Mexico City: A contender for the position of mayor in a city besieged by violence in Mexico met her demise just as she commenced her campaign.

Two officials in the north-central region of Guanajuato reported that candidate Bertha Gaytán was fatally shot on a thoroughfare in a town adjacent to the city of Celaya. Municipalities in Mexico often encompass smaller neighboring communities. The officials declined attribution.

Footage of the incident circulated on social media depicted a small assembly of individuals chanting “Morena!” — the appellation of Gaytán’s political faction. In that instance, multiple gunshots resonated, prompting individuals to flee and tumble to the ground.

This incident marks the most recent fatality in the escalating bloodshed preceding Mexico’s June 2 elections. Since the inception of 2024, at least 14 contenders have been slain.

Morena is aligned with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose tenure concludes in September. The June 2 elections will determine his successor, alongside numerous state and municipal positions.

Guanajuato has persistently reported the highest homicide rate of any state in Mexico, with Celaya arguably being the most perilous locale, per capita, for law enforcement in North America. Over the past three years, at least 34 police officers have perished in this city with a populace of 500,000.

In Guanajuato state, housing slightly over 6 million inhabitants, more law enforcement officers were fatally shot in 2023 — approximately 60 — than the entire United States combined. The state has long been beleaguered by violent territorial disputes between the Jalisco drug cartel and the indigenous Santa Rosa de Lima syndicate.

Instances of violence targeting politicians are rampant in Mexico. Recently, the mayor of Churumuco, a township in the neighboring state of Michoacan, was gunned down at a taco eatery in the state capital, Morelia. In late February, in another Michoacan town, two aspiring mayors were gunned down within a span of a few hours.