The mayors of two Mexican towns have become the latest victims of an escalating conflict that has pitted powerful drug lords against nearly every facet of Mexican society.
On Saturday, members of the drug cartel gunned down San Juan Chamula Mayor Domingo Lopez Gonazlez and four others, including the town’s vice mayor. Less than 24 hours later, hundreds of miles away, Pungarabato Mayor Ambrosio Soto was killed in the neighboring Michoacan state, also by individuals involved in the drug trade.
Gonzalez and Soto’s stories are all too familiar these days. Since a massive crackdown on drug traffickers in 2006, forty mayors have been killed, along with tens of thousands of others in Mexico’s general population.
In a statement Sunday, the National Association of Mayors called for a new system to provide increased security for local officials in Mexico.
"The implementation of a protocol of protection for mayors at risk is urgent," the group said.
Both the U.S. and Mexico have been struggling for years to craft a successful strategy for the drug war. The asymmetric conflict has been fueled by weak institutions, corruption, and an insatiable American appetite for narcotics.
Read more about the weekend’s events here.
Image Credit: Flickr User esparto, https://flic.kr/p/yqZ2C via (CC BY 2.0)