TAPACHULA, Mexico. Masked men on Sunday stopped a vehicle carrying Mexico’s leading presidential candidate as she traveled between campaign stops to ask her to address violence in the southern state of Chiapas if she wins the June 2 election.
Former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, a candidate for the ruling Morena party, remained in the front passenger seat of the vehicle listening calmly with the window down. Masked men filmed her interaction with her cell phones and one of them shook her hand before letting her move on.
The men, who identified themselves as local residents, said they felt “helpless” because the government had not done enough to provide security. They asked her to take action as president so that her municipality, Motozintla, on Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, does not become a “disaster” like other communities in the region.
During her campaign tour through Chiapas, Sheinbaum was escorted by the army and the national guard.
The Chiapas border area has been plagued by violence as rival Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels fight over territory. Thousands of people have been displaced as cartels work to control migrant, drug and weapons smuggling routes and forcibly recruit locals.
Later on Sunday, Sheinbaum confirmed that the incident had occurred, but downplayed it and said he did not believe the men were part of an organized crime group. He described the meeting as “very strange” because he said a media outlet critical of the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador published it for the first time. Sheinbaum has maintained a comfortable lead in the presidential race, according to polls.
A federal lawmaker from López Obrador’s party who was traveling with Sheinbaum had previously described the encounter on the social platform and then deleted it.