The mayor of Chilpancingo, the capital of the state of Guerrero, was murdered on Sunday, just six days after he took office.
The decapitated body of Alejandro Arcos Catalán was found inside a pickup truck in the Villa del Roble neighborhood of Chilpancingo, a city of around 280,000 people. His head was left on top of the vehicle, and his voter ID was found with his remains, the newspaper Reforma reported.
Arcos, a 43-year-old Chilpancingo native, was sworn in as mayor last Monday after winning the mayoral election in June as a candidate for an alliance made up of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the National Action Party (PAN) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD).
Just hours before he was found dead, the mayor visited areas of Chilpancingo affected by Hurricane John, which caused significant damage and claimed at least 23 lives in Guerrero.
His murder came just three days after Chilpancingo government secretary, Francisco Gonzalo Tapia, was shot dead in the center of the state capital.
Last Thursday, Arcos described the killing of his colleague as “very painful” and “very regrettable.”
“We demand justice so that this crime doesn’t go unpunished,” the mayor said.
Authorities are now investigating his murder as well.
The Guerrero Attorney General’s Office (FGE) said in a statement on Sunday that it had opened an investigation into the murder of Arcos.
It also said that investigative police and forensic experts attended the scene of the crime to collect evidence.
In a post to social media, Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado condemned the crime and said that the death of the mayor “places the entire society of Guerrero into mourning and fills us with anger.”
“I have instructed the state public security minister to intensify operations of vigilance and social proximity at various points in Chilpancingo. To the people of Guerrero, I reiterate the commitment of my government to work in coordination with the authorities of the different levels of government to guarantee peace and governability in Guerrero,” she wrote.
Senator Alejandro Moreno, the national president of the PRI, acknowledged the murders of Arcos and Tapia in a post to X.
“They had been in their positions less than a week. Young, honest officials who sought progress for their community. Our condolences to and solidarity with their families,” he wrote.
A would-be Chilpancingo official was also killed
In addition to the murders of Arcos and Tapia, the former director of the Special Forces Unit of the Guerrero state police, Ulises Hernández, was recently killed in Chilpancingo.
Hernández and a woman identified only as Wendy were shot dead while traveling in a vehicle in the state capital on Sept. 27.
Hernández was to become minister of security in Chilpancingo during the mayorship of Arcos.
Esta es la ENTREVISTA que Ciro (@CiroGomezL) le hizo este viernes al alcalde de Chilpancingo, Alejandro Arcos. En ella, el edil pidió que se reforzara su seguridad y la de su equipo: “Desde luego que sí. Lo pido y la de mi equipo de trabajo”. #PorLaMañana pic.twitter.com/yx7enJliUc
— Grupo Fórmula (@Radio_Formula) October 7, 2024
Arcos had expressed in an interview with Radio Fórmula on Friday that he was concerned for his safety and that of his team following the murder of Francisco Gonzalo Tapia.
Former Chilpancingo mayor met with crime boss
Arcos’ predecessor, Norma Otilia Hernández Martínez, was expelled from the Morena party after it came to light that she had met with Celso Ortega Jiménez, the alleged leader of the Ardillos crime group, during her mayorship.
The ex-mayor took to Facebook on Sunday to call for justice for the murder of Arcos, who she described as a “colleague” with whom she “shared a sincere social struggle.”
A troubled city
During the campaign ahead of this year’s mayoral election in Chilpancingo, the Morena and Citizens Movement candidates reported that members of an organized crime group prevented them from carrying out campaign activities in certain parts of the state capital.
In March, a student from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College — the school attended by 43 young men who were abducted and presumably murdered in 2014 — was killed by state police in Chilpancingo, while in July 2023, 13 people including five members of the National Guard, five state policemen and one federal and two local government officials were kidnapped by demonstrators who participated in a protest allegedly sparked by the arrest of two members of the Ardillos crime group.
The Associated Press reported on Sunday that “Chilpancingo has long been the scene of bloody turf battles between two drug gangs, the Ardillos and the Tlacos.”
“The battle has resulted in dozens of gruesome slayings,” the news agency added.
A troubled state
Guerrero, whose mountainous areas are home to opium poppy and marijuana crops, is one of Mexico’s poorest and most violent states. In 2023, it ranked sixth for total homicides among the 32 federal entities, with 1,720 murders, according to national statistics agency INEGI.
At least six candidates for public office were killed in Guerrero ahead of the June 2 elections, according to Reuters. Among the victims was Alfredo Cabrera Barrientos, PRI-PAN-PRD candidate for mayor in the municipality of Coyuca de Benítez, who was shot at point-blank range at his final campaign event.
A significant number of organized crime groups operate in Guerrero, including La Familia Michoacana, the Tlacos, the Ardillos, the Rojos and the Guerreros Unidos, which allegedly abducted the 43 trainee teachers who disappeared in Iguala in 2014.
With reports from Reforma, El Universal, El Financiero and El País
