A municipal councilor in Tecate, Baja California, was hospitalized in the United States on Tuesday after she was severely wounded in an armed attack in which her husband was killed.
Morena party Councilor María de Jesús Quijada and her husband Jesús Pereida came under attack Tuesday afternoon while traveling in a vehicle in Tecate, a city of around 110,000 people on Mexico’s northern border.
The couple’s 15-year-old daughter and a bodyguard were also wounded in the attack, perpetrated by a group of armed men, none of whom was immediately arrested. The perpetrators fled the scene in a white vehicle, according to local authorities. The vehicle was subsequently set alight, the newspaper Reforma reported.
Pereida, a former federal and municipal security official, died at the scene of the attack, while Quijada was reportedly taken by ambulance to the border with the United States before being flown by helicopter to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego. The couple’s 15-year-old daughter, who was reportedly on her way to a school graduation with her parents, was also hospitalized.
The councilor was reportedly shot at least once in the head. Later on Tuesday, Quijada’s father told reporters he had been notified that his daughter and granddaughter were “out of danger.”
The motive for the crime was not immediately clear. Attacks on municipal officials are fairly common in Mexico, especially in parts of the country where there is a strong organized crime presence.
During the term of the current government, which took office in October 2024, 13 mayors have been murdered, Uno TV reported this week.
Among the victims are Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo, who was assassinated during a Day of the Dead event last November, and Joel Ángel Bravo Martínez, a mayor in the Mixtec region of Oaxaca who was killed last month.
With reports from La Jornada, Reforma, El Financiero and Zeta Tijuana
the saddest part of all this is “can we be surprised” all is so cosmetic, how sorry etc, but its becoming more norm here , and soon no one will want to be in an elected position, after all, the chances are good you will be killed. I have it from local sources, that to oppose party Moreno, brings shall we say, ISSUES, I love Mexico, I have lived here 26+ years, but what is happening, in the VOICE of helping the poor, is as before , just talk, the help is money short term with no real long term answers, and in the meanwhile as has happened for the last 100 years , a few milk the system and the poor, go back to being poor, I can assure you this is what is happening in southern Campeche right now
So lets see Presidenta Sheinbam is more concerned about Mexicans who left Mexico than to DO ANYTHING to protect any of her constituents living in Mexico. What a farce. Presidenta how about doing something about the violence in Baja.
It is tragic, the number of political assassinations in Mexico. I have my own political opinions but I keep them to myself when in social settings. To my surprise, several Mexican friends have voiced support for Trump when it comes to cracking down on organized crime in Mexico. They feel their own government, no matter which party, is unable or unwilling to dismantle the corruption behind organized crime. It shocked me to hear their support for Trump who has been so demeaning and disrespectful of Mexico. It is a sign of desperation for change when you turn to Trump for a glimmer of hope.