In a tragic incident on Friday, Esmeralda Garzon, a local councilwoman in the municipality of Tixtla in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, was shot dead as she was leaving her home. Garzon’s murder marks the second female politician killed in Mexico, just days after Claudia Sheinbaum made history by becoming the country’s first woman president in the June 2 elections.
According to local media reports, Garzon, who led the equity and gender commission in Tixtla, was elected under the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) but had later backed Sheinbaum’s Morena party, as evidenced by posts on social media. The Guerrero state attorney general’s office confirmed that police were dispatched to the scene to gather evidence and apprehend those responsible for the shooting.
Garzon’s murder follows closely on the heels of another tragic incident earlier this week, in which Yolanda Sanchez Figueroa, the mayor of a town in western Mexico, and her bodyguard were killed outside a gym just hours after Sheinbaum’s historic victory.
The recent elections in Mexico have been marred by an unprecedented level of violence, with official statistics indicating that at least 23 political candidates were killed while campaigning, making it the most violent elections in modern Mexican history. However, some non-governmental organizations, such as Data Civica, have reported an even higher toll, counting at least 30 candidate killings and over 50 victims when relatives and others caught in the attacks are included.
In the lead-up to the elections, several shocking incidents of political violence were reported, including the on-camera assassination of a mayoral hopeful just one day after another mayoral candidate in the central Mexican state of Morelos was murdered. In the southern state of Chiapas, nine people were killed in two attacks against mayoral candidates, though the candidates themselves survived. In April, a mayoral hopeful was shot dead just hours after beginning her campaign.
The ongoing violence against politicians, particularly women, in Mexico is a deeply concerning issue that underscores the challenges faced by the country’s democratic institutions. As Claudia Sheinbaum assumes the presidency, addressing the root causes of this violence and ensuring the safety of all political actors will undoubtedly be a top priority for her administration.
