Rodolfo Torre Cantu, the favorite Mexican gubernatorial candidate, was assassinated this morning along with four others, just seven days before elections in Mexico’s border state Tamaulipas.
Torre Cantu’s motorcade was ambushed en route to an event near in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas.
Sixteen gunmen riddled Torre Cantu’s two SUV’s with bullets, leaving smashed windows, according to Reuters. The two vehicles bore larger-than-life images of the candidate.
The four others killed in the attack were a local deputy for Torre’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), his chief guard, as well as two bodyguards, according to Mexican newspaper El Universal.
This is considered the highest profile killing in Mexican politics since 1994, when presidential candidate for the PRI party Donaldo Colosio was shot while at a crowded campaign rally.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said drug cartels, trying to influence the elections, are to blame for the Torre’s murder, according to the Associated Press.
PRI president Beatriz Paredes has appealed for a investigation, also calling on PRI to remain strong.
“These acts of violence will not undermine our democratic convictions,” Paredes said in a statement.
Torre Cantu leaves behind a wife and three children.
Torre Cantu’s motorcade was ambushed en route to an event near in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas.
Sixteen gunmen riddled Torre Cantu’s two SUV’s with bullets, leaving smashed windows, according to Reuters. The two vehicles bore larger-than-life images of the candidate.
The four others killed in the attack were a local deputy for Torre’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), his chief guard, as well as two bodyguards, according to Mexican newspaper El Universal.
This is considered the highest profile killing in Mexican politics since 1994, when presidential candidate for the PRI party Donaldo Colosio was shot while at a crowded campaign rally.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said drug cartels, trying to influence the elections, are to blame for the Torre’s murder, according to the Associated Press.
PRI president Beatriz Paredes has appealed for a investigation, also calling on PRI to remain strong.
“These acts of violence will not undermine our democratic convictions,” Paredes said in a statement.
Torre Cantu leaves behind a wife and three children.