous and good man,” she wrote on social media.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), part of the opposition coalition, accused the government of “not making even the slightest attempt to guarantee the safety of the candidates.”
Cabrera’s death came just one day after a mayoral candidate in the central Mexican state of Morelos murderedwhile another was injured by gunfire in the western state of Jalisco.
Last week, nine people were killed in two attacks on mayoral candidates in the southern state of Chiapas. The two candidates survived.
Earlier this month, six people, including a minor and mayoral candidate Lucero Lopez, were killed in an ambush after a campaign rally in the municipality of La Concordia, neighboring Villa Corzo.
One mayor was hopeful shot dead last month just as she started campaigning.
About 27,000 soldiers and National Guard members will be deployed to strengthen security on Election Day.
The new leader will face a crisis of cartel violence
Tackling the cartel violence that has roiled Mexico and made it one of the most dangerous countries in the world will be one of the biggest challenges facing the next leader, along with managing migration and the delicate relations with the contiguous United States.
Since the government deployed the army to combat drug trafficking in 2006, more than 450,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands have gone missing.
Barring any major shock, it appears all but certain that a woman will be elected leader of the world’s most populous Spanish-speaking country when millions of Mexicans vote on Sunday.
Frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum, from the ruling Morena party, ended her campaign with a rally in the capital’s main public square.
“We’re going to make history,” Sheinbaum told the cheering crowd.
“I say to the young women, to all the women of Mexico – colleagues, friends, sisters, daughters, mothers and grandmothers – that you are not alone,” the 61-year-old said.
Distribution Fuente Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo / Handout via REUTERS
Sheinbaum has pledged to continue outgoing left-wing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s social programs and strategy to tackle crime at its roots – a controversial policy he calls “hugs, not bullets.”
During her closing meeting in the northern city of Monterrey, Galvez promised a tougher approach to cartel-related violence.
“You’re going to have the bravest president, a president who will tackle crime,” she said.
Galvez accused Lopez Obrador of “implementing a security strategy where hugs were for criminals and bullets for civilians.”
Woman ready to become next president
Sheinbaum, a former mayor of Mexico City and a scientist by training, has a significant lead in the polls with 53 percent of voter support, according to research firm Oraculus.
Galvez, a center-right senator and businesswoman with indigenous roots, is in second place with 36 percent.
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The only man running – centrist Jorge Alvarez Maynez – has 11 percent.
Thousands of Sheinbaum’s supporters gathered Wednesday to hear her speak, many wearing purple — the color of the ruling party.
“People have woken up. We don’t want the old governments to rob us anymore because the poor come first,” said Soledad Hernandez, a 23-year-old housewife from the southern state of Oaxaca.
Sheinbaum owes much of her popularity to Lopez Obrador, commonly known as AMLO — a close ally who has an approval rating of more than 60 percent but may serve only one term.
“People from the countryside had nothing and now they are better off with AMLO,” said Maria Isabel Zacarias, 55, a street food vendor who came from the south to hear Sheinbaum speak.
Bertha Diaz, a 71-year-old supporter of Galvez, said she feared that if Sheinbaum wins, “it will be more of the same as with Lopez Obrador, who sunk Mexico and wants to turn it into another Venezuela.”
Nearly 100 million people are registered to vote for the president, members of Congress, several governors and local officials, in the largest election ever in the country of 129 million.
Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez said on Tuesday – before Cabrera’s killing – that 22 people running for local office had been killed since September.
Some non-governmental organizations have reported an even higher toll, including Data Civica, which has counted at least 30 killings of candidates.
