The leverage of organized crime in Mexico's 2018 General Election

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**Updated: June 26, 2018

Fernando Ángeles Juarez

was running for Mayor of Ocampo , Michoacán when he was shot to death on June 22nd as he was leaving one of his real estates.

People close to the candidate claim he never received death threats; he was simply “not the candidate backed by the organized crime,” one of them said.

The murder of Ángeles Juárez was the second registered in less than 24 hours in Michoacán and the third that week.

30 cops arrested over the murder of a candidate in Michoacán

A few hours earlier, Omar Gómez Lucatero , an independent candidate running for Mayor in Aguililla, Michoacán, was also shot to death outside of his home.

Thus far, 48 candidates have been murdered in Mexico between September 2017 and June 2018 .

With the exception of Fernando Purón Johnston – killed on June 8th in Coahuila – who was running for federal deputy, the other murdered candidates were running for local offices.

While it cannot be confirmed, the shadow of organized crime looms over each one of these deaths.

Last Thursday, the President of the Electoral Court stated that “criminals are deciding which candidates appear in the ballots.”

Two weeks ago, for instance – and for the second time – the candidates of the “For Guerrero to the Front” coalition running for the Mayor's Office and other public offices in Cutzamala de Pinzón – 11 candidates in total – stepped down from the contest. Death threats and extortion by criminal groups are frequent in this community.

Unfortunately, threats and attacks by members of organized crime aren't new. In 2010, Rodolfo Torre Cantú was running for Governor of Tamaulipas when he was murdered by an armed commando a few days before the election took place.

However, the body count of candidates murder during Mexico's 2018 General Election has reached unprecedented levels, regardless of political party affiliation.