Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – Mexico has endured what civil organizations are calling the most violent electoral period in the nation’s modern history. Across the country, from the north to the south, officials and candidates for public office have faced an unprecedented surge in armed attacks, kidnappings, and threats.
According to Causa en Común, a total of 63 political actors were murdered between June 2023 and June 3, 2024, in 17 of Mexico’s 32 states. Among the victims, 37 were aspirants or candidates for public office, with 30% running under the banner of Morena, 42% representing the opposition coalition of the PRI, PAN, and PRD, 8% for the Citizen Movement, and the remaining candidates from local parties.
The organization highlighted that a staggering 92% of the murdered candidates were involved at the municipal level, underscoring the acute vulnerability of local political actors. This violence is compounded by the influence of organized crime, with major transnational criminal organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) exerting significant influence.
Dr. Luis Astorga, a sociologist at the Institute of Social Research of the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), elaborates on the structural relationship between criminal and political power in Mexico. He noted, “There is no known society in the world where there is criminal power without any type of relationship with political power or with police or military institutions. There is an interrelationship between economic, criminal, political, and military power, so we have to see which way the balance tips in each of the municipalities, states, and regions of the country.”
This intricate relationship has evolved, particularly since the political shift in the early 2000s when the PRI lost its long-held grip on federal power. The rise of multiple political parties vying for control at municipal and state levels has created a landscape where criminal organizations exploit the fragmentation to further their interests.
In a February 2023 report, Lieutenant Colonel Óscar Hernández Reyes, the Liaison Officer of the United States Northern Command, noted the rapid expansion of the CJNG across the country, with notable exceptions in parts of Sinaloa, Durango, and Chihuahua. The CJNG, led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, has employed aggressive strategies to displace local criminal groups, leading to violent confrontations and “narco wars.”
Public security analyst David Saucedo explains that local municipalities, with their budgets for security, police forces, and operational capabilities, are prime targets for criminal organizations. “Drug trafficking groups are fighting for control of the local police and consequently the control of the municipal presidencies,” he stated. This competition often results in the assassination of local officials and police chiefs, particularly in areas contested by rival criminal factions.
The political-criminal dynamic is further complicated by the frequent co-optation of municipal governments by organized crime, particularly in states like Michoacán. This has led to a situation where criminal groups not only vie for control over drug routes and illegal economies but also seek political and judicial support from local governments.
Given these dynamics, the violence against political actors, both incumbent and aspirant, is expected to persist as criminal organizations continue to expand their influence. This period of electoral violence underscores the pressing need for strategies to protect political actors and dismantle the entrenched relationships between political power and organized crime in Mexico.
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Mexico has endured what civil organizations are calling the most violent electoral period in the nation's modern history. Across the country, from the north to the south, officials and candidates for public office have faced an unprecedented surge in armed attacks, kidnappings, and threats.
