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Mayor of Mexico’s Temixco Killed At Home Hours After Taking Office

Gisela Mota Ocampo was assassinated this morning, a day after being sworn in as mayor for Temixco, Morelos. Fifty-eight other new mayors assumed office without incident in Oaxaca this week. Mexico News Daily reports: A federal deputy of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) from 2012-2015, Mota was murdered at her home in Pueblo Viejo. She had won election for mayor last June. Morelos Governor Graco Ramírez tweeted this morning that her killing was a challenge by organized crime and declared, “We shall not give in.” Moments later, at 8:59am, he tweeted that suspects had been arrested in the case. La Jornada has reported that the gunmen entered Mota’s home and opened fire on the occupants, killing the mayor and two others. After the attackers fled, Mota’s bodyguards gave chase. Two of the gunmen were killed and another two were arrested. PRD national president Agustín Basave condemned the killing and observed that Mota, 33, was a strong and courageous woman who had declared on taking office that her fight against crime would be “head-on and direct.”Temixco is a city of about 100,000 located six kilometers from the capital, Cuernavaca. In Oaxaca, meanwhile, new mayors took office in 58 municipalities governed under [...]