Mayoral Candidate In Southern Mexico Gets Shot In The Head Right Before Elections

A gunman shot dead an aspiring mayor at a rally Wednesday in southern Mexico, marking a bloody end to campaigning in a country expected to elect its first woman president this weekend.

More than 20 people running for local office have been murdered during what has been a particularly violent election season in the Latin American nation, according to an official count.

The latest victim was Alfredo Cabrera, a mayoral candidate for an opposition coalition who was gunned down in the southern state of Guerrero, causing chaos and panic among people attending the rally.


Barring a major upset, a woman appears almost certain to be elected leader of the world’s most populous Spanish-speaking country when millions of Mexicans vote on Sunday.

“We’re going to make history,” ruling-party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, who is leading in polls, told a cheering crowd at her closing campaign rally in Mexico City’s main square.

“I say to the young women, to all the women of Mexico – colleagues, friends, sisters, daughters, mothers and grandmothers – you are not alone,” the 61-year-old said.

Sheinbaum has pledged to continue outgoing left-wing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s social programmes and strategy of tackling crime at its roots – a controversial strategy that he calls “hugs not bullets”.

Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez, also 61, promised a tougher approach to dealing with drug cartel-related violence at her closing rally in the northern city of Monterrey.