{"id":58816,"date":"2024-05-25T14:02:09","date_gmt":"2024-05-25T14:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/25\/one-of-the-deadliest-jobs-in-mexico-running-for-office\/"},"modified":"2024-05-25T14:02:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-25T14:02:09","slug":"one-of-the-deadliest-jobs-in-mexico-running-for-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/25\/one-of-the-deadliest-jobs-in-mexico-running-for-office\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the Deadliest Jobs in Mexico: Running for Office"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/25\/multimedia\/25mexico-election-violence-01-zgjb\/25mexico-election-violence-01-zgjb-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"One of the Deadliest Jobs in Mexico: Running for Office\" title=\"One of the Deadliest Jobs in Mexico: Running for Office\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Gisela Gayt\u00e1n had just arrived at an event on the first day of her mayoral campaign in central Mexico\u2019s industrial heartland when the gunfire broke out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Moments later, her lifeless body laid crumpled in a pool of blood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The assassination in broad daylight of Ms. Gayt\u00e1n, a 37-year-old lawyer, reflects a gruesome trend in this year\u2019s general election in Mexico. She figures among the 36 people killed since last summer while seeking public office, according to a New York Times analysis, making this one of the most blood-soaked election cycles in recent memory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The candidate killings point to a threat at the core of Mexico\u2019s democracy. Voters are preparing to cast ballots next month in a spirited election that could produce the country\u2019s first female president, a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/09\/06\/world\/americas\/mexico-women-president-candidates.html\" title=\"\">milestone<\/a> in the world\u2019s largest Spanish-speaking country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But analysts and law enforcement officials say that emboldened cartels are spreading fear in races at the local level as they expand their reach into extortion rackets, migrant trafficking and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/28\/us\/mexico-avocado-deforestation.html\" title=\"\">food production<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Heightening the sense of terror, not only candidates but their family members are being increasingly targeted, with at least 14 such relatives killed in recent months. Some cases have been especially gruesome; in Guerrero state, the dismembered bodies of a candidate for city council and his wife were found this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Armed groups are also turning some of the killings into mass shootings. In Chiapas state, gunmen this month killed a mayoral candidate and seven other people including the candidate\u2019s sister and a young girl.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">To maximize their profits, hydra-headed criminal groups need pliant elected officials. Threats and bribes can ensure that a small-town mayor or City Council member turns a blind eye to illicit activities. But as the bloodshed in cities around Mexico makes painfully clear, analysts say, candidates daring to veer from such cooperation face getting killed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As a result, scores of them have dropped out of races. Some political parties have pulled out of certain towns after failing to find people willing to run. Instead of reaching out to voters in public, some local campaigns have largely moved online.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nearly every week, more candidates are targeted. Since Ms. Gayt\u00e1n\u2019s death on April 1 stunned the city of Celaya, at least eight more have been killed around the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The attacks have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/acleddata.com\/2024\/04\/16\/elections-under-capture-criminal-wars-and-the-targeting-of-political-figures-in-guanajuato-guerrero-and-michoacan\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">intensified<\/a> in states where gangs have splintered into multiple criminal groups, all of them fiercely competing for power. Another reason for so much carnage is the sheer size of this election. With more than 20,000 local posts up for grabs, it is Mexico\u2019s largest ever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sandra Ley, a security analyst with the public policy group Mexico Evaluates, said the killings showed that organized crime groups were shielded by corrupt or intimidated local officials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The cartels, Ms. Ley said, need \u201caccess to resources and information that is essential in their day-to-day operations.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Despite the attacks, President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador and some in his governing Morena party have mostly downplayed the danger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the assassination of Ms. Gayt\u00e1n, a member of Morena, rocked the country, and Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador addressed it the following day in his morning news conference.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThese events are very unfortunate because these are people who are fighting to uphold democracy,\u201d he told reporters. But he also quickly suggested that the killing was tied to the high levels of violence in Guanajuato, the state where Celaya is, and not to Mexico\u2019s election.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This past week, the Security Ministry <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gob.mx\/sspc\/prensa\/se-reunen-gabinete-de-seguridad-del-gobierno-federal-con-consejeros-del-ine-y-analizan-acciones-para-el-proceso-electoral-365520\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> it was providing protection to 487 candidates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Part of the rise in cartel violence, security experts say, has to do with the Mexican president\u2019s own security strategy. Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador came to office in 2018 pledging to overhaul the country\u2019s approach to crime, with an emphasis on addressing the poverty that drives young people to join gangs rather than aggressively confronting the cartels in the streets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The plan, which Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador called \u201chugs, not bullets,\u201d has had some success. It coincided with a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/seguridadviacivil.ibero.mx\/interactivo\/los-enfrentamientos-de-la-sedena\/?_ga=2.33511934.1370319056.1716233869-1232832736.1716233869\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">decline<\/a> in the mass killings that happened when security forces clashed with armed groups \u2014<strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\"> <\/strong>although recent reports suggest <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/animalpolitico.com\/seguridad\/ejercito-cjng-michoacan-asesinatos-desaparecidos-informe\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">there have been exceptions<\/a> during his administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBut it had, let\u2019s say, a very pernicious undesired effect,\u201d said Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexico-based security consultant. Mostly left alone, he said, criminal groups grew emboldened and expanded their presence into new areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Election violence has now permeated states previously untouched by such attacks in past elections, most notably Chiapas, Mexico\u2019s poorest state. The region was recently plunged into bloodshed as two major cartels and various factions fight for control of the country\u2019s southern border with Guatemala. At least six people seeking public office have been killed in Chiapas since December, according to a Times count.