Less than a week after entering office, a Mexican mayor was killed.
Mayor Alejandro Arcos of Chilpancingo, Mexico, has been confirmed dead less than a week after being sworn into the notoriously dangerous city's highest office.
One week after taking office, the mayor of a southern Mexican state capital was assassinated, authorities announced on Sunday.
On Monday, Alejandro Arcos assumed office as the mayor of Chilpancingo, a city notorious for its violence, to the point where in 2023 a criminal gang publicly staged a protest, took over a government armored vehicle, and held police hostage in exchange for the release of detained individuals.
Acapulco is in the state of Guerrero, whose capital is Chilpancingo.
In a statement released on Sunday, the state prosecutors' office confirmed Arcos's death, but it gave no other information.
The head of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Alejandro Moreno, expressed regret at Arcos's death and mentioned that three days prior, the freshly appointed city council secretary had also been killed.
"They had been in office less than a week," Moreno wrote on his social media accounts. "They were young and honest public servants who were seeking progress for their community."
Chilpancingo has long been the scene of bloody turf battles between two drug gangs, the Ardillos and the Tlacos. The battle has resulted in dozens of gruesome killings and some high-profile scandals.
A previous mayor was caught on video apparently holding a meeting with leaders of one of the gangs at a restaurant. She was subsequently expelled from her party.
In July 2023, federal officials said a demonstration held by hundreds of people in Chilpancingo that month had been organized by the Ardillos gang to win the release of two gang leaders arrested for drugs and weapons possession.
The demonstrators largely blocked all traffic on the highway between Mexico City and Acapulco for two days, battled security forces and commandeered a police armored truck and used it to ram down the gates of the state legislature building.
The demonstrators abducted 10 members of the state police and National Guard, as well as three state and federal officials, and held them hostage to enforce their demands before releasing them.