BFF-03 Congresswoman-elect kidnapped in Mexico: official

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BFF-03

MEXICO-VOTE-VIOLENCE

Congresswoman-elect kidnapped in Mexico: official

PACHUCA, Mexico, Aug 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – An incoming member of Mexico’s
Congress was kidnapped at gunpoint Tuesday, an official said, the latest
violent episode surrounding the July 1 elections, the bloodiest in the
country’s history.

Azucena Rodriguez Zamora, who was elected to the lower house of Congress
for the eastern state of Veracruz, was driving on a highway in the
neighboring state of Hidalgo when gunmen in another car opened fire on her
vehicle, said a police source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The car flipped over, injuring two people who were traveling with
Rodriguez.

The gunmen then pulled her from the car and abducted her, said the source.

It is the second such kidnapping in Hidalgo in recent days.

On August 6, the mayor of the town of Naupan, in Puebla state, was found
dead after being abducted at gunpoint on a Hidalgo highway.

At least 152 politicians were murdered in the run-up to Mexico’s
elections, according to the consulting firm Etellekt.

The murders — mostly of local-level politicians, the most frequent
targets for Mexico’s powerful drug cartels — were recorded between
September, when candidate registration opened, and election day.

It is by far the most violent election on record in Mexico.

The country also registered a record number of murders across the board
last year: 28,711.

And the record is on track to be broken again in 2018.

Mexico has been hit by a wave of violence since the government deployed
the army to fight drug trafficking in 2006.

Since then, more than 200,000 people have been murdered. Another 30,000
are missing.

BSS/AFP/FI/ 0800 hrs