Political attacks, killings frame Mexico's upcoming elections

By Jorge Antonio Rocha

MEXICO (AA) - Mexico's upcoming midterm elections on Sunday is one of the most violent in the country's history.

The numbers bear witness from a consultancy firm, Etellekt, that released statistics on political violence in Mexico in February 2018. That year it said that 774 attacks on politicians, with 152 deaths were reported at the end of the electorate process.

The elections on June 6 have surpassed those figures, with 782 attacks reported between September 2020 to May 2021.

During that time, 89 candidates have been murdered.

Etellekt's fifth report details that of the fatalities, up to 75% were part of opposition parties opposed to state governments.

That is an increase from the 69%, or 152 murdered politicians, who were opposed to their respective state governments in 2018.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tried to put a positive spin on the numbers by saying the current elections are not more violent than previous polls and that most culprits have been charged.

"I say this not only to inform; I say it so that those who misbehave are not thinking that they are going to commit an offense and nothing is going to happen because they are well connected and have bought the authorities -- that no longer applies. Whoever commits a crime is punished," he said.

But most of the cases remain unpunished. Out of 34 murders of candidates, just six resulted in an arrest. Amounting to 14 charges of alleged perpetrators.

Of the 89 murdered politicians, 39 belong to a coalition of political parties opposed to the current ruling party, and 25 of the reported assassinations were members of the ruling political team.

With 15 different estate governors running for office, control of the lower house and 20,000 local public positions up for grabs, these elections are set to be one of the biggest in Mexico’s history.