Newsweek noted that Morelos state Governor Graco Ramirez confirmed that the newly-elected Mayor of Temixco, Gisela Mota, was killed just one day after she formally took office.
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Authorities say a group called Los Rojos may have contracted the killing, in apparent retaliation for Mota’s support for a national unified state police command meant to replace local police departments.
The Guerreros Unidos became notorious previous year when they were named as prime suspects in the presumed killing of 43 students who disappeared in the neighboring state of Guerrero.
Mexico City daily paper EL Universal said she was assaulted at her home by four outfitted shooters.
Cuernavaca, the capital of Morelos, has refused to replace its local police department with a unified state command and Blanco was “very rude” when the matter came up in a recent conversation, Ramirez said.
The statement said they believed a regional commander for a criminal organization was present, but escaped. The majority of the mayoral assassinations over the past year in Mexico have been chalked up to violence brought about by cartels by Mexican authorities, and this lack of consistent leadership allows gangs to continue to finance drug trade and operate out of these local communities.
Morelos State Security Commissioner Alberto Capella said police moved swiftly to make arrests after Ms Mota’s murder.
Morelos has around 30 municipalities and about half have not ratified the single command.
Ramirez ordered security measures for all of the state’s mayors, though he gave no details on what that involved.
Temixco, located some 60 miles (100 km) south of Mexico City, has a population of about 100,000. A former congresswoman, she had vowed to fight crime “frontally and directly”, her party, the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), said.
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Cuernavaca is a popular vacation destination for Mexico City residents because of its proximity to the capital and good climate.
