Mexico: former deputy and mayoral candidate assassinated in Oaxaca

(CNN Spanish) -

The candidate of the National Action Party (PAN) for mayor of Ocotlán de Morelos, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, Ivonne Gallegos Carreño, died this Saturday, without at the moment having details about the incident in which she died .

"I regret and condemn the attack in which Ivonne Gallegos lost her life," Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat wrote on Twitter.

"With respect to the autonomy of the Prosecutor's Office, I request that the corresponding investigations begin so that this unfortunate fact does not go unpunished," he added.

The State Attorney General's Office reported on Twitter that the investigation into the death of Gallegos began "with a gender perspective and with the highest standards, in order to ensure effective action and due diligence."

• LOOK: First on CNN: the US Border Patrol has encountered 32 large groups of migrants along the US-Mexico border this fiscal year

So far it has not offered details about the circumstances in which the candidate lost her life.

advertising

The prosecution did not immediately respond to a request for additional information sent by CNN this Saturday.

Local media indicated that Gallegos Carreño - also a former local deputy - was shot to death while traveling in a truck in Santo Tomás Jalieza, in the north of Ocotlán de Morelos.

CNN has not been able to confirm these details.

The president of the National Executive Committee of the PAN, Marko Cortés, condemned the murder in a message on his Twitter account and demanded "a thorough investigation, justice and punishment of those responsible."

Gallegos' murder comes two weeks after the Mexican government presented a plan to protect candidates for public office "threatened by organized crime."

"We know that the most vulnerable level of government is the municipal one, especially when they are in an area of ​​influence of organized crime or white collar, therefore it is necessary to act with a clear guide," said on March 4 the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Mexico, Rosa Icela Rodríguez.

• MORE: Do you want to work at the DEA and do you live in Mexico?

  This is your chance

According to the Mexican government, between September 2020 and February 2021 there were at least 64 cases of homicide related to political events.

Oaxaca, Guanajuato, Veracruz, Guerrero, Morelos, Baja California and Jalisco are the states where the highest number of these types of incidents are concentrated, according to these government data.

For now it is unknown if Gallegos Carreño had received any kind of threat.

Oaxaca