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Mexico mayor slain a day after taking office Mexico mayor slain a day after taking office
(about 11 hours later)
MEXICO CITY — The mayor of a city south of Mexico’s capital was shot to death on Saturday, less than a day after taking office, officials said. MEXICO CITY — Officials say they have killed two people and arrested three others linked to the slaying of a Mexico mayor who had taken office only a day earlier. The state’s governor said organized crime was behind the attack.
Gunmen opened fire on Mayor Gisela Mota at her house in the city of Temixco, said the government of Morelos state, where Temixco is located. Two presumed assailants were killed and three others detained following a pursuit, said Morelos security commissioner Jesus Alberto Capella. He said the suspects fired on federal police and soldiers from a vehicle. Gunmen killed Mayor Gisela Mota Saturday at her house in Temixco, one of several cities around Cuernavaca that have been struggling with kidnappings and extortions by organized crime gangs.
On his Twitter account, Morelos Gov. Graco Ramirez attributed Mota’s killing to organized crime, without citing a particular drug cartel or gang. Cartels seeking to control communities and towns have often targeted local officials and mayors in Mexico. Police quickly located a car of presumed assailants who opened fire on officers, the Morelos state government said in a statement.
Mota’s leftist Democratic Revolution Party released a statement describing her as “a strong and brave woman who on taking office as mayor, declared that her fight against crime would be frontal and direct.” In a separate car, officials said they found two guns, one of them a semiautomatic, and ski masks.
Temixco is a city of about 100,000 people neighboring Cuernavaca, a resort and industrial city which has been suffering kidnappings and extortion linked to organized crime groups. Though Cuernavaca is the capital of Morelos, Temixco is the seat of several state institutions including the Public Security Commission, which coordinates state and local police forces. Morelos also neighbors drug cartel-plagued Guerrero state. Three people were detained — a 32-year-old woman, an 18-year-old and a minor. Morelos Attorney General Javier Perez Duron said the suspects have been tied to other crimes, but declined to provide more details.
Mota, who had been a federal congresswoman, was sworn into office on New Year’s Day. She was killed the following day. On his Twitter account, Morelos Gov. Graco Ramirez attributed Mota’s killing to organized crime, without citing a particular cartel or gang. He later announced state officials were establishing special security measures for all off Morelos’ mayors.
Morelos Gov. Ramirez vowed there “would be no impunity” in her killing and promised that state officials would not cede to what he described as a “challenge from criminals.” One organization representing mayors in the country, the Association of Local Authorities of Mexico, issued a statement saying nearly 100 mayors have been killed across Mexico over the past decade, “principally at the hands of organized crime.”
Federal and state forces are deployed in Cuernavaca and municipalities near the Guerrero state border in what is called operation “Delta.” Mota, who had been a federal congresswoman, had been sworn into office on New Year’s Day.
Capella did not provide more details about the attack on Mota, but said that when the suspects were detained, authorities found a 9-millimeter gun, an Uzi, ski masks and an SUV with Mexico State license plates. Her center-left Democratic Revolution Party released a statement describing her as “a strong and brave woman who on taking office as mayor, declared that her fight against crime would be frontal and direct.”
Morelos Attorney General Javier Perez Duron said the detained suspects have been tied to other crimes, but declined to provide more details. Temixco, with about 100,000 people, is a suburb of Cuernavaca, a city famed among tourists for its colonial center, gardens and jacaranda-decked streets. “The city of eternal spring” was long a favorite weekend getaway for people from nearby Mexico City.
Drug and extortion gangs have plagued the state in recent years, driving away some tourists and residents. On its southwest border is the gang-plagued state of Guerrero, whose Pacific Coast resort of Acapulco has seen a sharp increase in murders.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.