Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, a top member of Mexico’s ruling party, was declared missing over the weekend after authorities found his car with ‘signs of violence.’ It comes as drug cartels are increasingly targeting top leaders.
Mexico City – A former presidential candidate in Mexico and prominent member of President Felipe Calderón’s National Action Party (PAN) was declared missing over the weekend, which could be the latest escalation of violence by drug traffickers here.
The car of Diego Fernandez de Cevallos was found near his ranch in the state of Queretaro, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office confirmed Saturday. Authorities say they found his belongings in the car and “signs of violence.”
It was not immediately clear if he was the victim of kidnapping and whether his disappearance was at the hands of drug traffickers, but it comes amid increasing attacks on political leaders throughout the country.
Last week, gunmen killed the PAN candidate for the mayoral race in Valle Hermoso, a town near Brownsville, Texas.
Politicians Targeted
Politicians have voiced concerns about intimidation in other parts of the country, especially as 10 states gear up for races this July.
The influence of organized crime on politics has been an increasing problem here.
Reginaldo Sandoval, the president of the Labor Party in the troubled state of Michoacán, told the Monitor in November that traffickers regularly corrupt and intimidate politicians, forcing some to drop out of races altogether.
“Cowardly” Attacks
After the Valle Hermoso killing last week, President Calderón issued a statement declaring the attacks “cowardly” and underlined his commitment to fighting organized crime.
Calderón, in a statement Saturday, said that his administration “from the first hours of the morning, has been in constant communication with the attorney general and with the secretaries of Interior and Public Security. He said he had “communicated with one of the two children of Fernandez de Cevallos, who is facing this difficult situation with integrity, to offer his solidarity and the necessary backing to successfully locate Fernandez de Cevallos.”
Calderón, who briefly delayed a trip to Madrid to attend a European Union summit, called Mr. Fernandez de Cevallos “a key politician in the Mexican democratic transition.”
Fernandez de Cevallos ran for president in 1994 for the PAN, but lost to the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled the country for 71 years. It would be PRI’s last term in office. The PAN won the race in 2000.
Calderón has been a popular president, but the fallout from the battle against organized crime that he launched in late 2006 with the help of the military is wearing on the nation.
Nearly 23,000 people have been killed in drug trafficking violence since Calderón took office.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy