The violence against political candidates continued yesterday and today with the murder of two candidates for mayor in the state of Michoacán.

Omar Gómez Lucatero, who was running as an independent in Aguililla, was killed yesterday when armed civilians opened fire on him as he left his home in this Tierra Caliente municipality of about 16,000 people.

Gómez had run for office before with the Institutional Revolutionary Party but this time round he was running as an independent.

A security operation involving municipal and state police was implemented following the murder, but no arrests have been reported.

The second murder took place this morning in Ocampo when three armed men entered the home of Ángeles Juárez and shot and killed him.

Juárez was the Democratic Revolution Party candidate for mayor of Ocampo, a municipality of about 50,000 in the eastern part of the state.

The two murders come just a week after another Michoacán candidate was gunned down. Alejandro Chávez Zavala was killed last Thursday in Taretan.

He too was running for mayor.

There have now been 47 candidates assassinated during the election process that began last September.

Meanwhile, a 10-million-peso ransom (US $491,000) has been posted for information leading to the arrest of two brothers believed to have been behind the assassination of a candidate for federal deputy in Coahuila.

Governor Miguel Riquelme announced the ransom yesterday for information that would lead to locating and apprehending Erik and Ignacio Arámbula Viveros.

They have been identified as the authors of the assassination June 8 of Fernando Purón, the Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate for federal Congress.

Source: El País (sp)