Gunmen kill Reynosa public official, Valle Hermoso mayoral candidate

REYNOSA — A Reynosa city official and a Valle Hermoso mayoral candidate were gunned down in separate incidents Thursday, according to Mexican officials.

Tamaulipas state police discovered the bullet-riddled corpse of Reynosa Public Works Director Roberto Arechandieta Ramos inside a white Chevrolet Cheyenne pickup truck at the intersection of Zaragoza and Nicolas Bravo streets about 4 p.m., said Zunem Sanchez Moreno, a spokesman for Mexico’s attorney general.

Arechandieta — a former law enforcement officer — previously worked as a federal agent with the now-defunct Federal Judicial Police. He was also once a high-ranking Tamaulipas state police officer and a supervisor under Mexico’s Public Safety Ministry.

Moments after the body was found, Reynosa city officials urged residents to avoid the area via Twitter, reporting a “situation of risk.”

The body was found on the city’s north side, just west of the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge.

Earlier on Thursday, authorities in Tamaulipas found the body of National Action Party (PAN) mayoral candidate Jose Mario Guajardo Varela, 54, and his son Luis.

The father and son were killed by unidentified gunmen Thursday morning in Valle Hermoso, said Ruben Dario, a spokesman for the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office.

Valle Hermoso is about 25 miles southwest of Brownsville.

Officials found their two bodies about 8:30 a.m. in a warehouse at the Guajardo’s business, Agro Industrias Guajardo, located on the highway to Las Yescas.

Two unidentified men arrived at the warehouse and asked for the politician, according to forensic reports. When they found him, they brandished two 9mm handguns and fired at him and his son.

Both men died at the scene. Employee Fernando Arturo Treviño Martinez was also injured and was rushed to a local hospital, where he later died, Dario said.

PAN National Director Cesar Nava called for the swift capture of those responsible for the slaying of his party’s candidate.

Guajardo had previously received threats from members of criminal organizations asking him to resign, Nava said in a written statement.

Tony Knopp, a history and government professor at the University of Texas-Brownsville, said the candidate’s slaying comes as PAN has hardened its stance against organized crime. Likely carried out by drug cartel members, the assassination could have been a way to eliminate a threat against organized crime. It is also possible the Guajardo sided with one organization and was targeted by a rival group.

More than 22,700 people have been killed in Mexico’s drug war since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderón launched a crackdown on his country’s entrenched narcotics syndicates, according to government estimates.

The hard stance against organized crime is seen by some as making things worse, Knopp said.

“The strong military presence and the ongoing battles have disheartened some, and the ruling party in the state, the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) is working with this.” Knopp said. “They are trying to bring back the days of stability and calm before the drug war. The underlying message by the PRI is that they are leaving the cartels alone.”

Jose Julian Sacramento, the PAN candidate for governor, said his fellow candidates in Tamaulipas, including the late Guajardo, were taking a strong stance against organized crime.

“I make an energetic call to the government to guarantee the safety of not only the candidates but of the residents of Tamaulipas,” Sacramento said, adding that the state’s residents are fleeing to Texas because they fear their cities are no longer safe.

While he hasn’t personally received any threats, Sacramento said PAN’s candidates in Camargo, Mier and Nuevo Guerrero dropped out of the July 4 election due to death threats.

Just hours after Guajardo’s slaying, the Notimex news agency reported that Roberto Carlos Rodriguez, the party’s candidate for state representative in Reynosa, announced his withdrawal from the race.

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Monitor staff writer Ana Ley contributed to this report.

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Ildefonso Ortiz is a reporter for The Brownsville Herald.