Mexican Officials Try to Reassure Public Amid Pre-Election Security Threats Brianna Lee - IBTimes
go to original May 21, 2015

Mexico: Calls Increase for Boycott of June Elections (teleSUR English) eleSUR English

The weeks leading up to Mexico’s June 7 regional elections have been a violent affair, with a slew of murders of candidates in some regions. The federal government assured the public it was providing security for candidates facing violence, while attempting to play down the security threat.

Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, speaking at a press conference Tuesday, said the government had a strategic plan to guarantee security for candidates in areas where homicides and drug-related violence are rampant, including the states of Jalisco, Guerrero and Tamaulipas. “We hope [the plan] will deliver results and the peace we are asking for,” he said. Twenty candidates so far have asked for government protection and will receive it, he said.

But while Osorio Chong expressed sorrow at the recent string of murders, he asserted they were “isolated cases.”

“Our country is not in flames, our country is not burning,” he said. “We have isolated cases that we profoundly lament, and we are working so that it does not happen.” The federal government would be providing protection for the candidates until June 8, a day after the regional elections, he added.

Read the rest at IBTimes

Photo: Reuters

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