(Aguililla) A mayor has been murdered in western Mexico in Aguililla, hometown of Mexico’s most wanted drug trafficker by the United States, which has offered $10 million for his capture, authorities said.
Posted yesterday at 9:33 p.m.
Five people were also killed Thursday in an alleged clash in another locality in the same state of Michoacán on the Pacific coast, the world’s largest producer of avocados and stronghold of narcoterrorism.
The mayor of Aguililla, a population of 14,000, was shot dead by unidentified persons while he was riding in a town hall van near a soccer field in the town, police said. AFP soldiers arrived at the scene of the crime.
“We strongly condemn the murder of the mayor of Aguililla, César Arturo Valencia Caballero”, reacted on Twitter Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla, governor of the state of Michoacán.
“I gave instructions for the events to be thoroughly investigated, to clarify them as soon as possible and to punish those responsible,” added the governor.
Aguililla is the birthplace of Nemesio Oseguera known as “El Mencho”, leader of the powerful Cartel de Jalisco New Generation (CJNG).
The CJNG is one of those criminal organizations that launder nearly $25 billion a year in Mexico, increasingly using cryptocurrencies, a specialized UN agency said Thursday during the presentation of a report.
Earlier in the day, the Michoacán public prosecutor’s office indicated that five people had been murdered in the locality of Nuevo Parangaricutiro.
Landmines
Several vehicles carrying armed men raided the city seizing municipal facilities, where they clashed with other armed groups, according to initial reports.
A total of 32 armed people were arrested after the arrival of troops from the army and the National Guard.
The army was deployed in early February in Aguililla, which had previously lived almost besieged by criminal groups, according to testimonies collected by AFP during a report on the spot at the end of February.
The military even found anti-personnel mines in the area, no doubt planted by the CJNG, a new practice among the Mexican mafias.
Earlier this year, the CJNG was accused of dropping explosives on the village of Tepalcatepec with a drone.
The United States temporarily suspended the import of avocados from Michoacán in February after one of its agents on a routine inspection to check export standards received threats.
As of January 31, 2022, Michoacán was the most violent state in Mexico, with some 200 homicides recorded in that state, according to official figures.
At least eleven people were probably victims of a settling of scores between two branches of the CJNG on February 28 in San José, Michoacán, according to the elements of the investigation.
In 2021, Michoacán recorded 2,732 murders, 8% of the 33,315 homicides recorded in all of Mexico.