MEXICO CITY –
The mayor of a state capital in southern Mexico has been killed just one week after he took office, officials said Sunday.
Alejandro Arcos was sworn in last Monday as mayor of Chilpancingo, a city so violent that a drug gang openly staged a demonstration, hijacked a government armored car and took police hostage in 2023 to win the release of arrested suspects.
Chilpancingo is the capital of Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located.
The state prosecutors’ office issued a statement Sunday confirming Arcos had been killed, but provided no details.
Alejandro Moreno, the national leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, lamented Arcos’ killing and said the newly installed secretary of the city council had also been murdered three days earlier.
“They had been in office less than a week,” Moreno wrote on his social media accounts. “They were young and honest public servants who were seeking progress …