A dark cloud has fallen over San Mateo Pinas, a town in southern Mexico, after its mayor, Lilia Garcia, was brutally murdered in her office on Sunday. This horrific incident, which also claimed the life of another staff member, Eli Garcia, marks yet another heartbreaking instance of violence against local politicians in Mexico.
According to police, four armed men, arriving on motorcycles, stormed the town hall. They reportedly threatened the officers guarding the facility before forcing their way into Mayor Garcia’s office, where they opened fire, killing both the mayor and Eli Garcia. The brazen attack also left two municipal police officers wounded, a stark reminder of the escalating danger faced by those serving their communities.
The governor of Oaxaca, Salomon Jara, expressed his outrage on social media, declaring, “There can be no impunity for this act.”
The state prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation, and military and federal agents have been deployed to the area, underscoring the gravity of the situation.
This attack is a grim illustration of the ongoing struggle Mexico faces with organised crime. For years, local officials, particularly in regions plagued by powerful drug trafficking gangs, have been targets. The violence has even crept into the capital, Mexico City, where just a month ago, two close associates of Mayor Clara Brugada were publicly murdered. The sheer scale of this crisis is staggering: since 2006, criminal violence, largely tied to drug trafficking, has claimed an estimated 480,000 lives in Mexico, with over 120,000 people still missing.
The senseless loss of Mayor Garcia and Eli Garcia is a tragic reminder of the human cost of this violence and the urgent need for a solution.
