Mexico: Calls Increase for Boycott of June Elections

The Prosecuting Attorney in the state of Michoacan says that 23 police officers will be investigated in the shooting death of Enrique Hernandez, who was running for Mayor as a candidate for the semi-leftist MORENA party in the town of Yurecuaro last May 14. The politician was shot and killed by an armed group immediately after a campaign rally. During the run-up to national and state mid-term elections in June, potential voters have expressed distrust and fear of a process that in many cases, they say, is controlled by organized crime groups. In addition to Hernandez, candidates have also been killed in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Tabasco. Mexico’s Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, however, argues that the country is not going up in flames and that the cases of electoral violence are isolated. Due to the violence, impunity and corruption shrouding the elections, an increasing number of organizations are urging a boycott of the vote. Clayton Conn reports from Mexico for teleSUR.