Daily US Times: Some parts of the campaign trail in Mexico look like anywhere else — bumper stickers, rallies and candidates making lofty promises. Other parts — the assaults, the threats, the murders — are more unique. Political violence mars every election season ion the country and the run up to the June 6 midterm elections has been no different. But this year has been particularly gruesome in Mexico, even for a country more used to it than most.
According to Mexican consulting firm Etellekt Consultores, at least 88 politicians or candidates for office have been killed since last September.
They are part of a group of at least 565 candidates or politicians that have been targeted by some sort of crime, according to the firm.
This year’s midterm elections will be the largest ever, Mexico’s government says. By the time the polls close on June 6, the election might also be its deadliest.
Motives behind the murders of so many candidates throughout the Mexico are not clear, but suspected drivers are organized crime and the fight for territorial control.
Mexican security expert Ana Maria Salazar believes in many cases larger drug cartels and smaller criminal groups are targeting candidates they don’t like to boost their preferred candidate’s ascent to office. And for these groups and cartels, territorial control is key.
Salazar said in an interview with CNN: “There’s a lot of intimidation. It has to do with these organizations wanting to have a person [in office] that will clearly abide by their needs and that will allow them to control the territory. It has to do with territorial control.”
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