GRAPHIC: 5th Mexican Politician Executed Since National Elections

Days after a team of gunmen shot and killed a mayor-elect in the state of Michoacan, a second politician lost his life under similar circumstances. The second murder comes at a time when state authorities claim to be cracking down on organized crime.

This week, a team of gunmen riding in SUVs blocked off a vehicle driven by Enrique Equihua Sanchez, a candidate for alderman in Taretan, Michoacan. The shooters forced Sanchez off the road and shot him multiple times in front of his family. The gunmen fled the scene, leaving the wounded politician to die. Paramedics rushed Sanchez to a local hospital where he passed shortly after.

Sanchez ran for alderman with Mexico’s Morena (National Regeneration Movement) Party, the political group that is expected to be the ruling party under President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador aka “AMLO.” In the past, he ran for mayor under the National Action Party (PAN).

The murder comes days after gunmen shot and killed Eliseo Delgado Sanchez, the newly elected mayor of Buenavista, Breitbart Texas reported. Delgado was also a member of the Morena Party and won his bid on July 1. The rural city of Taretan has seen its share of political violence. On June 14, a team of gunmen shot and killed Alejandro Chavez Zavala, the mayor of Taretan in a nearby town as he campaigned as part of his re-election bid, Breitbart Texas reported.

Days after Chavez’s murder, teams of gunmen murdered two mayoral candidates in a span of 24 hours in the towns of Ocampo and Aguililla, also in Michoacan, Breitbart Texas reported. The escalating number of political murders in Michoacan comes as the governor and other politicians continue to tout the improving security conditions in the region.

Since September 2017, Mexico saw a dramatic spike in political violence with 136 murders of politicians leading up to the country’s July 1 election. The violence against politicians has not slowed.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Nuevo León and other areas to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Jose Luis Lara, a former leading member who helped start the Self-Defense Movement in Michoacán.