TAPACHULA, MEXICO — Masked men stopped the car carrying Mexico's leading presidential candidate Sunday as he was traveling between campaign stops and warned him if he won the June 2 election. He called for action to be taken against violence in the southern state of Chiapas.
Former Mexican mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, a candidate for the ruling Morena party, sat in the passenger seat of her car, window rolled down, listening quietly. Her masked men filmed the interaction on their cellphones, and one of them shook her hand before letting her proceed.
The men, who identified themselves as local residents, said they felt “helpless” because the government was not doing enough to ensure their safety. They called on her to take action as president to prevent their town, Motozintla, on the southern border of Guatemala and Mexico, from becoming a “disaster” like other communities in the region.
Difusion Fuente Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo / Distributed via Reuters
During his campaign in Chiapas, Sheinbaum was escorted by the military and National Guard.
The border region of Chiapas has been plagued by violence as rival new-generation cartels from Sinaloa and Jalisco battle for territory. Thousands of people have been forced to flee as cartels control migrant, drug and arms smuggling routes and forcibly recruit local populations.
Late Sunday, Sheinbaum acknowledged the incident happened but downplayed it and said he did not believe the men were part of an organized crime group. She described the encounter as “very strange.” Outgoing President Andres Manuel López ObradorIt was first announced by the government. According to opinion polls, Mr. Sheinbaum maintains a comfortable lead in the presidential race.
A federal lawmaker from López Obrador's party, who was traveling with Sheinbaum, previously described the encounter on social platform X. Federal lawmaker Carmen Patricia Armendariz wrote that she was stopped by masked men from one of the cartels vying for control of the area, but she later deleted it.
