Two Mexican Governors Have Resigned This Year Over Non-Stop Violence

While Mexican officials continue to claim that the security situation in the country is improving, so far this year two governors have resigned amid chaos and bloodshed while a former mayor sits behind bars for his role in the execution of 43 education students.

Last month, Guerrero’s governor Angel Aguirre Rivero, stepped down from his post following weeks of constant unrest and protests in his state following the kidnapping  and subsequent execution of 43 education students from Iguala. 

Aguirre is the second governor to resign in recent months over the escalating drug violence in Mexico. In the state of Michoacán, Fausto Vallejo stepped down over the summer over his failure to reign in the constant drug violence by the Knights Templar cartel which has been linked to his relatives and other high officials in his cabinet. 

As Mexico continues to deal with the recent news that 43 students were kidnapped in Guerrero by cartel linked cops, executed and then their bodies set on fire; more and more academics, journalists and the public in general openly ask for the resignation of the current president Enrique Pena Nieto. 

The unrest has led to constant protests that have resulted in the torching of various government buildings including the historic doors to the presidential offices.

According to the most recent information released by Mexico’s Attorney General Jose Murillo Karam on September 26, a group of students from Ayotzinapa were headed to the town of Iguala for a protest during a speech that Pineda was set to make. In order to keep that from taking place, the mayor ordered his police force to intercept the students.

Police officers blocked off the highway by shooting at oncoming busses to force them to stop. Once the students had been arrested, the police officers turned them over to a drug cartel called the Guerreros Unidos.
Guerrero’s Unidos is a criminal drug cartel that has been fighting for control of the state which is home to the resort town of Acapulco and an important shipping port. Thinking the students may have had ties to a rival cartel; Guerreros Unidos tortured them and finally executed the students. The bodies were taken to a local dumpster and incinerated with the ashes getting dumped into a local river, authorities said. 

In addition to Guerrero and Michoacán, in Tamaulipas two former governors have been linked to drug trafficking with one of them being a current fugitive of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. 
Former Governor Tomas Yarrington is currently facing multiple federal indictments in Texas for drug trafficking and money laundering in connection with the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas and the Beltran Leyva Cartel. Former Governor Eugenio Hernandez has not been criminally charged but has been implicated in court by his relatives and other men accused of money laundering.