Gunmen storm Mexican village hall and shoot dead mayor
Gunmen have killed the mayor of the Mexican municipality of San Mateo Piñas in the latest deadly attack on local officials. Witnesses said four armed men arrived on motorcycles, stormed the village hall and opened fire on the mayor, Lilia Gema García Soto, and a local official who was in a meeting with her, Eli García Ramírez.Two municipal police officers were also injured in the attack.While officials are still investigating the possible motive for the killing, local officials are often targeted by criminal gangs for failing to do their bidding.
García Soto is the second mayor to be killed in Oaxaca state this year. In May, the mayor of Santiago Amoltepec was shot dead in an ambush along with two other people who were in the car with him at the time of the attack.The governor of Oaxaca has condemned this latest killing, adding that the crime would not go unpunished.However, security forces are still searching for the four gunmen, who escaped after the attack. The state prosecutor's office said federal agents had been deployed to the area to help locate them.Violence against local politicians and those running for office in Mexico has been on the rise in recent years, spiking in the run-up to last year's general election. Most of the attacks happened in small towns where organised crime groups are particularly strong, but last month two top aides of the mayor of Mexico City were shot dead in the capital in an escalation of violence which shocked the country.
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BBC News
20 hours ago
- BBC News
Gunmen storm Mexican village hall and shoot dead mayor
Gunmen have killed the mayor of the Mexican municipality of San Mateo Piñas in the latest deadly attack on local officials. Witnesses said four armed men arrived on motorcycles, stormed the village hall and opened fire on the mayor, Lilia Gema García Soto, and a local official who was in a meeting with her, Eli García Ramí municipal police officers were also injured in the officials are still investigating the possible motive for the killing, local officials are often targeted by criminal gangs for failing to do their bidding. García Soto is the second mayor to be killed in Oaxaca state this year. In May, the mayor of Santiago Amoltepec was shot dead in an ambush along with two other people who were in the car with him at the time of the governor of Oaxaca has condemned this latest killing, adding that the crime would not go security forces are still searching for the four gunmen, who escaped after the attack. The state prosecutor's office said federal agents had been deployed to the area to help locate against local politicians and those running for office in Mexico has been on the rise in recent years, spiking in the run-up to last year's general election. Most of the attacks happened in small towns where organised crime groups are particularly strong, but last month two top aides of the mayor of Mexico City were shot dead in the capital in an escalation of violence which shocked the country.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- The Guardian
‘Absolutely false': Mexico president denies encouraging LA protests against Ice raids
Mexico's president has rejected an unfounded allegation by a senior US official that she encouraged demonstrations against immigration raids in Los Angeles, as 'absolutely false'. Claudia Sheinbaum responded on social media after Kristi Noem, Donald Trump's homeland security secretary, accused her of 'encouraging violent protests'. Sheinbaum reposted a video of her daily news conference the previous day, in which she had condemned violent demonstrations and urged Mexicans living in the United States 'to act peacefully'. 'We have always been against' violent protests, she wrote on Twitter/X. 'On the other hand, our position is and will continue to be the defense of honest, hardworking Mexicans who support the United States economy and their families in Mexico,' she added. Earlier on Tuesday, Noem had told reporters at the White House: 'Claudia Sheinbaum came out and encouraged more protests in LA and I condemn her for that. She should not be encouraging violent protests that are going on.' 'People are allowed to peacefully protest. But the violence that we're seeing is not acceptable, and it's not going to happen in America.' A series of immigration raids across the city of Los Angeles on Friday inspired mostly peaceful protests involving a few hundred people, but the situation escalated on Saturday when the US president took the unprecedented step of mobilizing the national guard, claiming the demonstrations amounted to 'rebellion' against the authority of the US government. Since assuming office, Noem has played a starring role in the second Trump administration, executing the White House's immigration agenda with fierce loyalty and an eye for the television cameras. The former South Dakota governor has toured the southern border on horseback, dressed in tactical gear to accompany agents on a raid in New York, and posed in a notorious Salvadorian prison with a $50,000 Rolex on her wrist.
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Mexican police kill 4 gunmen, cross into Guatemala in dramatic border shootout
Mexican state police killed four gunmen near the border with Guatemala, then pursued more suspects into that country in three armored police vehicles, where they engaged in a shootout in the streets of a border town. Authorities in both countries said Monday they were investigating. The rare case of Mexican law enforcement crossing the border into Guatemala on Sunday in La Mesilla was captured by onlookers in videos widely circulated online. With the border crossing a short distance in the background, armed men in ballistic vests and carrying rifles can be seen shouting at the open driver side door of a Chiapas state police armored vehicle. Suddenly, another such vehicle comes speeding through the border crossing from behind scattering the armed men. The initial vehicle reverses back toward Mexico and a third armored police vehicle enters from a side street slamming a civilian vehicle into the side of the other armored police truck. Gunfire erupts with the police trucks and civilian vehicles getting hit by bullets. All the while, a Guatemalan military truck with a soldier in the turret, sits in the middle of the melee. It was the latest flare-up of violence along a section of the border that has become a flashpoint as rival Mexican drug cartels and their local affiliates battle for control of valuable smuggling routes for migrants, guns and drugs. Asked about the events, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday that everything appeared to show that Mexican authorities entered Guatemala. 'They are investigating it and it is not all right that has happened,' she said. Chiapas state Gov. Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar criticized what he suggested were Guatemalan authorities protecting members of organized crime. His security chief, Oscar Aparicio Avendaño, told The Associated Press on Monday that police had used a drone to detect armed men crossing the border into Mexico. Police intercepted them, killing four, including a local gang leader. 'They try to cross (back to Guatemala) to evade justice and that's where we intercept them and there's the shooting,' Ramírez said. The police involved were part of a state police force called the Pakales, which have also been accused of wrongdoing. Across the border in Guatemala, authorities were cautious in their initial response. Guatemala Vice President Karin Herrera said Monday that the Guatemalan government was talking to Mexican authorities about what happened, 'but there are many things that must be confirmed.' Guatemala Defense Minister Henry Sáenz said none of the Guatemalan soldiers present in La Mesilla fired their weapons and that it remained under investigation. The stretch of the Mexico-Guatemala border has seen near continuous violence in the past two years as the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels battle for control. Last year, the violence spurred hundreds of Mexican residents to flee into Guatemala for safety. At other moments, towns have seen their power cut and cartel convoys parade through their communities.
