Mexican mayoral candidates are shot dead within hours of each other

Two candidates for mayor in the Mexican city of Maravatio have been gunned down within hours of each other, as experts warn the June 2 election could be the country’s most violent on record.

MEXICO CITY — Two candidates for mayor in the Mexican city of Maravatio have been gunned down within hours of each other, as experts warn the June 2 election could be the country’s most violent on record.

The widening control of drug cartels in Mexico has been described as a threat. During the last nationwide election in 2021, about three dozen candidates were killed.

The campaigns haven’t even started yet. They formally begin on Friday.

State prosecutors said Tuesday that Armando Pérez was found shot to death in his car in Maravatio just before midnight. He was the mayoral candidate for the conservative National Action Party.

A freight train near the town of Maravatio, Mexico, in 2019. Luis Antonio Rojas / Bloomberg via Getty Images file“This illustrates the extremely serious level of violence and lack of safety that prevails ahead of the most important elections in Mexican history,” National Action’s leader, Marko Cortés, wrote on social media.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mexican-mayoral-candidates-shot-dead-hours-rcna140739

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