By The opinion
May 5, 2024, 7:31 PM EDT
An attack against Juan Gómez Morales, candidate of the Chiapas Unidos party for municipal president of Benemérito de las Américas, in the southern state of Chiapas, left two people dead and several others injuredrevealed this Saturday the political organization and its leader Conrado Fuentes Astudillo.
The attack on Friday night caused the death of the candidate’s son, Jimmy Jhonatan Gómez Jerónimo, and the candidate for fifth councilor of the same party, Mauro Hernández, without there being an official report issued by ministerial authorities for this event.
“We very much regret and strongly condemn the events that occurred in the municipality of Benemérito de las Américas, where our candidate Juan Gómez Morales suffered an attack. We give him our deepest condolences for the loss of his loved ones,” shared the Chiapas Unidos Party.
In the statement, signed by its leader Fuentes Astudillo, The political institute demanded that the authorities carry out the investigationas well as allowing an electoral process with guarantees for the candidates of all political parties with the aim of holding a peaceful election day on June 2.
In a video shared on his social networks, the president of the Chiapas Unidos Party called on all Mexicans and political sectors to preserve peace to promote tranquility, in the midst of an electoral process in which there were 12 attacks in the state of Chiapas , among which three homicides of candidates stand out.
Fuentes Astudillo demanded not to fall into provocations, nor to use force and violence to achieve public office.
“Let’s not fall into provocations, nor use force and violence to obtain what they once dreamed of, it truly makes me very sad and it generates a lot of disappointment to see how in some places, as in the case of Benemérito de las Américas yesterday, sadly, there was a tragic moment,” he said.
The party leader also asked that this electoral process “can be lived in peace and that there be no more human losses.”
With the death of the fifth councilor on Friday night, there are now 27 murders of candidates for public office so far in 2024, prior to the largest elections on June 2, with more than 20,700 positions at stake, including the Presidency, the federal Congress and eight state governments.
According to the report ‘Voting between bullets’ by the organizations Data Cívica, México Evalúa and the media Animal Político, 2023 was the year with the highest number of victims of political-criminal violence, with 574 people and facilities attacked, followed by 2022 with 486.
With information from EFE
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