Violence, ‘narcomantas’ and women dispute the state of Morelos

“We suffer violence every day. They scare us, they threaten us, but they are not going to intimidate us, we are stronger than ever,” says Gabriela Gorostieta or Gaby Goros, how she presents herself to his followers. The young 25-year-old candidate is running as a national representative for the National Action Party (PAN) in the Mexican state of Morelos and she knows electoral violence up close.

On April 11, they attacked her campaign house and shot dead her uncle, Teodoro Gorostieta, who helped her with painting murals and coordinating propaganda. “I had seen him about 40 minutes before he was killed and the police were patrolling that area,” recalls Gabriela, and although the investigations are still ongoing, she attributes the incident to organized crime.

During the visit made by the Voice of America Morelos was able to verify the escort of the National Guard as a security mechanism for the candidate Gorostieta, a protocol that the National Electoral Institute (INE) enables, after verification that there is a threat and after an interview with the applicant.

Although in some cases the protection comes too late. It happened with the mayoral candidate for the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) party, Gisela Gaytán, who was murdered during a campaign event in broad daylight in Celaya, Guanajuato state, on April 1.

After Gaytán’s death, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador urged local authorities to coordinate with the government to protect the candidates and affirmed that responsibility for their safety does not rest solely with the Executive. But he also took advantage of his usual morning conference to announce that at the close of the electoral period he will prove, in a report, that more journalists and candidates were murdered during Felipe Calderón’s six-year term.

The Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection reported, last week, that there are 487 candidates who currently have protection.

Narcomessages

Many of these attacks are surprising, but there are also those that are alerted through the so-called ‘narcomantas’, large curtains placed in strategic places and with intimidating messages.

Criminal groups are behind these threats, which have somehow become normalized and fully fulfill the objective of sowing terror in civil society.

A particular case that is remembered in Morelos was that of earlier this year when the PAN councilor of Cuautla, Giovanni Lezama, was murdered in a gym by armed individuals who managed to escape. He had been identified in the ‘narcomantas’.

These posters, which are also used for threats among the same criminal groups, are placed on pedestrian bridges, churches and even on the facades of schools, causing some to decide to suspend their school activities, as Guillermo Hinojosa, a journalist from Morelos, relates. “There is a lot of panic among citizens at the moment, violence in recent days has increased and I fear it could be worse close to the elections,” he says.

Some sources indicate that the origin of the ‘narcomantas’ dates back to the 80s and is related to the Michoacana family. But many criminal cells have adopted this method and in Morelos particularly “Guerreros Unidos” and “Los Tepitos”, although official investigations have not determined specific perpetrators.

Violence that is breathed in the streets

The State Public Security Commission (CES) identified 16 criminal groups that dispute the territory and have generated an overwhelming increase in violence. Morelos has consolidated itself into a strategic corridor for illicit activities, and furthermore, according to Goros, this occurs under permissibility and even with the complicity of the authorities.

“Organized crime is very colluded in the municipality because they (the drug traffickers) pay a salary to the police,” explains the candidate, also referring to the poor conditions with which the law enforcement forces work due to the low investment in issues. of security, and that makes them corruptible.

“Mere police officers are the hawks of criminals,” he adds.

Murders, kidnappings, attacks, threats. In this federal entity of almost two million inhabitants, the security crisis has overshadowed the tourism potential it had years ago. Today the name “one of the most violent states in Mexico” is the label with which it is shown to the world. It ranks second in murders and leads the ranking of kidnappings per 100,000 inhabitants among the 32 states.

As he relates to the VOA the independent journalist, Estrella Pedroza, beyond the political are the direct attacks on the population. “For example, in Cuautla, practically everyone lives under threat, the merchants, the tortilla makers, the butchers, the lady who sells hamburgers on the corner. In the sugarcane sector they even murdered a candidate candidate; they asked them for about 50,000 pesos per truck as extortion.

“And we know this through the bishop of Cuernavaca and also because I have had to do research in that area. People are very afraid, they don’t want to talk,” he says. He comments that even children and adolescents become part of criminal organizations and They make decisions in a context of high vulnerability in which they feel that they have been abandoned.

Journalism and constant risk

On April 27, communicator and content creator Roberto Figueroa was found dead in a vehicle in the town of Coajomulco in Huitzilac, Morelos, just hours after being kidnapped while taking his daughters to school. His family paid a ransom, but that did not prevent the fatal outcome.

Figueroa was critical of Governor Cuauhtémoc Blanco – currently on leave – and generated political content evidencing the security crisis in Morelos.

His murder caused a great impact in the journalistic union. “We are very concerned after what happened with our colleague Roberto Carlos Figueroa, we have already had meetings to activate protection protocols for journalists and to also support his children. But I feel like we are in the middle of two games with a lot of vulnerability.”

For journalist Estrella Pedroza, the protection mechanism for defenders and journalists does not work fully because “this protocol is often made up of the perpetrators themselves.”

“Those who attack freedom of expression and journalistic practice are public servants of the Supreme Court of Justice, of the State government, of the Public Security Commission and obviously it does not work and it must also be said, journalists who are there as representatives of the union They have their agreements with the State and it plays to that side, they themselves leak information. That is, everything is very broken,” he warns.

Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries to do press work.

In 2023, 561 attacks were recorded, including murders and disappearances. On average, an attack every 16 hours, according to the organization Article 19. 2022 continues to be the bloodiest year in Mexico, with 17 reporters murdered.

Election countdown

According to reports from organizations that monitor political violence, around thirty candidates have been murdered in this electoral process. The figures may vary because many of the events are not reported to the competent authorities and only remain as records in the media, also giving way to impunity. The organization Impunidad Cero indicates that in Mexico 94% of crimes are not reported and the authorities solve less than 1%.

Fear is a reality that is perceived in the streets and can be decisive on June 2, the day on which some 97 million Mexicans will renew 20,000 elected positions, including the Presidency that will be defined between the ruling party Claudia Sheinbaum and the opposition Xóchitl Gálvez.

In interview with the VOAthe president of the organization Mexicans against Corruption and Impunity, María Amparo Casar made it clear what the country is at stake in the next elections.

“I would not want either Xóchitl Gálvez or Claudia Sheinbaum to arrive with that concentration of powers for the Executive that is proposed in the reforms of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and will be discussed starting September 1 (…) We do not know how they will conclude those elections, but what is at stake in Mexico is a project that builds and continues to advance democracy and another that continues the processes of weakening democracy,” he says.

Morelos is one of the eight entities that will locally define their next governor, in addition to 20 members of Congress and 36 city councils.

They will be historic elections because the political groups and parties opted for women to compete for power:

-Lucy Mesacandidate of the Dignity and Security coalition for Morelos, together with the PRI, PAN and PRD.

– Margarita Gonzales of the Let’s Keep Making History alliance in Morelos, together with Morena, PT and PVEM.

– Jessica Ortegof the Citizen Movement.

The biggest dispute is between the first two, although according to some recent polls Margarita Gonzales would have the advantage. If this preference is realized, Morelos would keep the same political party in power.

“This is the first time that in Morelos there will be a female governor, because the three candidates are women, but it is important to understand that political violence based on gender is the order of the day. And unfortunately sometimes even the candidates themselves encourage it. I’m not blaming them, but since they disqualify each other, that is also taken advantage of by those who wage dirty war,” explains journalist Pedroza.

There are no conditions for women who want to participate in politics, says Gaby Goros, who after the attack and murder of her uncle reconsidered her electoral career with her family, but decided to continue. “We already run the risk, now we want to raise our voices.”

The upcoming elections have already been considered the most violent in the history of Mexico.

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