Mexican mayor boasts accomplishments in TV ads amid crisis

In the middle of a security and credibility crisis that his district currently faces, Édgar Olvera, the mayor of the municipality of Naucalpan in the State of Mexico, celebrates his administration's accomplishments and advances made in fighting crime and fixing problems in the region's crumbling infrastructure.

EL UNIVERSAL was able to confirm that the commercials, in which the member of Mexico's conservative National Action Party (PAN) appears himself, are also shown at the Cinépolis chain of movie theaters.

In one of the ads, which was uploaded to Youtube, Olvera claims that when he was sworn into office, he inherited a municipality that was “morally and financially broken.”

Naucalpan's ex-mayor, David Sánchez Guevara, is currently serving time on embezzlement charges.

In the campaign, Édgar Olvera says that his administration is “working hard to bring new life to Naucalpan.”

Another of the accomplishments that the mayor boasts are “fixing potholes” and fixing streets, this just days after EL UNIVERSAL reported on severe potholes and flooding on one of the area's most important highways, the Periférico.

The rescuing of public space, cleanup efforts and improved services are some of the other accomplishments that Olvera attributes to his administration in the ads, in addition to 2,000 new street lamps and police training efforts.

However, theft, armed assault, kidnappings, homicide and female homicides, have spiked in Naucalpan.

One of the most widely reported cases in the area was the murder of Karen, the student who was abducted in broad daylight and whose lifeless body was found days later in a suitcase in an abandoned home where another woman's body was found.

The mayor celebrated his first year in office on Facebook, and although some users congratulated him, others expressed their anger towards his faliure to do anything about Naucalpan's recent wave of violence and crumbling infrastructure.