This is a translation of the original article in Portuguese. Read the original (Português).
Businessman Eduardo Valdovinos Padilla, who was seeking to run as a candidate for Morena, the party of Mexico’s government, in Lázaro Cárdenas, in the state of Michoacán, was shot dead during a horse procession in the locality of Buenos Aires, according to the Mexican newspapers Ovaciones and Hidrocálido.
According to the reports, the attack was carried out by criminals on a motorcycle, who opened fire on Valdovinos while he was riding in a pickup truck in the middle of the event. Hidrocálido reports that the shots were fired in front of the crowd and the security guards accompanying the businessman.
Civil Protection and the Civil Guard confirmed the death. According to Hidrocálido, authorities detained Valdovinos’s security guards to investigate the case. So far, there has been no announcement of arrests of the gunmen, nor any official information about the motive of the crime.
Lázaro Cárdenas is home to one of the main ports on Mexico’s Pacific coast, and Michoacán is one of the country’s states most affected by the activity of criminal groups.
The killing was not the only recent case of violence against politicians reported by the Mexican press. In Morelos, the state prosecutor’s office arrested Ricardo Alejandro N., accused of killing councilman and activist Gabriel Rivas Ríos in Cuernavaca, the newspaper Ovaciones reported.
The arrest took place under unusual circumstances. The Public Prosecutor’s Office had dropped an earlier charge against the suspect, and a judge then ordered his release. Shortly afterward, criminal investigation agents carried out a new arrest warrant for the councilman’s homicide and detained him outside the hearing.
The two episodes add to a series of attacks against local politicians and pre-candidates in Mexico, at a time when parties are beginning to organize for the 2027 electoral cycle. Races for mayoral offices and regional posts tend to be the most exposed point to pressure from criminal groups, which seek influence over local police, public works and trafficking routes.
For Latin America, the issue goes beyond Mexico’s domestic politics. The advance of organized crime into local elections is a concern shared by other countries in the region, including Brazil, where electoral and police authorities are also discussing ways to prevent gangs and militias from interfering in the choice of candidates.
Reporting from Ovaciones (p. 1 e p. 22 (Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán; Cuernavaca, Morelos)), Hidrocálido (p. 11 (Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán)).
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