MEXICO CITY — State police have detained and disarmed the entire police force of a town in western Mexico where a mayoral candidate was killed on Thursday.

Video of the detention aired by local media showed uniformed officers hitting each other as gunshots go off in the background.

The Michoacán state police force said “all the officers of the Ocampo municipal police force were detained for [an] internal affairs investigation.”

In statements on its Twitter account Sunday, the state police department did not directly tie the detentions to the Thursday killing of Fernando Angeles Juarez, the mayoral candidate for the leftist Democratic Revolution Party. He was killed in Ocampo, Michoacán on Thursday.

Mexican soldiers guard the funeral of Ocampo municipality Mayor and candidate for the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Fernando Angeles, in Ocampo, Michoacan State, Mexico, on June 21, 2018.Raul Tinoco / AFP – Getty Images

Angeles Juárez’s is just one of at least 18 candidates killed so far in campaigns leading up to the July 1 elections. Just last week, another mayoral candidate was also gunned down last week in the conflict-ridden rural town of Aguililla in the western state of Michoacan.

Michoacán Gov. Silvano Aureoles vowed to catch those responsible for killing candidate Omar Gómez Lucatero.

Almost all of the 18 candidates killed across the country so far have been running for local posts in the July 1 elections, which will also decide the presidency, governorships and Congress. Other politicians who were considering a run have been killed before they could even register as candidates. The killings have particularly hit states like Michoacán, Guerrero and Oaxaca.

Ocampo, all 28 police officers, were detained after participating in a revolt when they prevented the arrest of the director of Public Security who will be investigated for his probable responsibility in the killing of the candidate Fernando Angeles Juarez.Ivan Villanueva / EPA

Mexican security analyst Alejandro Hope said that in part, the level of violence against candidates can be explained by “simple mathematics:” There are far more elections being held simultaneously than ever before in Mexico. With more than 3,400 local, state and federal posts at stake, there are more than 15,000 candidates hitting the campaign trail.

“Secondly, this speaks to the changes in criminal groups,” Hope said, noting that drug cartels have expanded into extortion, fuel theft and other crimes. “With the evolution of crime, it becomes much more important to gain control over territory, over local governments.”

In crimes like fuel theft, for example, local police can be valuable allies to act as look outs or cover up for illegal pipeline taps and illicit fuel warehouses. And some gangs have even taken to extorting money from local governments by forcing them to sign inflated public works contracts.

Those concerns could lead the gangs to kill a candidate who rivals their favorite, or to kill candidates who refuse their demands.

Finally, Hope noted, “there has been a breakdown in the management of disputes,” largely in rural areas, where turf wars between rival gangs have heated up, even as the government has become over-extended and less able to intervene. </s> En estos momentos Mauricio Vila Dosal asume la gubernatura del Estado en una solemne ceremonia en el teatro José Peón Contreras, ante la presencia de varios gobernadores y de representantes de los presidentes en funciones, Enrique Peña Nieto, y electo, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

De esta manera el teatro provisionalmente se convierte en la sede del Poder Legislativo. </s> MEXICO CITY -- Mexican independent presidential candidate Maria de Jesus Patricio was injured in a road crash that also killed a person riding in her caravan and injured two others Wednesday.

The National Indigenous Council said in a brief statement that a vehicle carrying Patricio and 10 other people went off a highway in the state of Baja California Sur.

The group said a woman it did not identify was killed and council member Francisco Grado was in serious condition. Patricio and council member Lucero Islava also had injuries, the statement said, but gave no details.

The newspaper La Jornada published a photo of emergency workers assisting Patricio as she walked next to an ambulance and a picture of a white van resting on its roof in a desert countryside. The paper said Patricio's left arm was broken.

Patricio, a Nahua indigenous healer from Jalisco state known popularly as "Marichuy," has been running as an independent candidate seeking to get a place on the July 1 presidential ballot.

However, days before a deadline to gather some 866,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot, she is well short of the requirement. </s> Indigenous presidential independent pre-candidate Maria de Jesus Patricio, 'Marichuy' smiles in a meeting with university students in Mexico City, Mexico February 12, 2018. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The first indigenous woman to run for the Mexican presidency was injured and at least one other person killed when a van in which she was traveling was involved in an accident in western Baja California state on Wednesday, campaign social media said.

Maria de Jesus Patricio, running as an independent candidate for president in the July election, suffered a fractured forearm in the accident, according to Carlos Godinez, a state emergency services official.

The person killed, one of 11 in the van, was not identified.

Patricio, known by the nickname Marichuy, previously served as the spokeswoman for the National Indigenous Congress, or CNI, the political arm of the Zapatista National Liberation Army.

“Our spokeswoman Marichuy and councilor Lucero Islava were injured,” the CNI said on its Facebook page without providing further details about the accident.

