Two close aides of Mexico City mayor shot dead in daylight attack
Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada's personal secretary Ximena Guzmán and adviser José Muñoz were assassinated as they travelled to work on Tuesday morning, the country's authorities have said.
The two were shot dead at around 7 am on a busy thoroughfare in the capital's Moderna neighbourhood. An investigation has been launched into their murders, which experts say show the hallmarks of an organised crime hit.
It is the worst attack in recent years against public officials in the capital — where political violence is less common than in other parts of the country.
Photos from the crime scene show an Audi's windscreen riddled with bullet holes.
Mexico security analyst David Saucedo, who questioned why someone as senior as Guzmán did not have a security detail, said the murders were likely carried out to put pressure on Brugada's administration.
Mexican President Sheinbaum, of the Morena party to which Brugada also belongs, condemned the killings at her daily morning press conference.
'We will not let this cowardly act go unpunished,' said Omar García Harfuch, the country's security minister who survived an assassination attempt five years ago while he was the city's police chief.
Brugada paid tribute to Guzmán and Muñoz shortly after their deaths, before vowing to continue her administration's 'relentless fight against insecurity'.
Mexico capital's mayor, who had worked with them both for years, called Guzmán a 'wonderful, tireless' person and described Muñoz as 'one of the most intelligent people' she had ever met.
'We in the city's cabinet are shocked and mourn the loss of two dear comrades,' Brugada said.
Homicides in Mexico City in the first quarter of 2025 were slightly up from the same period the previous year.
The murders on Tuesday follow the recent killings of political figures elsewhere in the country, including a mayoral candidate in Veracruz state who was gunned down along with three others at a campaign rally earlier this month.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
'At full speed': Home favourite Loïs Boisson vies for spot in French Open final
We look at an exclusive from The Guardian which relays harrowing testimony given to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. Asaad al-Nasasra is one of two survivors from a March 23 attack, when 15 of his first responder colleagues were slaughtered by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza. They had been sent to recover the bodies of two paramedics killed in an earlier attack when their ambulances were ambushed by the IDF. Nasasra detailed what happened that day, telling the PRCS that he heard Israeli troops shoot first responders while they were clinging to life. The bodies were later found in a mass grave, with injuries indicating some had died through blows to the back of the skull. Nasasra was detained and tortured by the IDF for 37 days afterwards – including solitary confinement, starving and being subjected to loud music for long periods of time. This follows the shooting deaths of 27 Palestinians this week near food delivery sites, which has prompted a sharp rebuke from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The Telegraph reports that at the House of Commons on Wednesday he described Israel's recent actions in Gaza as "appalling" and reiterated calls for a ceasefire. Starmer also said he would not rule out imposing sanctions on Israel. It follows a joint statement by the UK, France and Canada last month criticising Israel for preventing aid from entering Gaza. Rarely are press updates to articles controversial, but one amendment made in The Washington Post has drawn the ire of social media users. The article reported on the attack on 27 Palestinians near a food delivery site in Gaza on Tuesday. The initial article attributed the killing of more than 30 people to Israeli forces, according to Middle East Eye. The article was amended to say that 31 people were killed according to Gaza's health ministry when Israeli forces opened fire. The vague phrasing, not directly blaming the attack on Israeli forces because of Israel's denial, has caused much uproar on social media. One Twitter user calls it "absolutely reprehensible journalism" and questions why the thousands of Palestinian eyewitnesses did not corroborate the attack. Next, The Times of London looks at how the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel is setting up in Europe. The British daily recounts a recent raid on the southern French city of Le Val, not far from St Tropez, where a meth lab was dismantled inside an opulent villa. Five Mexican members of Sinaloa had arrived there, in total anonymity, then set up a lab with the intention of training locals to run it and take a cut of the profits. It's the first confirmed Sinaloa operation on French soil and raises the spectre of the cartel's growing influence on Europe, this as demand for cocaine rises. Detectives believe that about 400 kilograms of meth amphetamine was produced in Le Val to be sold locally and smuggled as far as New Zealand, with profits valued at more than €11 million. Turning to sports news, the French papers are ecstatic as home favourite Loïs Boisson continues her dream run at the French Open. "A dream run" is not even strong enough to describe the French player's incredible week at Roland-Garros. Boisson, ranked 361st in the world, shot out of obscurity to topple world number three Jessica Pegula and then world number six Mirra Andreeva. She'll play her semi-final against world number two Coco Gauff this Thursday for a spot in the women's final on Saturday. L'Equipe, the French sports paper, pays tribute to Boisson at "full speed", who is powering through and hoping to make her first final. In its edition, former world number one Mats Wilander writes: "Yes she can!" Finally, a new study shows that smiling could be more efficient than Botox if you're looking to improve your physical appearance! The Times of London reports that a Dutch study followed 114 participants who underwent Botox and dermal filler treatments. The changes in their appearance were then judged by independent raters. The study's conclusion: Botox only offered small increases in how desirable people were seen in short-term relationships and none at all in long-term relationships. Their conclusion is that if you're taking Botox to seem more attractive, there is a far cheaper alternative: just smile!
