Another political candidate in Mexico has been killed by gun wounds, this time in a small town in the state of Guanajuato.
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Jesus Nolasco Acosta, who was running for substitute alderman on the Morena ticket in the town of San Juan de Abajo was shot at least four times over the weekend as he was riding on his motorcycle.
Ricardo Sheffield, who is running for the Guanajuato governorship for the same political coalition posted on his facebook:
"I send my deepest condolences to the family and friends of our companion, Jesus Nolasco Acosta, substitute candidate for alderman, murdered last night. ... He is the second Morena …coalition candidate to be killed, and joins the more than 1,300 victims of intentional homicides that have turned Guanajuato into the most violent state of Mexico."
Gubernatorial candidate Sheffield, and previously Acosta, is of the leftist Morena coalition headed by the presidential candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, popularly know as AMLO. AMLO is leading in the polls and has continually vowed to end Mexico's entrenched political corruption and condemns the rampant violence in the country's election campaigns. He is running on a platform that promotes curbing inequality and favoring redistribution.
Since September 2017 at least 114 candidates running in the July 1 Mexican elections have been killed, making it the bloodiest election campaign in Mexico's modern history, and it's only getting worse in the electoral run-up. Michael Lettieri, a Senior Research Fellow for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs said: "The risk going forward is that there will be reluctance to participate in local politics because it has become so dangerous."
The mayoral candidate for Leon, Guanajuato’s largest city, Ernesto Oviedo said in an email: "I’m sorry to hear that the candidate for substitute alderman, ... Jesus Monserrat Nolasco Acosta was robbed of his life in an assault. I’m confident the authorities will resolve this crime."