A mayor in Mexico was found decapitated and his severed head propped up on the roof of his car just six days after taking office in the city of Chilpancingo, in the state of Guerrero.
The body of Alejandro Arcos, 43, was found inside his pickup truck on Sunday night while his head lay on top of the vehicle, the New York Post reported.
Residents were still reeling from last Thursday’s slaying of its newly appointed city council secretary Francisco Tapia.
“Our mayor of Chilpancingo, Alejandro Arcos, has been murdered, and just three days ago the secretary of this same City Council, Francisco Tapia. They had been in office for less than a week,” Sen. Alejandro Moreno, the national leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, wrote on X.
“Young and honest officials who sought progress for their community,” he continued, adding his condolences for the men’s families.
Moreno noted that “given the situation of ungovernability in Guerrero,” the city has requested that the state attorney general’s office probe both killings, which confirmed they would be investigating.
“His loss mourns the entire Guerrero society and fills us with indignation,” Guerrero Gov. Evelyn Salgado condemned the murders in a statement shared on X, vowing to hold accountable those responsible.
Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero and home to tourist hot spot Acapulco, is notorious for its years of struggles with violent crime, mostly due to conflicts between two rival drug gangs, the Ardillos and the Tlacos.
A report by Integralia Consultants said that criminal organizations in Mexico focus their politically motivated attacks at the municipal level because mayors can offer them impunity due to their links with law enforcement and the local economy, CNN reported.
It noted that gangs often finance campaigns during election season, intimidating candidates and violently intervening to compel politicians to cooperate with them.
At least six candidates for public offices were killed in Guerrero leading up to Mexico’s June elections.
The city’s previous mayor, Norma Otilia Hernández, was filmed allegedly holding a meeting with leaders of the gangs at a restaurant.
She was booted from her party, allowing Arcos to run.
On the day of his death, Arcos, who took office as mayor on Oct. 1, had visited Chilpancingo neighbourhoods and met with residents whose homes were damaged by Hurricane John.
He also appeared on a radio show that fateful day and called on the federal government to increase the presence of security forces in the city and expand protection for city government staffers after Tapia’s murder.
“We will continue working, we will continue fighting for our community,” Arcos said, according to the Daily Mail.
“We have always talked about a peace project, it has been our banner, our proposal and that is what we aspire to. We are not people of conflict.”