A female mayor in Mexico was shot dead on Tuesday in the western state of Michoacan, marking the second assassination of a woman mayor in the country in just two days.
Martha Laura Mendoza, who governed the town of Tepalcatepec, was killed alongside her husband, according to a statement by Michoacan’s public prosecutor’s office on X (formerly Twitter). Mendoza was a member of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s left-wing Morena party.
The prosecutor’s office released no further details about the attack, categorising it as a femicide and stating only that the killing occurred within the town. Guillermo Valencia, a former mayor of Tepalcatepec and leader of the opposition PRI party in Michoacan, said that according to his sources, Mendoza and her husband were ambushed “as they were leaving their home.”
Michoacan, known as Mexico’s largest avocado-producing state, is also home to the port city of Lazaro Cardenas and a number of tourist destinations. The region has struggled with persistent gang violence for nearly twenty years.
Mendoza’s murder follows the killing of Lilia Garcia, mayor of San Mateo Piñas in Oaxaca state, who was gunned down along with a member of her staff in her office on Sunday after gunmen stormed the building.
In recent years, organised crime groups have frequently targeted local officials across Mexico, particularly in regions where drug trafficking cartels wield significant influence. The violence has even reached the capital, Mexico City, where last month two aides to Mayor Clara Brugada were shot dead during rush-hour traffic.
Since Mexico’s government launched its war on drug cartels in 2006, criminal violence has led to the deaths of approximately 480,000 people, while more than 120,000 others have been reported missing.
