Mexico held its final day of fighting on Wednesday before the country’s election on Sunday, but attacks on candidates and crime rates have slowed down the final rallies.
Xochitl Galvez, the opposition candidate, kicked off her final campaign rallies early on Wednesday on the fringes of Mexico City, and she aimed her indignation at President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs no guns” policy of never confronting the drug cartel.
Galvez is facing the prospect of Lopez Obrador’s Morena group, past Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum. Sheinbaum, who leads in the contest, has promised to continue all of Lopez Obrador’s plans.
” Are we going to continue with kisses, or are we going to apply the rules to scammers”? Galvez addressed a enthralling audience. ” Mexico wants serenity, wants tranquility”.
The quasi-military National Guard, which critics claim lacks the expert and analytical skills needed to combat the drug gangs, has been given money by Lopez Obrador to rescind its decision to fund police forces. Galvez promised to give police forces back the money and pay them at least$ 1,200 per month in wages.
Galvez even pledged to resolve a region that has been highly polarized by the cheerful president’s speech, saying “enough section, sufficient hatred… we are all Mexicans”.
Sheinbaum held her last protest after Wednesday in Mexico City’s large, colonial- era main square. A sizable group witnessed her deliver a speech that was distinctly political.
” Mexico is respected in the world, it is a guide place”, Sheinbaum said, claiming that Lopez Obrador’s state “has returned to us the pleasure of being Mexicans”.
” Mexico has changed, and for the better”, she said.
Sheinbaum vowed to carry on Lopez Obrador’s policy of providing apprenticeships to discourage young people from joining drug cartels in relation to the crime issue.
” We will enhance the approach of peace and security, and the advancement that has been made”, she said. ” This is not an iron palm” plan, Sheinbaum said. ” This is justice”.
Lopez Obrador has raised the country’s minimum income and expanded state gain programs, but he has not been able to significantly lower the nation’s generally high homicide rate, which is now at more than 30 000 deaths annually nationwide. The activities have also been hampered by that gang-fueled crime.
Intruders shot a mayoral candidate in western Jalisco multiple times in his campaign offices later on Tuesday. According to Sanchez Beruben, the representative for Jalisco state security, two members of Gilberto Palomar’s strategy staff were also injured, and all three of them were taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Immigrants may vote Sunday in an election weighing sex, politics and democracy, as they chart the country’s way forward in voting shadowed by gang crime. With two women leading the contest, Mexico will likely elect its first female president. More than 20, 000 congressional and local positions are up for grabs, according to the National Electoral Institute.
On Tuesday, gunmen killed an alternate mayoral candidate in Morelos state, south of Mexico City, according to state prosecutors.
Ricardo Arizmendi was shot five times in the head by a motorcycle-driven attackers in the city of Cuautla in Morelos, according to local media reports. If a winner of a race is incapacitated or resigns, alternate candidates take office.
About 27 candidates, mostly running for mayor or town councils, have been killed so far this year. The number of mass shootings is unprecedented, despite the fact that that election was not much higher than some other comparable elections. Previously, candidates were killed in targeted attacks, but now criminals have started spraying entire campaign events with gunfire.
