Mexico President Sheinbaum Pledges To Find Killers Behind Brutal Murder Of Guerrero Mayor

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo has pledged to bring those responsible for the murder and beheading of Alejandro Arcos Catalan, a mayor in Guerrero, to justice.

Catalan, who had just taken office the same day as her (last week), was found murdered brutally Sunday, with his severed head placed on the hood of a Volkswagen truck in the Villas del Robles neighborhood of Chilpancingo, Guerrero's capital.

"We are conducting the necessary investigations to learn the motive and detain those responsible. Tomorrow, we will announce a general public safety strategy," Pardo said Monday, as per Border Report. "We will bring more resources, intelligence, and investigations to some states, working closely with local governors."

"We are collaborating with state prosecutors to see if it's necessary the (federal) Attorney General's Office takes over the case and find out the motive."

Catalan was a member of the opposition party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The national leader of PRI said that organized crime in Guerrero was out of control, adding that the city secretary of Chilpancingo was also killed three days ago.

"They were in office less than a week. They were young and honest public servants that wanted their community to progress," PRI's Alejandro "Alito" Moreno Cardenas said. "Because of this situation of ungovernability, we will ask that the (federal government) take over the murder investigation."

Guerrero, located in western Mexico, has been a hotspot for violence, with criminal groups fighting over control of drug trafficking, kidnapping, and extortion.

The conflict has also led to the killing of seven people, whose heads were found in a car left in front of a church in Chilpancingo.

In the past, several public officials who were believed to be supporting one criminal group over another have received death threats.

In July, a nonprofit Causa en Común (Common Cause) revealed that an average of twelve dead bodies were found daily in Mexico, often displaying signs of torture, dismemberment, burning or being buried in hidden graves.