Mayor, bodyguard murdered in Mexican state of Puebla

MEXICO CITY – Authorities in the central Mexican state of Puebla say they are investigating the murders of a local mayor and his bodyguard.

The state prosecutor’s office said that around 4:40 p.m. Tuesday, the bodies of Huitzilan Mayor Manuel Hernandez Pasion and the bodyguard were found with their vehicle on the roadside in the municipality of Xochitlan.

The Antorchista political movement that Hernandez was a part of released a statement late Tuesday calling it a political crime. Juan Manuel Celis Aguirre, Antorchista leader in Puebla, said the group had reported a number of threats against its members.

Celis Aguirre said the threats were never investigated. The rural Antorchista movement’s objective is an end to poverty.

Last week, the mayor of Paracho in Michoacan, Stalin Sanchez Gonzalez, was murdered.