Monday, March 18, 2024

Citizens detain mayor on suspicion of corruption

Citizens from an indigenous town in Oaxaca beat up the mayor and detained him along with the town’s Education Minister for alleged corruption on Monday.

People from San Martín Peras, in the Mixtec region of Oaxaca, 300 kilometers west of Oaxaca city, accuse the mayor, Román Juárez Cruz, and the Education Minister, Braulio González Ortiz, of illicit dealings and of breaking the the indigenous governing code known as usos y costumbres.

They said they told Juárez to resign on November 14, but that he refused to leave the position. The citizens assured that he and his family had not been harmed.

A video on social media shows people blocking off a pickup truck on a highway and forcing Juárez out of his vehicle, the newspaper Milenio reported.

The community has asked the Oaxaca Congress to dismiss Juárez and the state auditor OSFEO to carry out an audit of his spending.

The president of the Citizens’ Municipal Committee, Elpidio Ramírez Morales, said most of town’s citizens were involved in the action. “The people, committed to their usos y costumbres, decided to [apprehend] … Mr. Román Juárez Cruz and Mr. Braulio González Ortiz.”

Ramírez added that citizens wouldn’t accept an unelected mayor as a replacement. “There’s a possibility that the Congress will enact a dispersal of powers. We don’t want that … we won’t accept the presence of an administrator in San Martín Peras … here they just come to steal and not to help the people,” he said.

With reports from Milenio and Sistema Radiofónico Informativo 

Interior Minister Luisa María Alcalde

Updated census shows nearly 100,000 missing persons in Mexico

2
More than 15,000 names in Mexico's missing persons database have been found alive or confirmed dead, the Interior Minister said.
Russian tourist Maria Rigovich

Kidnapped Russian woman rescued in Tamaulipas

0
Maria Rigovich was traveling with acquaintances from Monterrey to Reynosa when they were stopped by armed men on Thursday.
A person bicycles in the rain in Mexico City

Rains and chilly temperatures in the forecast as spring approaches

0
As cold front 40 cools off inland states, temperatures in some coastal areas will remain high.