
Violence in Mexico: the politicides in Puebla from 2010-2020
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 5, No. 39
October - December 2021. e-ISSN 2550-6862. págs 55-66
(Melchor,2020). According to the Semáforo delictivo de Puebla during the last 5 years
homicides increased from 493 in 2015 to 581, 894, 1105 and 1108 for 2016, 2017, 2018
and 2019 respectively. Femicides reached 6, 12, 27, 27, 32 and 58 cases, rapes 548,
649, 668, 817, 919 and family violence complaints 5024, 5586, 6327, 7296 and 9077 in
each of these years. (Government of the State of Puebla, 2019).
In the state of Puebla, 52 politicians have been murdered during the last 10 years (the
figure does not include homicides of family members), of which almost 60 percent (23)
have occurred during the government of Antonio Gali, the year 2017 and the first 5
months of 2018. More worrying, for politicians, would be to note that 70 percent of the
homicides occurred during the Gali administration, are homicides occurred in the
framework of the electoral process to renew the elections for President of the Republic,
Governor, Senators, Federal and Local Deputies as well as mayors, to the extent that,
of the homicides recorded in 2018, 40 percent are of candidates for elected office, 20
percent of collaborators and 10 of electoral officials.
Table 3 shows the names of the municipal officials in office, former officials and elected
officials who have been assassinated by year, political status and party. Cases that had
a significant media effect such as Juany Maldonado and Erika Cazares, Ángel Morales,
Efraín García, Aarón Varela and Jairo García stand out in said table, while in 2017 those
of Miranda Ponce, Hernández Pasión, González Saínos, Delfino Hernández or Antolín
Vital.
Likewise, although violence and robbery or extortion as a motive are notable, the lack
of transparency in the identification of the motive, the large amounts of money
requested when it came to collecting ransom, and the use of bodyguards are especially
striking. This can be seen in the case of Gustavo Martín Gómez, murdered with 11 shots;
Lenin Portal Sánchez with five; Manuel Hernández Pasión; Isaías M., ex-director of Public
Security of Zacatlán, murdered during an alleged robbery, as well as Delfino Alfonso
Hernández; Jorge Hernández, murdered along with three other people; Jesús Antonio
Hernández Jiménez, who was shot; Rigoberto Barragán Amador, assassinated and
attempted kidnapping; Neftalí Hernández Mejía murdered for robbery.
The above stands out even more if we incorporate, although we do not go into it in
depth, the kidnappings and release of politicians and their family members for ransom,
such as the cases of Joaquín de la Rosa, who was released for 4 million pesos, as
happened with Fidel Arcos and Marciano Hernández; of Esteban Fosado, for whom they
asked 10 million pesos; or those of the brother of Mariano de Gante, or the children of
Juan Ojeda; or those who were not paid and were murdered, such as Manuel Gómez
Fosado and Isarve Cano; and some who never appeared, such as Zito Ángel Zanatta,
and Edilberto GarcíaCamacho (2016).
This situation, homicides, kidnappings, extortions, disappearances, although not
exclusive to the state of Puebla, should call our attention because they reflect the
ineffective management of the Mexican political class, which by privileging their