Édgar Morales Pérez was the mayor-elect of

Matehuala Matehuala is a city in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí, situated at an elevation of about 1,500 m. Matehuala is also the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name, located in the northern part of the state, on the border with ...

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí, officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí, is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 59 municipalities and is named after its capital city, San Luis Potosí. It ...

, Mexico, elected on July 1, 2012. He was a member of the

Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party (, , PRI) is a List of political parties in Mexico, political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (, PNR), then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (, PRM) and fin ...

(PRI) and the

Ecologist Green Party of Mexico The Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (, , PVEM or PVE) is a green political party in Mexico. Founded in 1986, the party is associated with Jorge González Torres and his son Jorge Emilio González Martínez. It has seldom gotten more than 10% of ...

(PVEM), which are in a coalition in his municipality. The National Action Party (PAN) had ruled Matehuala for several years, and Morales Pérez was scheduled to take office in September 2012. On August 12, 2012, he and his campaign manager Juan Francisco Hernández Colunga were killed by gunfire while driving home from a birthday party. Hernández's wife survived the attack but could not identify the perpetrators. Several publications described the attack as part of a broader crime wave. Three days earlier a van with fourteen corpses in the back had been found next to a highway in the state. In

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

on August 12, a family of seven, including four children, were found beheaded. In the state of

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

that same week, gangsters burned several buses and engaged in gun battles with the Mexican authorities. The Mexican authorities believe that the criminal group known as

Los Zetas Los Zetas (, Spanish for "The Zs") is a Mexican criminal syndicate and designated terrorist organization, known as one of the most dangerous of Mexico's drug cartels. They are known for engaging in brutally violent " shock and awe" tactics suc ...

was behind the attack, and five municipal police officers have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the dual assassination.

Personal life and family

Morales Pérez was born into an entrepreneur family, and studied at

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

at the Instituto Tecnológico de Matehuala. Upon graduation, he began working for Constructions Tribasa, a construction company that allowed him to participate in several infrastructure projects in Mexico and Guatemala. He then created his own construction company and began offering services to the municipality of

. He became popular in Matehuala for financing sport events and dance contests. In early 2012, the

(PRI) recruited Morales Pérez and proposed him for the municipal candidacy. He was survived by his wife, Noelia Cortez de Morales, and his three children.

Assassination

On August 12, 2012, Morales Pérez and his campaign manager, Juan Francisco Hernández Colunga, were driving home from a

quinceañera In Mexico, Mexican and other Latin American cultures, it is customary to celebrate a girl's 15th birthday. In Spanish language, Spanish, the girl celebrating her 15th birthday is called a ; in English language, English, primarily in the Unite ...

party at around 1:45 a.m. when several gunmen ambushed them in the streets of the city of

. The ambush took place just 60 meters away from the party, when two white

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

vehicles carrying a total of nine gunmen shot at Morales Pérez's vehicle after they tried to get away. Both of them died at the scene, while Claudia Martínez de Hernández, the wife of Hernández Colunga and the only living witness, was gravely injured and was taken to the nearest hospital; she could not identify the perpetrators. The Mexican authorities received the emergency call of the attack at around 2:00 a.m. and went to the scene, but Morales Pérez was found dead in the back seat of the car, while his campaign manager died in the driver's seat. More than 100 .223 and 7.62 mm caliber shells were found at the crime scene. The killers were not found but the Mexican authorities indicated that

were the probable perpetrators of the attack.

Background

The state of

experienced an increase in drug-related violence several months prior to Morales Pérez's assassination. According to official figures, 39 people were murdered in July 2012 in the state, compared to the 13 killed during the same month in 2011. In the first two weeks of August 2011, 33 people were killed, including the gruesome discovery of 14 mutilated bodies inside a van on August 9. Later that day, the death toll reached 21 dead after the

Mexican Army The Mexican Army () is the combined Army, land and Air Force, air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National Defense o ...

and members of organized crime engaged in several gun battles throughout the state. The state authorities contributed the wave of violence to an infighting between rival groups of

that fight for the control of San Luis Potosí. Reportedly, the 14 bodies found inside the van were members of the

Coahuila Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza, is one of the 31 states of Mexico. The largest city and State Capital is the city of Saltillo; the second largest is Torreón and the thi ...

-based faction of Los Zetas led by Iván Velázquez Caballero. Those who carried out the attack were killers supposedly under the orders of Miguel Treviño Morales. Other Mexican sources indicate that the feud between the Zeta factions are between Treviño Morales and Heriberto Lazcano. In addition, the surge in violence across the state may be partially attributed to the high summer temperatures throughout Mexico, since extreme weather conditions alter the patterns of drug harvesting and force the cartels to look for other sources of revenue during that time of the year. The "summer effect" – a term coined by Alejandro Hope, a security specialist – leads for more people to spend time outdoors, making criminal activities more visible, like drug sales, for example. In addition, the school calendar results in the absence of parental supervision, facilitating teenage recruitment by the drug trafficking organizations. Hope argues that the media outlets have played an important role in the perception of the drug violence documented in August 2012 in Mexico. The Mexican newspaper ''

Milenio ''Milenio'' is a major national newspaper in Mexico, owned by Grupo Multimedios. It is published in 11 cities across Mexico, including Monterrey, Mexico City, Guadalajara, León, Pachuca, Puebla, Villahermosa, Tampico, Torreón, Toluca, an ...

'' reported more than 38 killings throughout the country on August 9, 2012. Although these figures received a lot of coverage, Mexico experiences a rate of 60 drug-related murders per day, but these killings usually never make it to the national media and are rarely reported. Consequently, Hopes argues that the increase in violence may simply be "the spectacle of violence and not violence itself."

have had a stronghold in the state of San Luis Potosí for several years; back in February 2011, gunmen of the Zetas cartel ambushed and killed the U.S. agent Jaime Zapata while traveling through the Pan American Highway.

Funeral

The

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

ceremony and burial of Morales Pérez and his campaign manager were held on August 13. More than 1,000 people attended the ceremony, including local politicians and former mayors of Matehuala. After the mass was over, a

mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two ...

group played songs in memory of Morales Pérez and Hernández Colunga outside the chapel where the mass was held as their coffins were taken to Jardines de la Luz cemetery.

Aftermath

San Luis Potosí governor Fernando Toranzo Fernández responded by calling on federal military forces to reinforce law enforcement throughout the state. In response to the drug-related murders in San Luis Potosí, the Mexican government deployed 15,735 federal agents to seven states across Mexico on August 14, 2012. Of these, 11,835 are from the

Mexican Armed Forces The Mexican Armed Forces () are the military forces of the United Mexican States. The Spanish crown established a standing military in colonial Mexico in the eighteenth century. After Mexican independence in 1821, the military played an import ...

and 3,900 are from the

Federal Police A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

. Five police officers from the municipality of Matehuala were detained on August 17, 2012 for their alleged participation in the assassination of Morales Pérez. According to the evidence presented by the authorities, the police officers were watching over at the party where Morales Pérez was present but were reportedly "called to the station" just before the attack occurred. Nonetheless, their involvement in the crime and the reason for the attack remains unknown. In honor of Morales Pérez, the municipality of Matehuala cancelled the celebration of the Mexican Independence Day on 16 September 2012. The

(PRI) appointed Héctor Fermín Ávila Lucero as the mayor of Matehuala on 21 September 2012.

References