MEXICO CITY — Two senior aides to Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada were gunned down in broad daylight on Tuesday in the city center, in a brazen motorcycle ambush that has sent shockwaves through the Mexican capital and heightened fears of escalating political violence.
The victims, identified as Ximena Guzman, Brugada’s private secretary, and Jose Munoz, a senior adviser, were killed in what authorities describe as a highly targeted attack that may be linked to organized crime.
According to an official from the federal prosecutor’s office, Guzman was driving to work and had pulled over on a busy downtown avenue to pick up Munoz when two assailants on a motorcycle approached. The gunmen shot Munoz multiple times on the street before firing at least four rounds into Guzman’s vehicle, killing her inside.
Photos published in local media showed a black Audi riddled with bullet holes and two covered bodies — one on the sidewalk and another inside the car — as police cordoned off the area for forensic analysis.
No arrests have been announced and a motive remains unconfirmed, though public security specialists say the style of the killing bears the hallmarks of a cartel-ordered assassination.
“This was a harsh message sent to Clara Brugada,” said David Saucedo, a public security analyst, pointing to the possibility that criminal groups affected by drug seizures or law enforcement pressure orchestrated the hit. Saucedo noted that cartels have previously retaliated against capital city officials.
Mayor Brugada, who was not in the vehicle at the time of the attack, mourned the deaths of her close aides, expressing heartbreak and calling for justice.
“I feel very sad for the loss of Ximena and Pepe (Jose), with whom for many years we shared dreams and struggles,” Brugada said in a statement, visibly shaken.
She vowed there would be no impunity for those behind the killings and thanked Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her cabinet for their swift support. Sheinbaum, herself a former mayor of Mexico City, denounced the killings as a “deplorable incident.”
“We are going to give all the support that the mayor may need,” Sheinbaum assured.
The double homicide comes as politically motivated violence intensifies across Mexico, particularly in regions where drug cartels exert heavy influence. While Mexico City has long been considered relatively secure compared to cartel-dominated states, Tuesday’s assassination has shaken that perception.
In 2020, then-Mexico City police chief Omar Garcia Harfuch, now serving as federal security minister, survived an assassination attempt that killed two of his bodyguards. He later attributed the attack to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations.
Authorities have not publicly named any suspects or criminal group linked to the Brugada aides’ murder, but investigators are pursuing multiple leads.
The killings have added to the sense of urgency surrounding Mexico’s security crisis, particularly as the country approaches national elections, where scores of local political figures have been assassinated in recent months.
