Woman mayor in Mexico killed soon after country elected its first female president

A woman mayor in a western Mexico town was killed barely 24 hours after the country elected its first female President—Claudia Sheinbaum.

Yolanda Sánchez Figueroa, who was elected mayor in the 2021 elections, was gunned down on the main square of the town, according to local media.

The incident took place within 24 hours after Claudia Sheinbaum was elected the first woman president. The mayor of Cotija de la Paz in Michoacán, Sánchez, was going to the gym when she received at least 19 gunshot wounds, it said. She was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to her injuries. One of her bodyguards was also injured in the incident.

“The Michoacán state government condemns the murder of the municipal president (mayor) of Cotija, Yolanda Sánchez Figueroa. A security operation coordinated with federal agencies has been deployed to find those responsible for the incident, the regional interior ministry said in a post on the social media platform X.

The authorities have not yet provided more details about her murder.

Sánchez was previously kidnapped in September last year while leaving a shopping mall in the city of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, which borders Michoacán. Three days later the federal government said she had been found alive.

For years, Mexico has grappled with rampant violence and crimes, majorly driven by powerful drug cartels and organized crime groups. Politicians are frequently targeted by these criminals to secure control over territories and ensure compliance with their demands.

Recently, the country saw an uptick in violent crimes, especially in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.

This year, in Jan-Feb alone, 33 people involved in politics were assassinated. In April, two mayoral candidates were killed in separate attacks in different parts of the country.