Morena's mayoral candidate murdered in an ambush in Chiapas

The vehicle in which the three people murdered this Wednesday in Chilón (Chiapas) were traveling. SOCIAL NETWORKS

Pedro Guitérrez, candidate of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) for mayor in the municipality of Chilón, in Chiapas, was assassinated at dawn this Wednesday, as confirmed by the party to EL PAÍS.

Two other people who were traveling with him, including a minor, have also been killed.

Since the pre-campaign for the elections on June 6 began, the country has registered 53 politicians and 66 assassinated officials, according to the latest data from the consulting firm Etellekt, with the cutoff to March 3.

The government announced earlier this month a strategy to protect them from violence.

Morena's 50-year-old candidate was heading towards the municipal seat of Chilón this morning, around four in the morning, when the vehicle he was driving was intercepted.

The man, who had been a municipal judge, slowed down to pass a pothole and at that moment a group of armed men began to shoot, according to José Galmich, a local communicator and author of the information page

.

Gutiérrez tried to accelerate, but lost control of the truck and fell into a ravine.

Along with him were his eight-year-old son and another 31-year-old companion, who were also killed, and his wife, who managed to escape the attackers.

Local media report that the hitmen subsequently set the vehicle on fire.

The woman who managed to escape alerted the authorities.

Police officers from the municipality and experts arrived in the area.

The State Attorney General's Office, through the Indigenous Justice Prosecutor's Office, has initiated an investigation into the aggravated homicide of the three persons.

Gutiérrez had been a municipal judge in Chilón - a municipality of more than 111,000 inhabitants currently governed by Morena - and had registered as a candidate for the party among the 61,000 people who have registered throughout the country for local positions.

Galmich, however, argues that the murder was not for political reasons, but was "an old quarrel."

"They want to politicize it because you can see that we are in the electoral season," says the communicator.

Since the 2018 electoral campaign, considered the most violent in Mexico, with 154 fatalities, there has been a 32% decrease in the number of deaths.

However, the process of the largest elections held in contemporary times in Mexico has not yet concluded, where this year some 20,000 positions will be elected among state governors, deputies and mayors.

The municipal sphere and poor areas are the most punished (almost 9 out of 10 of the murders occur in these places) and 70% are committed by armed commandos for hire.

The trend is clear since the last campaign: violence is generally exercised against those politicians or aspirants whose initials do not coincide with those of whoever governs the State, according to Rubén Salazar, director of Etellekt, told this newspaper at the beginning of the month.

The consultant added: "There is no statistical correlation between the States with the most homicides per 100,000 inhabitants."

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