Whole police force detained in Mexico town after murder of mayoral candidate

The entire police force in a Mexican town of Ocampo, where a mayoral candidate was slain this week, has been detained for an internal investigation, authorities said on Sunday.


“All of them are being interviewed to proceed as due under law in the event anyone has taken part in acts that violate the town’s codes,” said the security secretariat in Michoacan state, where the town of about 20 000 people is located.

It did not give the exact number of police detained.

Mayoral candidate Fernando Angeles was shot dead last Thursday when he was preparing for campaign events.

The police have been transferred to the internal affairs unit of the state security secretariat, which did not clarify in its statement if the arrest was related to Angeles’ killing.

On Wednesday, Omar Gomez, an independent candidate for mayor of Aguililla, also in Michoacan, was shot to death.

On June 14, a candidate for mayor of Taretan, in the same state, was also killed.

Since the campaign season started in Mexico, which will conclude with elections on July 1, more than a hundred politicians and candidates, mostly local, have been murdered.

Mexico is experiencing a wave of violence linked to organised crime that made 2017 the most violent year in two decades, with a record 25 339 homicides.

More than 200 000 people have been killed, and another 30 000 are missing since the government sent out federal forces to fight drug trafficking in 2006.

– AFP

Read more on these topics

Mexico violence

For more news your way

Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.