Attackers kill a mayor, state lawmaker separately in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — Attackers gunned down a mayor in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero on Wednesday, authorities reported, while unconfirmed local media reports said eight others also were killed.

Later in the neighboring state of Morelos, a state lawmaker was shot to death in the city of Cuernavaca south of Mexico City.

While attacks on public officials are not uncommon in Mexico, these come at a time when the security strategy of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is being sharply debated. The president has placed tremendous responsibility on the armed forces rather than civilian police for reining in Mexico’s persistently high levels of violence.

Guerrero’s security coordination group confirmed the killing of Conrado Mendoza, mayor of San Miguel Totolapan, in a statement. The remote township is in Tierra Caliente, one of Mexico’s most conflictive areas, disputed by multiple drug trafficking gangs.

In 2016, Totolapan locals fed up with abductions by the local gang “Los Tequileros,” kidnapped the gang leader’s mother to leverage the release of others.

Late Wednesday, local media outlets said at least eight people were killed in the attack. There was no confirmation from authorities.

In Cuernavaca, Morelos State Attorney General Uriel Carmona said two armed men traveling on a motorcycle fatally shot state Deputy Gabriela Marín as she exited a vehicle.

Local outlets said Marín, a member of the Morelos Progress party, was killed at a pharmacy in Cuernavaca. A person with Marín was reportedly wounded in the attack.

Morelos Gov. Cuauhtémoc Blanco condemned the attack and said via Twitter that security forces were deployed in search of the attackers.

The deaths of Mendoza and Marín brought the number of mayors killed during López Obrador’s administration to 18 and the number of state lawmakers to eight, according to data from Etellekt Consultores.

Mexico’s Congress this week is debating the president’s proposal to extend the military’s policing duties to 2028. Last month, lawmakers approved López Obrador’s push to transfer the ostensibly civilian National Guard to military control.