Mexican Mayor, Husband Murdered in Armed Attack in Veracruz

Mexican Mayor Maricela Vallejo Orea of Mixtla de Altamirano was killed in an armed attack Wednesday night, Veracruz Ministry of Public Security (SSP) Hugo Gutierrez Maldonado announced on Twitter Tuesday.

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“I express my condolences to relatives of the mayor of Mixtla de Altamirano, Maricela Vallejo Orea and her husband, Efren Zopiyactle, who along with her chauffeur lost their lives after an armed attack, on Wednesday night,” Gutierrez wrote.

Federal and state search and investigation teams have been deployed to the scene of the crime on Zongolica-Orizaba highway, the SSP official said. The ministry urged the General Prosecutor’s Office to conduct its own investigations to find the culprits responsible for the reprehensible event that ravages and upsets the society of Veracruz."

According to reports, Vallejo voiced some concern over her safety after receiving death threats.

Vallejo was a member of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s political party, Morena and during a plenary chamber session Thursday, Congress held a moment of silence for the murdered politician.

Via Twitter, Veracruz Governor, Cuitlahuac Garcia, condemned the violent act, writing, “When greater synergy managed with Mixtla; Hermanándolo with another people, building a health center, promoting their indigenous culture, cowardly snatch the life of the mayor. We condemn the incident and justice will be performed. Our heartfelt condolences to the family.”

The Mixtla de Altamirano mayor’s death comes two days after the kidnapping and murder of David Otlica Avilés, the Michoacan mayor of the town of Nahuatzen.