Before the expected vote on June 2, more than two dozen candidates for the presidency of Mexico were killed by members of the cartels. Journalists point out that organized crime groups are turning the elections in Mexico into a real "battlefield", making this year's campaign one of the deadliest in the country's recent history.
More than two dozen candidates were shut down ahead of the election, hundreds more dropped out of the race, with more than 400 asking the federal government for security guarantees.
The armed groups aim to install "their people" in local governments to better control and exploit Mexican communities.
Today, cartels are actively engaged not only in illegal transportation of drugs to the United States, but also in migrant smuggling, extorting bribes from businesses and concluding contracts for companies under their control. In some regions, the cartels have so much power that they can decide who has the right to enter the city - or even control the public debate, reports the journalist. That is why the struggle for the positions of mayors is so important.
Gangs target candidates from all of Mexico's major parties. In Maravatio, a municipality in the central state of Michoacan with about 80,000 people, three mayoral candidates were killed - two from Morena, the party of President López Obrador, and one from the opposition National Action Party, or PAN.
Almost two dozen mayoral candidates from the parties dropped out of their races. According to Carlos Palomeque, head of the PAN in Chiapas, cartels used to bribe voters. Now "they force candidates to refuse to participate in the race, because it is cheaper."
