Gisela Gaytán, Morena’s candidate for mayor of Celaya (Guanajuato), was shot dead this Monday. The attack on the politician took place during a campaign event in the middle of the street. The crime occurred in San Miguel Octopan, a community that has been especially affected by organized crime in recent years, just after she presented her security strategy. Morena’s party has not yet commented on the attack.
In a video shared on social networks, lasting six seconds, the rally of Gaytán and his supporters, carrying party flags, is observed. At first, shouts of support are heard: “Morena, Morena!” Seconds later, seven gunshots sound. The next image already shows those gathered running in terror. The newspaper Milenio has reported that there are also two other people injured.
Elements of the Army and the National Guard at the site where Gaytán was murdered, this April 1.Luis Ramírez (EFE)
This Monday was the second day of campaigning in Guanajuato. In the morning, the candidate had been asked if she planned to provide security during her press events and rallies: “Assistance has already been requested through the party’s state legal system. We are looking at that issue to see how it is resolved. The citizens are with us, they take care of us, but of course we are going to have security protocols, the same ones that they are already seeing in the party’s legal system, with the INE. Let’s see if they have an answer for us today.” The candidate thanked the Secretariat of Citizen Security for “taking care of” her this Monday in the Morelos market, where she had been visiting the merchants.
Violence is one of the key issues for the elections. The State is involved in a harsh security crisis that gives no respite. Last December, two weeks apart, they murdered six medical students in Celaya and 11 young people who were at a Christmas inn in Salvatierra. That region has also become mined territory for security forces. In the last year alone, 22 agents have been massacred in Celaya, one of the main cities of the State, with almost 380,000 inhabitants.
Gisela Gaytán had focused part of her campaign on this topic. On Sunday, one day before being murdered, she had published a video in which she stated: “We Celayenses feel like survivors. Together with you I want us to be the change of our present, with our eyes set on the future, that together we find the courage to face fear, reinvent things and transform our city.” The campaign slogan ended: “If our daily lives are difficult, what are we waiting for? A new chapter, for all, united, for a better future.”
Gaytán was the only female candidate for Celaya, after being elected in February against two Morena candidates who were also men. She was a trial lawyer and was a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), before joining the party founded by Andrés Manuel López Obrador in 2018.
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