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Such killings are tearing at the fabric of Mexico\u2019s democracy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWho\u2019s going to want to go to a rally where there\u2019s a risk that a drone could drop a bomb?\u201d asked Guillermo Valencia, the leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or P.R.I., in Michoac\u00e1n state, where gunmen in February assassinated two mayoral hopefuls from rival parties in the city of Maravat\u00edo on the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/elpais.com\/mexico\/elecciones-mexicanas\/2024-02-27\/el-terror-en-maravatio-asesinados-dos-precandidatos-a-la-alcaldia-en-menos-de-12-horas.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">same day<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Antonio Carre\u00f1o, the head of the Citizen\u2019s Movement party in Michoac\u00e1n state, said that at least seven candidates from his party had pulled out of races, voicing doubts over whether Mexico could boast of having free elections and rule of law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe question is clear: Where is democracy?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Gayt\u00e1n\u2019s state, Guanajuato, where a vibrant economy coexists with simmering security challenges, showcases the risks that people running for office face.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Accompanied by a privately hired female bodyguard, Ms. Gayt\u00e1n had just started her campaign, well aware of the danger she faced. Only hours before she was gunned down, she had announced <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/agoragto.com\/celaya\/presenta-gisela-gaytan-a-su-plantilla-y-parte-de-sus-propuestas\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">some of her plans<\/a> to make the city of Celaya safer at a local rally.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She had promised to curb the activities of corrupt officials, improve the salaries and working conditions of police officers and install panic buttons and surveillance cameras throughout the city.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Before she was killed, the Morena party had filed a request with federal authorities for protection for her and eight other mayoral candidates in Guanajuato, said Jes\u00fas Ram\u00edrez Garibay, the secretary general of the party\u2019s state committee. But the request, he added, remained in bureaucratic limbo for weeks, bouncing between federal and state authorities without being approved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThese candidates were left unprotected because there was no prompt intervention by the state\u2019s electoral institute and the state government,\u201d Mr. Ram\u00edrez Garibay said. \u201cThey began their campaigns on their own, with the blessing of God alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In an interview, Guanajuato\u2019s security secretary, Alvar Cabeza de Vaca, said that his office never received a protection request for Ms. Gayt\u00e1n. And according to a risk analysis the state conducted in December studying each candidate\u2019s vulnerability, she would not have needed it, he contended.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe detected a low risk for her,\u201d Mr. Cabeza de Vaca said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not so important. What\u2019s important for me was that I didn\u2019t receive a request. Regardless of our analysis, whoever asks for protection is given protection.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Alma Alcaraz, Morena\u2019s candidate for governor of Guanajuato state, said after the death of Ms. Gayt\u00e1n, she started receiving threats. \u201cThe messages began appearing: \u2018You\u2019re next, leave the race, withdraw,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Guanajuato\u2019s state and municipal police officers are now protecting 255 local candidates, Mr. Cabeza de Vaca said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, the conditions remain in place that have made Guanajuato \u2014 and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/31\/world\/americas\/mexico-cartels-violence.html\" title=\"\">Celaya in particular<\/a> \u2014 a cauldron of violence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Guanajuato is home to an array of manufacturing plants, part of a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/mexico-now.com\/guanajuato-stands-out-in-nearshoring\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">nearshoring<\/a> <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/02\/07\/business\/economy\/united-states-china-mexico-trade.html\" title=\"\">boom<\/a> in which companies have moved industries from China to Mexico. But it is also a place where two cartels, Santa Rosa de Lima and Jalisco New Generation, are engaged in a protracted conflict over extortion operations and territory for selling crystal meth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A lucrative trade in purloined fuel, a weakened police force and criminal turf wars have made Guanajuato a killing field. Homicides have declined from pandemic-era levels, but government data shows that they <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1eHkJvmeOxKP3zG5foTdljJWNxCDaFfby\/view\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">remain exceptionally high<\/a>, with at least 2,581 killings recorded in 2023, more than any other state in the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The attorney general\u2019s office in Guanajuato said this month that the authorities had <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FGEGUANAJUATO\/status\/1790927840814227532\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">captured seven suspects<\/a> from an unnamed \u201ccriminal cell\u201d in connection with the killing, and that even more may be involved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As political tensions ratchet higher over Ms. Gayt\u00e1n\u2019s killing, other local candidates are navigating what it means to still be involved in politics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Juan Miguel Ram\u00edrez, a university professor who replaced Ms. Gayt\u00e1n on the ballot, said campaigning has turned into a surreal exercise in which he is flanked by a dozen uniformed soldiers, even as he teaches class.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On a sweltering day in May, he was confident about his chances. But, he admitted, the climate of fear in Celaya and his predecessor\u2019s fate has made him water down what he says on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He refrains from focusing on the city\u2019s security challenges as she had done.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere are many criminal groups in Celaya,\u201d he added. \u201cSome of the groups here didn\u2019t like that proposal. Based on that, I now keep my proposals more generic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/25\/world\/americas\/mexico-election-violence.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gisela Gayt\u00e1n had just arrived at an event on the first day of her mayoral campaign in central Mexico\u2019s industrial heartland when the gunfire broke out. Moments later, her lifeless body laid crumpled in a pool of blood. The assassination in broad daylight of Ms. Gayt\u00e1n, a 37-year-old lawyer, reflects a gruesome trend in this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/25\/multimedia\/25mexico-election-violence-01-zgjb\/25mexico-election-violence-01-zgjb-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[57269,6980,1296,1951,8271],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58816"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58818,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58816\/revisions\/58818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}