http://www.themonitor.com/news/valle-38546-hermoso-mayoral.html
Gunmen kill Reynosa public official, Valle Hermoso mayoral candidate
REYNOSA — A Reynosa city official and a Valle Hermoso mayoral candidate were gunned down in separate incidents Thursday, according to Mexican officials.
State police discovered the bullet-riddled corpse of Reynosa Public Works Director Roberto Arechandieta Ramos inside a white Chevrolet Cheyenne pickup at the intersection of Zaragoza and Nicolas Bravo streets about 4 p.m., said Zunem Sanchez Moreno, a spokesman for Mexico’s attorney general.
Arechandieta — a former law enforcement officer — previously worked as a federal agent with the now-defunct Federal Judicial Police. He was also once a high-ranking Tamaulipas state police officer and a supervisor under Mexico’s Secretariat of Public Security.
Moments after the body was found, Reynosa city officials urged residents to avoid the area via Twitter feed, reporting a “situation of risk.”
The body was found in the city’s north side, just west of the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge.
Earlier on Thursday, authorities found the body of National Action Party candidate Jose Mario Guajardo Varela, 54, and his son Luis Guajardo Varela.
The father and son were killed by unidentified gunmen Thursday morning in Valle Hermoso, said Ruben Dario, a spokesman for the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office.
Officials found their bodies about 8:30 a.m. in a warehouse at Guajardo’s business, Agro Industrias Guajardo. It is located on the highway to Las Yescas.
Two unidentified men arrived at the warehouse and asked for Guajardo, according to forensic reports. When they found him, they brandished two 9mm handguns and fired at the mayoral candidate and his son.
Both father and son died at the scene. Employee Fernando Arturo Treviño Martinez was rushed to the local hospital, where he later died, Dario said.
PAN National Director Cesar Nava called for the swift capture of those responsible for the murder of his party’s candidate.
Guajardo had previously received threats from members of criminal organizations asking him to resign, Nava said in a written statement.
Tony Knopp, a history and government professor at The University of Texas-Brownsville, said Guajardo’s murder came at a time that PAN hardened its stance against organized crime.
Knopp said the murder — likely perpetrated by drug cartel members — could have been way to eliminate a threat against organized crime. It is also possible Guajardo sided with one organization and was targeted by a rival group.
“This was a hit,” Knopp said, adding that Valle Hermoso lies along a main highway in the state, which has a strong presence of or-ganized crime. “The likely scenario is that this candidate could have been seen as a possible threat … This is a message that states: Join or die.”
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed thousands of federal police and military troops to hotspots like Ciudad Juarez, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Michoacan.
Under Calderon, federal authorities are credited with the capture and slaying of various well-known drug cartel members, includ-ing Arnolfo Rueda Medina, from the Familia Michoacana; Alfredo, Arturo and Carlos Beltran Leyva from the Beltran Leyva Cartel; and Vicente Carrillo Leyva from the Juarez Cartel. Other notable arrests include Alfonso Gutierrez Loera from the Sinaloa Cartel.
The hard stance against organized crime is seen by some as making things worse, Knopp said.
“The strong military presence and the ongoing battles have disheartened some, and the ruling party in the state, the PRI (Revolu-tionary Institutionalized Party) is working with this.” Knopp said. “They are trying to bring back the days of stability and calm before the drug war. The underlying message by the PRI is that they are leaving the cartels alone.”
Jose Julian Sacramento, the gubernatorial candidate for the PAN, said his fellow candidates in Tamaulipas, including the late Gua-jardo, were taking a strong stance against organized crime.
“I make an energetic call to the government to guarantee the safety of not only the candidates but of the residents of Tamaulipas,” Sacramento said. “This is an issue we have taken up with the authorities who are the ones that are obligated to secure the public’s safety and sadly enough, they haven’t come through.”
Sacramento said that that the recent drug war taking place in the state between criminal organizations has caused many of the families in the state to flee to the United States.
“It looks like the people from Tamaulipas are repopulating Texas,” Sacramento said. “They are fleeing because they fear their cities are not safe anymore.”
While he hasn’t personally received any threats, Sacramento stated that in Nuevo Guerrero, Camargo and Mier, the PAN does not have any candidates because they have pulled out of the July 4 election due to death threats.
Just hours after the death of Guajardo, the Notimex news agency reported that Roberto Carlos Rodriguez, the party’s candidate for state representative in Reynosa, announced his resignation.
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