Mexican Town’s Police Force Arrested after Candidate’s Murder
Latin American Herald Tribune
June 25, 2018
MORELIA, Mexico – All 28 members of the police force in the western Mexican town of Ocampo were taken into custody after the murder of a mayoral candidate, the Michoacan state Attorney General’s Office said on Monday.
The municipal police, including the chief, were detained on Sunday on suspicion of ties to organized crime, the AG Office said.
Fernando Angeles Juarez, running for mayor of Ocampo on the ticket of the center-left PRD, was gunned down last Thursday inside his home.
Investigators seized the cell-phones of the 28 municipal police officers.
Ocampo lies in eastern Michoacan, where two criminal organizations, Jalisco Nueva Generacion and Nueva Familia Michoacana, are battling for control of drugs and other rackets.
Voters in Michoacan will choose 112 mayors, 40 state legislators, and 15 members of the federal Congress in Mexico’s July 1 presidential and general elections.
Three mayoral hopefuls have been slain in Michoacan during the campaign, along with a candidate for state legislature who was stabbed to death.
Maria de Lourdes Torres Diaz, who is running for mayor of Alvaro Obregon, was kidnapped May 17 and freed the next day, while a man running for mayor of Tangamandapio, Miguel Amezcua Manzo, escaped without injury when he was shot on June 18.
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Leftist Leads Opinion Poll Ahead of Mexican Presidential Elections
Latin American Herald Tribune
June 25, 2018
MEXICO CITY – Left-wing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was leading with 37.7 percent in a voting intention poll ahead of the presidential elections on July 1, according to a survey released on Sunday by the pollsters Consulta Mitofsky.
Conservative candidate Ricardo Anaya was in second place with 20 percent, while Jose Antonio Meade from the ruling party had 17.7 percent, and independent candidate Jaime Rodriguez had 3.1 percent.
The polling firm said 21.5 percent of the participants did not respond to the survey.
After eliminating people who did not declare their intention to vote, Lopez Obrador garnered 48.1 percent of voting intentions ahead of Anaya, Meade and Rodriguez, who obtained 25.5, 22.5 and 3.9 percent, respectively.
Lopez Obrador leads a political coalition encompassing the National Regeneration Movement, Labor Party and Social Encounter Party. Anaya heads a coalition formed by National Action Party, Party of the Democratic Revolution and Citizens’ Movement Party.
Meade represents the coalition of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, Ecologist Green Party and Nueva Alianza, while Rodriguez is running for the presidency as an independent candidate.
The poll was conducted from June 16-19 with 1,000 eligible voters nationwide through a face-to-face interview.
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