CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, (Reuters) – Suspected drug gang members killed the mayor of a ranching town in northern Mexico yesterday in a revenge attack for a mass arrest of hitmen that already sparked the murder of an American Mormon.
Gunmen shot dead Hector Meixueiro in his SUV as he drove to work in Namiquipa, Chihuahua state, in the latest brazen killing to challenge President Felipe Calderon’s army-led clampdown on drug cartel violence. The killing came the same day that drug gangs hung banners in the nearby border city of Ciudad Juarez blaming Meixueiro and the state attorney general for the arrest of 25 cartel hitmen last month.
Breakaway Mormon leader and anti-crime activist Benjamin LeBaron was murdered last week in Chihuahua for his alleged part in capturing the criminals, generating a wave of outrage among his Mexican-American community.
Last year, drug gangs killed the town treasurer in Namiquipa and kidnapped its police chief, who is still missing. Local media said the pair were targeted as revenge for other drug gang arrests in the area.
