A mayoral candidate in Mexico was shot dead after perpetrators learned her location through a Facebook live. In total, over 80 politicians, out of which 34 were candidates or aspirants, have been murdered nationwide ahead of June 6 legislative elections.
In a Facebook live, 61-year-old Alma Rosa Barragán Santiago invited voters to join her on Tuesday, May 25, while attending an outdoor event in the Guanajuato municipality of Moroleón.
She was the mayoral candidate for the Mexican municipality of Moroleón for the Citizen Movement (Movimiento Ciudadano) party.
Santiago encouraged potential voters from La Manguita, Pico de Pájaro, and El Ombligo neighborhood to meet her and listen to her government proposals.
"Hello, how are you? I'm here in La Manguita with Pedro Guzmán (Street). If you like to join me, come and hear my proposals," she said in the video.
"Come to spend a moment together," she said. "Together we do better. Thank you. I'll wait for you here."
An hour after posting the video, a group of unidentified men opened fire at the event, killing Santiago and injuring two others.
She was the third nominee from her party to be murdered in just over two weeks.
"Today Alma Barragán, our candidate, was murdered in a cowardly way," Citizen's Movement coordinator Clemente Castañeda said on Tuesday.
"It should not be impossible to participate in political life without putting your life at risk."
"This is the most violent election in the history of Mexico and in Movimiento Ciudadano we are not willing to normalize it," Castañeda said.
On Wednesday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the murder was "without doubt" the work of organized criminal gangs. He said they are killing candidates to scare voters away from the polls.
"When there is a lot of abstentionism, the mafias dominate the elections," Lopez Obrador said during a news conference.
According to experts, the drug gangs in the country want to place submissive candidates of their liking so they can operate without interference.
Gladys McCormick, a history professor at Syracuse University, said the violence during elections is not new.
"There’s always been violence with elections and electoral cycles especially at the mayoral level where you really see things get heated, but this time it feels like it’s way more than ordinary," McCormick told Al Jazeera.
"It’s a testament of the influence of organized crime with these local elections trying to sway the institutions," McCormick said, "organized crime has infiltrated municipalities, law enforcement at the municipal levels," she added. "This is working its way up."
Including Tuesday’s incident, a total of 88 politicians in the country have been assassinated since the start of the election campaigning last year.
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