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
Starbase city grows near Musk's launch site and wilderness refuges
Starbase on the south Texas coast is HQ for the Starship project and something of a shrine to its South African-born founder, the world's richest man and until recently one of President Donald Trump's closest advisors. Musk's short Washington tenure spearheading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, ended last week, with a vow to get back to his day job of running his business empire, including SpaceX, Tesla and Starlink. The departure came as investors grew increasingly nervous about the spillover from Musk's reputational damage after publicly allying himself to Trump and tearing through the US government in search of spending cuts. Now he hopes to hunker down in Starbase near the Mexican border and get back to the matter of reaching Mars. The scene is a curious mix of futuristic high-tech and down-to-earth attractions for a city that was officially incorporated in May but remains very much a work-in-progress. Cars speed down the narrow Boca Chica Boulevard leading to Starbase, where an AFP film crew was not allowed to enter. A huge bust of Musk on the outskirts of the settlement was vandalized in April and now stands with the right cheek peeled off, covered by a giant plaster. A cluster of buildings rises near the launch site, including an imposing corporate tower that bears Musk's X logo and prefabricated houses painted black, white, and gray. For now, the city has only about 500 residents, some still living in trailers and some in the prefab homes, which have patios and outdoor grills. Looming over the landscape are two models of super heavy launchers and one Starship rocket. "I think it's pretty cool, making a whole entire city based around a launch site," said 21-year-old computer engineer Dominick Cardenas who was visiting the area for the unsuccessful test launch last week. "Maybe I'll move down here one day. Who knows? I'd love to go to Mars, who wouldn't?" Environmental impact But the space city is surrounded by nature and wildlife, especially birds. Activist Christopher Basaldu, who is a member of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Native American tribe and holds a PhD in sociocultural anthropology, called Musk a "colonizer." "The land here is sacred to the original inhabitants of the area. And SpaceX is polluting and desecrating this land," he told AFP. There are two federal wildlife refuges in the area where SpaceX operates: the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the Laguna Atascosa. There is also the Boca Chica Beach, where residents have been spending their summers for decades and which is now closed during test flights. "There isn't supposed to be exploding rockets next to pristine wetlands and habitat," Hinojosa said. In 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency fined SpaceX for unauthorized discharges of water from its deluge system into wetlands near its Starbase launch pad connected to the Rio Grande. Despite protests by Hinjosa and other groups, SpaceX received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to increase the number of launches per year from five to 25. Hinojosa calls it "very much a David versus Goliath situation." "We are one of the poorest communities in the country... and we're dealing with the biggest bully on the planet, Elon Musk," she said. "Elon Musk has so much power that he's found a way around most of our lawsuits," she added. Mall, restaurants, power plant According to a document obtained by CNBC, Starbase City officials have notified the residents that they might "lose the right to continue using" their property as they currently do. A hearing is scheduled for the end of June to discuss the new zoning plan. SpaceX is also building the Rio West giant shopping mall and restaurant complex near Starbase, valued at $15 million, according to official filings. And environmental activists worry that the Rio Grande liquified natural gas plant being built in the neighboring city of Brownsville, which has the capacity to process methane, a gas that powers Starship, could become Musk's fueling station. © 2025 AFP
France 24
4 days ago
- France 24
Ruling party-aligned judges set to dominate Mexico Supreme Court
