Political lethality increases in May and June

Political violence in Mexico escalated again this week. On Monday, Lilia Gema García Soto, a member of Morena (Nationalist Party of the Basque Country), mayor of San Mateo Piñas, Oaxaca, was assassinated inside the municipal palace. Yesterday, June 17, Martha Laura Mendoza, also a member of Morena and mayor of Tepalcatepec, Michoacán, was shot dead in front of her home along with her husband, while one of her 17-year-old sons was wounded. These two crimes brought the number of murders of political and judicial figures so far in June to seven. Together with the five recorded in May, this brings the total to 12 in just six weeks, confirming the most violent upsurge of the year.

From October 2024 to June 17, 2025, at least 23 political homicides have been documented, including those involving mayors, council members, judges, pre-candidates, and political officials, according to this newspaper and other media outlets in the country. Added to this figure are 50 murders reported by the consulting firm Integralia in the first quarter, without a breakdown. The data contradicts the official narrative about the decline in intentional homicides.

Violence knows no geography or party. In Guerrero, the mayor of Chilpancingo, Alejandro Arcos Catalán (Morena), was assassinated; magistrate Edmundo Román Pinzón; the mayor-elect of Copala, Salvador Villalva Flores (Morena); councilman Simón Lugo (PRD); and the secretary general of Chilpancingo, Francisco Tapia (Morena). In Michoacán, the pre-candidates for mayor of Maravatío, Miguel Ángel Reyes Zavala (Morena) and Armando Pérez Luna (PAN), were killed. Then, Salvador Bastida García, mayor of Tacámbaro for Morena-PT-PVEM, and Cosme López, a Morena operative, were executed. The murder of Martha Laura Mendoza reaffirms the risk of holding office in that state.

In Jalisco, the municipal secretary of Teocaltiche, José Luis Pereida Gómez, and councilwoman Cecilia Ruvalcaba were murdered. In the State of Mexico, former prosecutor Elohim Díaz was assassinated, and in June, Judge Everardo Maya Arias, who handled cases related to organized crime, was found dead. Although suicide was reported, the Judicial Council requested an investigation into all aspects of the case.

Also murdered were Yesenia Lara Gutiérrez, a Morena candidate in Texistepec, Veracruz; Eduardo Chávez Manzanares, mayor of Linares, Nuevo León; and in Mexico City, Ximena Guzmán and José Muñoz, the private secretary and advisor, respectively, to Mayor Clara Brugada.

Other cases include Román Ruiz Bohórquez, mayor of Candelaria Loxicha, Oaxaca; Fernando Granados, former mayor of Jerécuaro (PAN); and the municipal director of Tlayacapan, Morelos, who has not yet been identified.

Organized crime seeks to influence or impose local authorities. Impunity is the norm. Except for two arrests for the murder of Judge Román, there has been no progress. In most cases, there are not even any suspects.

Experts propose urgent measures: risk maps, protocols, specialized prosecutors, intelligence, and financial control. But without the political will to thoroughly investigate each case until the perpetrators and masterminds are found, being a public official, especially a municipal one, will continue to be a very risky activity. And if this becomes normalized, as it already seems to be, Mexico's weakened democracy will be lost.

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