09/19/12 – Two members of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI)–the party set to take office under president-elect Enrique Peña Nieto in December–were assassinated this past weekend. The first incident occurred on Friday, September 14, when congressman-elect Eduardo Castro Luque, 48, was shot to death near his home in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora. His death came two days before he was scheduled to take office in Sonora’s 17th district. According to the Los Angeles Times, he was shot by two assassins who fled the scene on motorcycles.
The second was on Sunday, September 16, when Jaime Serrano Cedilla, state deputy-elect for the State of Mexico’s (Estado de México, Edomex) 25th district, was stabbed to death on the street on his way to purchase a newspaper a few blocks from his house in Nezchualcoyotl, outside of Mexico City. Serrano Cedillo was quickly taken by his family to a nearby hospital, according to El Universal, but, given the severity of the stab wounds to his chest, he died shortly thereafter. The 45-year-old legislator also served as the president of the PRI in his municipality. Both Peña Nieto–who was also the former governor of Edomex–and Enviel Ávila Villegas–the current Edomex governor–released statements condemning the assailants, and also expressing remorse for the loss of both Serrano Cedillo and Castro Luque. “We will find the person or people responsible and make sure to apply to full weight of the law,” Ávila Villegas said on Twitter. “My solidarity is with the family of Jaime Serrano Cedillo.”
These two killings came just one month after another member of the PRI, Mayor-Elect Edgár Morales Pérez, and his campaign coordinator were killed in an ambush in the town of Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, on August 12. (Read more about the incident here). Local news sources say that authorities have not yet tied Morales Pérez’s murder with the most recent killings, though investigations into latter are still ongoing.
Sources:
Fernandez Roman, Emilio. “Asesinan a diputado de PRI.” El Universal. September 16, 2012.
