MEXICO CITY — Mexico held its final campaign rally Wednesday before Sunday's national election, but the closing rallies were overshadowed by attacks on candidates and a persistently high murder rate.
Opposition candidate .
Gálvez is running against former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum as the candidate for López Obrador's Morena party. Her frontrunner, Shane Baum, has promised to continue all of López Obrador's policies.
“Will we continue to embrace, or will we apply the law to criminals?” Gálvez asked the cheering crowd. “Mexico wants peace, it wants tranquility.”
López Obrador has defunded the police and placed it in the hands of a paramilitary National Guard. Critics say police lack the professional and investigative skills needed to combat drug gangs. Gálvez promised to return his funds to the police and guarantee them wages of at least $1,200 per month.
Gálvez also pledged to reconcile a country deeply polarized by the outgoing president's rhetoric, saying, “Enough division, enough hatred… We are all Mexicans.”
Sheinbaum held his final rally Wednesday afternoon in Mexico City's vast colonial-era main square. She gave a powerful nationalist speech in front of a large crowd.
Sheinbaum said, “Mexico is a country respected in the world,” and “the López Obrador government has given us back the pride of being Mexican.”
“Mexico has changed, and for the better,” she said.
On the issue of violence, Sheinbaum pledged to continue López Obrador's policy of providing apprenticeships to young people to encourage them not to join drug cartels.
“We will deepen our peace and security strategy and deepen the progress we have made to date,” she said. “This is not an iron fist policy,” Sheinbaum said. “This is justice.”
Gang violence casts a shadow over campaigns
López Obrador has raised the country's minimum wage and increased government benefit programs, but has not been able to significantly reduce the historically high murder rate, which now accounts for more than 30,000 murders a year nationwide. Gang-led violence also cast a shadow over the campaign.
Late Wednesday, a mayoral candidate in the violent southern state of Guerrero was shot dead in the town of Coyucca de Benítez. Gov. Evelyn Salgado identified the dead candidate as Alfredo Cabrera but did not provide details about his killing. Local media reported that he was shot in the head during his final campaign event.
A mayoral candidate in the western state of Jalisco was shot multiple times by intruders in his campaign office late Tuesday. Two members of Gilberto Palomar's campaign staff were also injured, and all three were hospitalized in serious condition, according to Jalisco national security coordinator Sánchez Beruben.
Mexicans will chart the country's course on Sunday in an election that takes into account gender, democracy and populism and is overshadowed by cartel violence. With two women leading the race, Mexico is likely to elect its first female president. More than 20,000 parliamentary and local council seats will be up for grabs, according to the National Electoral Institute.
Gunmen killed a mayoral candidate in Morelos state, south of Mexico City, state prosecutors said.
Local media reported that attackers shot Ricardo Arizmendi five times in the head in a motorcycle attack in the city of Cuautla, Morelos. If the winner of a race is incapacitated or resigns, a replacement candidate will take office.
So far this year, about 27 candidates, mostly running for mayor or city council, have died. This is not much higher than in some past elections, but it is an unprecedented number of mass shootings. In the past, targeted attacks have killed candidates, but now criminals are opening fire on entire election campaigns.