Jaime Serrano Cedillo (1967 – 16 September 2012) was the deputy of Nezahualcóyotl,

State of Mexico The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...

and a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He was assassinated on the afternoon of 16 September 2012, reportedly by his wife, inside his home in Nezahualcóyotl. Serrano Cedillo's assassination came just two days after the slaying of Eduardo Castro Luque, a deputy in the state of

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

and a member of the PRI. Unlike other political assassinations in Mexico, Serrano Cedillo's death did not bore the signs of organized crime, and was a result of "a series of deep" marital problems.

Career and early life

Born in 1967, Serrano Cedillo was a close collaborator of the

's current governor,

Eruviel Ávila Villegas Eruviel Ávila Villegas (born May 1, 1969) is a Mexican politician, member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI), and the Governor of the State of Mexico from 2011 to 2017. Before that, he was Mayo ...

. Prior to his deputy nomination, Serrano Cedillo was the president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the municipality of Nezahualcóyotl and a former mayoral candidate for the same locality. He had also served as the Sub-secretary of the Interior in Greater Mexico City until May 2011. On 5 September 2012, Serrano Cedillo was sworn in as deputy for the XXV District of Nezahualcóyotl.

Assassination

Initial reports indicate that Serrano Cedillo left his house to buy a newspaper at a nearby booth and was stabbed in the chest by someone with a sharp weapon. Serrano Cedillo was reportedly coming out of a public restroom when the attacker surprised him. The assailant then managed to flee the scene and no arrests have been made. Serrano Cedillo, on the other hand, made his way home and was transported to a nearby hospital by his family where he was later pronounced dead. The Mexican authorities indicated on 20 September 2012 that Serrano Cedillo's wife, Patricia Grimaldo de la Cruz, reportedly assassinated her husband after having a dispute that same morning for "profound series of conjugal differences." It was later proven that the assassination happened inside Serrano Cedillo's house and not outside his domicile, as previously stated. Unlike other political assassinations, Serrano Cedillo's death did not bore the signs of organized crime. Mexico's drug gangs typically target local leaders and police chiefs, not federal deputies. Moreover, stabbing is not typically a method Mexico's drug trafficking use to do their "dirty work," hinting the officials that the deputy's death was a personal attack. He was the second PRI politician killed in just two days; Eduardo Castro Luque, a deputy-elect of the state of

, was shot dead by unknown assailants on 14 September 2012. In August 2012,

Édgar Morales Pérez Édgar Morales Pérez was the mayor-elect of Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, Mexico, elected on July 1, 2012. He was a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM), which are in a coalition in hi ...

of the PRI was also shot and killed by gunmen.

Funeral

After the Municipal Committee of the PRI paid tribute to the fallen Serrano Cedillo on 17 September 2012, he was buried in Jardines de Oriente cemetery.

Aftermath

The Mexican government deployed more than 1,000 troops to Nezahualcóyotl as a response to the assassination of Serrano Cedillo under a military-led program called Operation Neza. This was the first time since the start of Mexico's drug war in 2006 that soldiers have been deployed at this scale near the nation's capital. In Nezahualcóyotl, a city with around 1.1 million people and part of the Mexico City's metropolitan area, is home to a turf war between Los Zetas and

La Familia Michoacana La Familia Michoacana, (English: ''The Michoacán Family'') La Familia (English: ''The Family''), or LFM is a Mexican drug cartel and organized crime syndicate based in the Mexican state of Michoacán. They are known to produce large amounts o ...

, two drug trafficking organizations that fight for the growing drug market and illegal goods in the region. The troops were finally relocated from Nezahualcóyotl on 3 November 2012 after Operation Neza concluded.

References

External links