MEXICO-ELECTIONS/PREVIEW Murders blight Mexico elections as government fails on security

Record ID: 165449

  • Title: MEXICO-ELECTIONS/PREVIEW Murders blight Mexico elections as government fails on security
  • Date: 4th June 2015
  • Summary: OAXACA, MEXICO (JUNE 4, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF MASKED PROTESTERS REMOVING DOCUMENTS AND OTHER ITEMS AND OBJECTS FROM THE OFFICES OF THE RULING PRI PARTY AND SETTING THEM ABLAZE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET VIEW OF PORTRAIT OF MEXICAN PRESIDENT ENRIQUE PENA NIETO BURNING VIEW OF FIRE BURNING IN STREET OUTSIDE PRI OFFICE BILLBOARD READING "PRI TRANSFORMING OAXACA" WITH SMOKE RISING AROUND IT FROM FIRE MORE OF ITEMS FROM PRI OFFICE BURNING IN STREET CLOSE-UP OF PENA NIETO PORTRAIT BURNING MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (JUNE 4, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FORMER COSTA RICA PRESIDENT AND CURRENT OBSERVER FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA STATES (OAS), LAURA CHINCHILLA, AT PODIUM OFFICIALS LISTENING "ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES - ELECTORAL OBSERVATION MISSION" WRITTEN ON BACK OF JACKET OAS ELECTION OBSERVERS TALKING CHINCHILLA WALKING WITH OBSERVERS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER COSTA RICA PRESIDENT AND ELECTION OBSERVER FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA STATES (OAS), LAURA CHINCHILLA, SAYING: "Maybe the factor that in a particular gravitates above this electoral process, and that some sectors of the population are talking about, is violence in general. A way of expressing this violence is organized crime and, of course, we greatly regret the loss of human life, especially those that are also linked to electoral participation." PRESIDENT OF MEXICO'S NATIONAL ELECTORAL INSTITUTE (INE), LORENZO CORDOVA, TALKING WITH CHINCHILLA VARIOUS OF CORDOVA WITH OFFICIALS AND HAVING PHOTO TAKEN (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF MEXICO'S NATIONAL ELECTORAL INSTITUTE (INE), LORENZO CORDOVA, SAYING: "Aside from the regretful and condemnable acts in Guerrero, in Iguala in September of last year, delicate expressions of social discontent have been detonating that for the first have called for and threatened to disrupt or stop the elections. That is a phenomenon that we have never before faced." CORDOVA ON PANEL (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF MEXICO'S NATIONAL ELECTORAL INSTITUTE (INE), LORENZO CORDOVA, SAYING: "We have not requested the assistance of the police because we considered that it is not convenient to militarize the elections, these (protests) have complicated our field work." TIXTLA, GUERRERO, MEXICO (JUNE 3, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CLASHES BETWEEN POLICE AND PROTESTERS CALLING FOR JUSTICE FOR THE 43 MISSING AND FEARED KILLED STUDENTS ON A HIGHWAY
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • City:
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACHON48KS2ABFMW4BSJZS6C91C
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Violence in the run-up to Mexico's mid-term elections this weekend has killed at least seven candidates and forced another 20 out of the race, battering the government's record on law and order.
    Drug gangs battling for control of Pacific coast trafficking routes have murdered or intimidated candidates, while militant teachers opposed to education reforms have threatened to sabotage voting stations in much of southwestern Mexico.
    The violence flies in the face of President Enrique Pena Nieto's pledge when he took office in December 2012 that his government would restore order to the country.
    Fear has hamstrung candidates and voters alike across vast swaths of Mexico.
    In Oaxaca, disgruntled protesters on Thursday ransacked an office of the ruling PRI party, and set documents and portraits of Pena Nieto ablaze.
    Former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla arrived in Mexico on Tuesday (June 2) with a delegation of election observers from the Organization of American State (OAS).
    "Maybe the factor that in a particular gravitates above this electoral process, and that some sectors of the population are talking about, is violence in general. A way of expressing this violence is organized crime and, of course, we greatly regret the loss of human life, especially those that are also linked to electoral participation," Chinchilla said on Wednesday (June 4).
    Guerrero, where 43 trainee teachers were abducted and almost certainly massacred last year by a drug cartel in league with local police, has been hardest hit by the electoral violence, in spite of pledges by Pena Nieto to restore order there.
    On Wednesday (June 3), during a protest in Tixtla, Guerrero, calling for justice for the missing 43 , clashes broke out and a protester was injured.
    "Aside from the regretful and condemnable acts in Guerrero, in Iguala in September of last year, delicate expressions of social discontent have been detonating that for the first have called for and threatened to disrupt or stop the elections. That is a phenomenon that we have never before faced," said the President Of Mexico's National Electoral Institute (INE), Lorenzo Cordova.
    "We have not requested the assistance of the police because we considered that it is not convenient to militarize the elections, these (protests) have complicated our field work," he added.
    Along with the seven candidates, at least nine campaign officials have been killed in different areas of the country.
    Still, in Sunday's legislative elections, polls forecast the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, should retain a slim working majority in the lower house of Congress, partly as the main opposition parties are riven by division.
    Pena Nieto is a few seats short of a majority in the Senate, which is not up for re-election until 2018.
    Under his presidency, the murder rate has fallen in troubled parts of northern Mexico, but violence has jumped in western areas, including the country's second biggest city, Guadalajara.
    On May 1, a drug gang staged a string of concerted blockades and attacks around the city, and shot down a military helicopter in another part of the same state. Three weeks later, the government hit the gang hard, killing 42 suspected members.
    Not only a worry to investors who could help lift Mexico's misfiring economy, the violence is eroding faith in the country's political parties. Independent candidates have begun to push the PRI hard in traditional bastions.
    The lower house of Congress, nine state governorships and more than 1,000 posts in state legislatures and mayors' offices are up for grabs in Sunday's election, which has also been hit by violent protests by teaching unions who oppose teacher evaluations, a central plank of Pena Nieto's education reform.
    Trying to calm the protests, the government abruptly suspended the measure last week.
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