After a newly elected mayor was beheaded in Mexico, some called on federal authorities for protection

Four mayors in Mexico have asked federal authorities for protection after a colleague was beheaded last week in the southern state of Guerrero, officials said Tuesday.

Mayor Alejandro Arcos was sworn in less than a week before he was killed.

The Secretary of Federal Public Safety, Omar Garcia Harfuch, said that four mayors requested protection on Monday, a day after Arcos’ remains were found. These requests come from Guerrero and another violence-hit state, Guanajuato.

The situation in Guanajuato is so bad that before the June national elections, at least four mayoral candidates were killed.

Garcia Harfuch did not say why the mayors asked for protection. He also did not provide many details about the investigation into the murder of Arcos, only saying that the mayor left his staff to go to a private meeting shortly before his death.

Arcos told local media that he needed more protection, but Garcia Harfuch said no official request had been received. State and federal governments can provide mayors with bulletproof vehicles, extra security guards and emergency alert systems.

The killing of Arcos happened days after the killing of another city official, Francisco Tapia, according to the president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, Alejandro Moreno.

“They were in office for less than a week. Young and honest officials who wanted progress for their community,” Moreno told X.

The country’s capital, Chilpancingo, is home to two drug gangs, the Ardillos and the Tlacos. One staged a protest of hundreds of people, hijacked a government vehicle carrying weapons, blocked a highway and kidnapped police officers in 2023 to win the release of arrested suspects.

Gangs and drug cartels in Mexico in general addressed to mayors and other local officials suppressing demands for fraudulent payments, government contracts and the appointment of personnel in the municipal police force.

At least 24 politicians were killed during the violent polls leading up to the June election in which the main ruling party won by a landslide, according to official figures.

In June, at least three politicians were killed in Guerrero. Acacio Floresrepresentative of Malinaltepec, was killed a few days after the incident the killing of Salvador Villalba Floresanother mayor of Guerrero district elected on June 2. Earlier in the month, the area a female councillor he was shot while leaving his home in Guerrero.

His assassination happened a few days after the mayor of the city in western Mexico and his bodyguards killed outside the gymafter a few hours Claudia Sheinbaum he won the presidency.

Mexico’s president unleashes a new “war on drugs.”

On Tuesday, Sheinbaum announced that he would launch a new war on drug cartels, as he unveiled a national security plan aimed at reducing rampant criminal violence.

Sheinbaum, who is the first woman to lead a Latin American country, said her government will prioritize fighting the causes of crime, and making better use of intelligence.

“The war on drugs will not return,” the leftist president told a press conference, referring to the offensive launched in 2006 involving the military and the support of the United States.

Since then, mass criminal violence has left more than 450,000 people dead and tens of thousands missing.

Sheinbaum, the former mayor of Mexico City who was sworn in on October 1, pledged to stick to his predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” strategy of using social policy to tackle the causes of crime.

“We are not looking at extrajudicial killings, which is what happened before. What are we going to use? Prevention, attention to causes, intelligence and the presence” of the authorities, he said.

While Lopez Obrador prioritized prevention over force, he placed the National Guard under the control of the armed forces.

Critics say the move marks another step toward nationalism — a claim that Lopez Obrador and his colleague Sheinbaum have denied.

“There are families today who don’t have access to reliable municipal police or fully-reinforced state police. That’s where the National Guard will play an important role,” said Sheinbaum’s public safety minister, Omar Garcia Harfuch.

AFP contributed to this report.