Mexico City mayor's personal secretary and adviser shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen

New York Post

21-05-2025

MEXICO CITY, May 20 (Reuters) – Two top aides of Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada were shot dead after being ambushed by gunmen on a motorbike in a daytime attack in the city center on Tuesday.
The victims were the mayor's private secretary, Ximena Guzman, and an adviser to Brugada, Jose Munoz, according to a statement from the city.
The assassinations have sent shockwaves through Mexico's capital, widely regarded as an oasis of relative security in a country plagued by violence. Political violence has become common in many parts of Mexico, where scores of local political candidates have been assassinated in killings usually linked to drug cartels seeking to exert influence.
6 Forensic investigation and expert services personnel, together with security personnel, work after an attack on the vehicle, in which Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada's personal secretary, Ximena Guzman, and adviser Jose Munoz were traveling, in Mexico City, Mexico, on May 20, 2025.
Xinhua/Shutterstock
6 Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada speaks during a press conference in Mexico City, capital of Mexico, May 20, 2025.
Xinhua/Shutterstock
Initial reports indicated Guzman had been driving to work and stopped on a busy avenue in downtown Mexico City to pick up her colleague, an official at the federal prosecutor's office said.
Munoz was approached by two gunmen on a motorbike who shot and killed him in the street. The attackers then fired at least four shots at Guzman inside the vehicle, killing her.
Authorities have not yet given a motive for the attack although security experts say it appeared to be a hit carried out by organized crime.
Mexico City's civil security office said that a motorbike had been seized not far from attack, as well as another vehicle in the Iztacalco neighborhood, while investigators were looking into ballistic and fingerprint evidence from the scene.
'I feel very sad for the loss of Ximena and Pepe (Jose), with whom for many years we shared dreams and struggles,' a noticeably distressed Brugada said.
6 The body of Jose Munoz is covered at the crime scene.
AFP via Getty Images
6 Evidence is marked at the scene of the shooting in Mexico City.
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She thanked Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her cabinet for the support and cooperation they had provided since the attack. Sheinbaum is a former mayor of Mexico City.
'It is a deplorable incident and we are going to give all the support that the mayor may need,' Sheinbaum said.
Brugada added that there would be no impunity for those responsible for the killing. She was not in the car when the attack took place, a Mexico City government official told Reuters.
Photos in local media showed a black Audi with four bullet holes in the front window and a sheet covering what appeared to be one body, while another body was covered with a white sheet on the pavement.
6 Forensic investigators work at the crime scene of the killing of Jose Munoz and Ximena Guzman in Mexico City.
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Police patrols taped off the area so forensic specialists could examine the scene.
'It was a harsh message sent to Clara (Brugada), undoubtedly perpetrated by drug traffickers,' said David Saucedo, a public security specialist. Groups affected by drug seizures have previously launched attacks against the capital's authorities, he said.
6 Police cordon off the area where Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada's private secretary, Ximena Guzman, and adviser, Jose Munoz, were killed.
AP
In 2020 then Mexico City police chief Omar Garcia Harfuch, now the federal security minister, was shot and injured in an assassination attempt that killed two of his bodyguards. That attack was blamed by him on one of the country's most powerful drug groups, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.