The vote comes after a contentious overhaul made Mexico the first country in the world to select all their judges via the ballot box. The enormous democratic exercise asked voters to choose more than 880 federal judges as well as fill hundreds of local and magistrate positions. Despite confusion and low turnout -- with only about 13 percent of eligible voters participating -- President Claudia Sheinbaum declared the election a success. Her opponents, however, branded it a "farce" and warned the process would consolidate the ruling party's power. Sheinbaum's Morena party already dominates both houses of Congress. With 87 percent of ballots counted by late Monday night, judges aligned with the Morena party looked to be ahead in the Supreme Court race. But preliminary results also showed Hugo Aguilar, a member of the Mixtec Indigenous group and former advisor to the Zapatista guerrilla movement, on track to head the top court. The constitutional law specialist was leading over Lenia Batres, a Morena party member and appointee of former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. - 'Answer to the people' - Lopez Obrador initiated the judicial reform after repeatedly clashing with the courts as they blocked several of his flagship initiatives. Mexico's Congress, dominated by Morena party lawmakers, fast-tracked the overhaul during the leftist leader's final months in office, despite critics' concerns that it would undermine checks and balances and leave judges more vulnerable to criminal influence. The majority of Mexico's Supreme Court justices quit over the reform and declined to stand for election. Sheinbaum, Lopez Obrador's successor, has championed the overhaul as much-needed to clean up a judiciary mired in corruption. On Monday, she downplayed the low turnout, arguing that 13 million Mexicans casting ballots was more representative than the previous process, which saw senators select Supreme Court justices from a shortlist prepared by the president. "Mexico is the most democratic country in the world," she said. Sheinbaum also pushed back at claims that she would end up controlling the judiciary. "Now the judges, magistrates and justices answer to the people," she said. Results are expected to roll in through June 10. 'Dark day' The leader of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Alejandro Moreno, denounced the vote as a "farce" and called it a "dark day for democracy." The elections showed Sheinbaum's Morena party was "willing to do anything to concentrate power. They weaken the justice system, trample on institutions, and block the way to democratic debate," he said. Hundreds of opponents of the reforms marched through the capital waving flags and banners with slogans including: "Hands off our democracy" and "No to electoral fraud." The elections will send the judiciary "to its grave," said Ismael Novela, a 58-year-old company worker. "It was the last counterweight we had against the totalitarianism of the executive branch." But many voters were mystified by the sheer complexity of the process, with a long list of largely unknown candidates vying for around 2,600 judicial positions. "They put forward X person but we do not know their trajectory, their dedication, what they have done, and... who is behind them, or if they are alone," said Gerardo Ramirez, a 63-year-old newsstand worker in Mexico City. In the western state of Jalisco, 63-year-old housewife Maria Estrada said she used her "intuition" because she did not know the candidates. Arturo Giesemann, a 57-year-old retiree in Mexico City, said his main reason for voting was "the disgust I have with the current judiciary because of its corruption." 'High risk' judges Opponents warned that elected judges could be more vulnerable to pressure from criminals, in a country where powerful drug cartels regularly use bribery and intimidation to influence officials. Rights group Defensorxs identified around 20 candidates it considered "high risk," including Silvia Delgado, a former lawyer for Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Another aspiring judge, in Durango state, spent almost six years in prison in the United States for drug crimes, despite an official requirement for a clean criminal record. Candidates were also supposed to have a law degree, experience in legal affairs and what is termed "a good reputation."
