Violence against authorities and politicians in Guanajuato as a pressure mechanism by organized crime has ceased to be direct, but instead goes against their relatives to exert coercion and keep them under threat. According to a count made by MILENIO, 12 relatives, including children, husbands, and cousins of authorities, were murdered during the six-year term.
Among the most recent cases is that of the elected mayor of Pénjamo Yozajamby Molina, who on May 24, 2024, in the middle of her campaign, her father Carlos Roberto Molina Herrera and her partner José Guadalupe were murdered. Both were inside a bar when they were attacked with firearms.
Hours earlier, on May 22, Mr. Pedro Trejo Núñez, father of the elected mayor of Morena in Tarimoro, Saúl Trejo, was murdered in the city center during a rally. After the elections, a mini-super owned by the elected mayor was attacked with an explosive device, leaving people dead and others seriously injured.
According to security analyst David Saucedo, although each case has its peculiarities, during the electoral process there were threats from organized crime groups against candidates, opting to attack their family and close circle.
“Each case has its specificity, however, it is feasible to assume that organized crime groups are harassing the family nuclei of the candidates and current elected authorities in order to obtain benefits in their favor,” he explained.
On October 11, 2023, Alejandro Lanuza, a councilor of Salvatierra who aspired to run for public office in the 2024 election and brother of former mayor Alejandrina Lanuza, who had announced she would be the candidate for local deputy, was murdered in broad daylight in the center of Salvatierra.
Years before, when Alejandrina was mayor, a local cartel deprived one of her brothers of his freedom as a mechanism to coerce her.
In Celaya, on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 17, Guillermo Mendoza Suárez, son of the municipal president Javier Mendoza Márquez, was murdered. On August 31 of the same year, the State Attorney General’s Office reported the arrest of the alleged perpetrator of the homicide.
On June 6, 2022, the son of Juan Lara Mendoza, mayor of Villagrán, was murdered while traveling aboard a vehicle, in the company of his wife who was injured and hours later lost her life. Armed men aboard another vehicle first pulled up alongside them and crashed into them to force them to brake and then shoot them.
Source: milenio
