Political violence in Mexico claims 159 victims in 2018

During Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s first 40 days in office , at least 10 politicians and one activist have been murdered in Mexico . According to the 2018 Indicator of Political Violence issued by the risk analysis consulting firm Etellekt , as well as a count carried out by EL UNIVERSAL , this number is equivalent to one murder every four days.

These events, which happened between December 1, 2018 and January 2019 , led to the death of two incumbent mayors, two political party militants, one incumbent receiver, one former representative, and one elect representative.

Furthermore, a former mayor, a party leader, and a former party leader were also killed.

On January 3, Chiapas activist Sinar Corzo Esquinca was murdered in the Arriaga municipality

, shot by a man in a motorbike.

The document pointed out that out of all 10 politicians who were murdered, seven were members of the left-wing National Regeneration Movement (Morena) political party, another was from the PAN (National Action Party), and two from the PRI .

In total, out of all 11 crimes, six were committed in the month of December 2018 and five in January 2019 . Two of the victims were female: Olga Gabriela Kobel Lara, mayor of Juárez, Coahuila, and María Ascensión Cruz Torres, alderman-elect of Mazatepec, Morelos .

The data shows that most political homicides (3) happened in the state of Oaxaca this year.

On the first day of 2019, in Tlaxiaco, the municipal president Alejandro Aparicio Santiago and receiver Perfecto Hernández Gutiérrez, were murdered. The members of Morena were attacked shortly after taking office. However, the violence did not stop; two days later, on January 3rd, a Morena militant, Cutberto Porcayo, was also shot to death.

Oaxaca was followed by Coahuila and Chiapas

, with two murders each, while Chihuahua, Morelos, Veracruz, and Jalisco registered one murder each.

According to data provided by local prosecutors and state law enforcement bodies, in 10 of all 11 cases, victims died from bullet wounds. The former mayor of San Miguel el Alto, Jalisco was the only exception. Authorities informed that he had gone missing and was later found dead inside his vehicle. The body showed signs of violence.

Violence increase

In their report, Etellekt stated that political murders had increased by 55% last year , going from 102 victims in 2017 to 159 in 2018.

Among the victims were 38 militants, six mayors, 20 former mayors, 15 party leaders, 20 candidates, 12 pre-candidates, six former candidates, and 16 activists. The other victims were councillors, elected councillors, elected mayors, receivers, and former officials .

This revealed that political violence is focused in the municipal sector, since 82% of the murdered politicians worked in municipal governments .

Out of all 159 murders, 23 were committed against women and 47 took place during the government transition period, when at least six elected authorities were killed.

The states that showed the most cases were Guerrero (26), Oaxaca (24), Puebla and Michoacán, with 15 murders each, the State of Mexico (12), and Veracruz (10) .

The report also showed that between January 1st and December 31st last year, 914 physical and/or psychological aggressions against politicians had been reported .

34 politicians assassinated during Mexico’s government transition

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