A MEXICAN mayor was beheaded just six days after taking office with his severed head displayed on a car roof.
The gruesome cartel assassination left the rest of his decapitated body in the motor’s passenger seat.
TwitterArcos’ decapitated head was found on the roof of his car[/caption]
ReutersArcos only took office last Tuesday[/caption]
TwitterArcos was the mayor of a city in Gurrero[/caption]
ReutersMexican security forces respond at the scene where Arcos was killed[/caption]
Chilpancingo mayor Alejandro Arcos, 43, was elected in June and had taken office only last Tuesday.
But the leader was cut down in a killing which has shocked Mexico after he had spent his short time in office working on support for hurricane recovery.
Photos posted to his Facebook only hours before the killing show him talking to locals.
But just hours later his severed and bloody head was lying on the top of a car, unverified images hours later show.
Three days earlier the secretary of the same city council was also killed.
The two murders come after Gurrero state faced 1,900 murders last year and six candidates were killed ahead of this year’s elections.
Guerrero is one of the worst affected states by cartel violence due to its location on the Pacific coast smuggling routes.
Another mayor from the same state elected in June was also killed when he was shot dead driving on a motorway.
Chilpancingo is the second-largest city of Guerrero state with 200,000 people and is about a 3 hour 30 drive south of the national capital Mexico City.
The city is also in the same state as holiday hot spot Acapulco.
Guerrero state governor Evelyn Salgado strongly condemned the killing.
She said: “His loss has saddened all of Guerrero society and fills us with indignation.”
Alejandro Moreno, the leader of Arcos’ PRI party, said: “They had been in office for less than a week.
“They were young and honest officials who sought progress for their community. Our condolences and solidarity go out to their families.”
Moreno also called on the federal attorney general’s office to lead the investigation due to “the situation of ungovernability in Guerrero”.
The US government warns its citizens should not go anywhere in the Guerrero region and has banned all government officials from visiting Acapulco.
The UK’s Foreign Office also warns against all travel to Guerrero – with the exception of Acapulco – due to spiralling violence across the state.
Across Mexico, more than 450,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands of gone missing in cartel violence.
On the same day Arcos was elected so was the country’s new president Claudia Sheinbaum.
Sheinbaum aims to cut the numbers of murders in the country from 23.3 to 19.4 murders for every 100,000 people.
She plans to double the number of federal investigators to 8,000 and increase the National Guard from 120,000 to 150,000.
But Sheinbaum has also pledged to stick to her predecessor’s “hugs not bullets” strategy of using social policy to tackle crime at its roots.
Acapulco’s descent into hell
By Annabel Bate
The popular beach resort town of Acapulco is ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
Acapulco once embodied the glamour of the jet age – an easy-going paradise resort loved by Hollywood pin-ups and royalty.
But the “Pearl of the Pacific” is now plagued by sickening cartel violence and is so dangerous locals reportedly take guns to the beach.
Up to 20 criminal gangs including El Chapo‘s Sinaloa mob are said to be fighting a bloody turf war for control of nearby poppy fields.
The once-thriving tourist town is now among the most violent places in the world, with the second-highest murder rate in Mexico – more than one per 1,000 people every year.
A series of recent horrors have thrown the spotlight back on the idyllic party town’s descent into hell.
In July 2023, a well-known Mexican journalist was executed in his car outside a shop in broad daylight.
And in January the same year, five dismembered bodies were found stuffed in plastic bags in a village just outside Acapulco.
ReutersLocal politicians like Arcos are targeted by the cartel[/caption]
AFPForensic police investigate the death of the mayor[/caption]
AFPHis car was taken away by a tow truck[/caption]