A mayor in San Luis Potosí faces charges for firing a gun in the air during a horse parade known as a cabalgata.
Luis Alberto Abundis was elected mayor of Tamasopo, a town in the indigenous Huasteca region, 245 kilometers east of San Luis Potosí city, last June.
A video reported to show Abundis went viral on January 24. Filmed from behind, he fired at least seven shots into the air while riding a horse along with at least 10 other riders. Children were present in the vicinity, the newspaper Milenio reported, and Abundis’ weapon is the only one visible in the video.
The spokesman for the San Luis Potosí Public Security Ministry, Miguel Gallegos Cepeda, said the ministry had filed a complaint to the state Attorney General’s Office for the possession of a weapon and for causing danger.
Gallegos said Abundis had jeopardized the faith of citizens. “San Luis is not in a position to have this type of act, especially by popular representatives … It is about the public having the certainty that everything is being done well, that no one is going to conceal anything and that in the new San Luis Potosí things have to change.”
Abundis allegedly fired at least seven shots during the parade.
He added that the mayor’s actions were not befitting of his post. “He drew a lot of attention for the irresponsibility with which he acted.”
The state Public Security Minister, Guzmar Ángel González Castillo, said he would ask for the federal Security Ministry to intervene.
Abundis ran for mayor as a candidate for the Green Party-Labor Party coalition.
Firing weapons into the air is more dangerous than some gun enthusiasts appreciate: during New Year’s celebrations, a pregnant woman was at risk of dying from a stray bullet. In a separate New Year’s event, one man was killed by the bullet that he himself fired into the air.
With reports from El Sol de San Luis and Milenio