Independent presidential aspirants have until this weekend to gather some 866,000 voter signatures in at least 17 Mexican states to appear on the July ballot.

A traditional healer and native Nahua speaker, Patricio has not yet met the signature requirement. </s> GILGIT - Newly-appointed governor of Gilgit-Baltistan Raja Jalal Maqpoon took oath of his office in Gilgit on Sunday.

Acting chief judge of Supreme Appellate Court GB Justice Javaid Iqbal administered the oath to Raja Jalal as the sixth GB governor. GB Chief Secretary Baber Hayat Tarad read out the Presidential Order of his appointment.

Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman, GB chief minister, GB Assembly speaker, ministers, lawmakers and other officials attended the ceremony.

In a small conversation with The Nation, Raja Jalal thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan for reposing trust in him and held an assurance that he would work for new GB.

The new governor was PTI President Gilgit Baltistan before his appointment as governor. He contested election in 2014 for the GB legislative assembly from Skardu but could not win.

GB Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman congratulated Jalal Hussain Maqpoon on becoming the governor of the province and expressed his best wishes. </s> MEXICO CITY, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A van carrying the first indigenous woman to run for the Mexican presidency was involved in a highway accident on Wednesday in western Baja California state that killed at least one person and injured the candidate, according to social media associated with her campaign.

Maria de Jesus Patricio, running as an independent candidate for president in the July election, was injured in the accident, her party said on Facebook. The individual killed, one of 11 people in the van, was not identified.

Patricio, known by the nickname Marichuy, previously served as the spokeswoman for the National Indigenous Congress, or CNI, the political arm of the Zapatista National Liberation Army.

"Our spokeswoman Marichuy and councilor Lucero Islava were injured," the CNI said on its Facebook page without providing further details about the accident.

Independent presidential aspirants have until this weekend to gather some 866,000 voter signatures in at least 17 Mexican states to appear on the July ballot.

A traditional healer and native Nahua speaker, Patricio has not yet met the signature requirement. </s> MEXICO CITY — Mexican independent presidential candidate Maria de Jesus Patricio has been hurt in a crash that also killed a person riding in her caravan and injured two others.

The National Indigenous Council says in a brief statement that an SUV carrying Patricio and 10 other people went off a highway Wednesday in the state of Baja California Sur.

It says a woman is dead and council member Francisco Grado is in serious condition. It adds that Patricio and council member Lucero Islava sustained unspecified injuries.

Patricio has been running as an independent candidate seeking to get a place on the July 1 presidential ballot. However, days before a deadline to gather some 866,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot, she is well short of the requirement. </s> OCAMPO, Mexico — The entire police force of a Mexican town in the state of Michoacán is being questioned in the assassination of a mayoral candidate, the office of the state’s attorney general told CNN on Monday.

Fernando Angeles Juarez of the Party of the Democratic Revolution was killed Thursday morning by unknown gunmen.

On Saturday, Michoacán State Police went to Ocampo to question 28 municipal officers in a routine check unrelated to Juárez’s death, the law enforcement agency said on Sunday. When they arrived, some of those officers fired shots in the air and resisted their authority, Michoacán State Police said. The agency said all 28 officers were detained on Sunday.

On Monday, the Michoacán State Attorney General’s Office confirmed that the officers are now under investigation in Juárez’s death.

Mexico is due to go to the polls on July 1 to pick its next president as well as hundreds of federal, state and municipal positions.

Juarez was one of two aspiring politicians killed in the western state of Michoacán in less than 24 hours. Omar Gomez Lucatero, an independent candidate for mayor of Agulilla, was shot dead on Wednesday afternoon.

The Mexico Attorney General’s Office said it is leading the investigations into the two candidates’ deaths. </s> Indigenous presidential candidate María de Jesús Patricio was among eight people injured in a motor vehicle accident yesterday that left one person dead.

Patricio, commonly known as Marichuy, was traveling with 10 campaign workers in a van on the transpeninsular highway in Mulegé, Baja California Sur, when it left the road and overturned.

The candidate suffered a fractured arm and a head injury and was flown to a hospital in La Paz for treatment.

Eloísa Vega, a state representative on the council that is coordinating Patricio’s campaign, was killed in the crash, which occurred between San Ignacio and Vizcaíno.

Patricio had met earlier in the day with professors and students at the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur and was en route to Baja California.

With just four days to go until the deadline for independent candidates to collect the requisite number of signatures from supporters, Patricio is not likely to get her name on the ballot. As of Tuesday she had collected just 241,000 of the 866,000 she needs.

But yesterday she told her audience at the university that the indigenous community would win regardless because her campaign had met its objective to raise awareness of the problems facing Mexico’s indigenous people.

An outpouring of support via Twitter yesterday evening followed Patricio’s accident. President Enrique Peña Nieto was joined by several presidential candidates in wishing her well.

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