Mayor Murdered in Mexico Slaughter Zone

Cartels try to block police probe of mass killing
By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 30, 2010 6:39 AM CDT
Mayor Murdered in Mexico Slaughter Zone
Map locates San Fernando in Tamaulipas, Mexico, where authorities have taken 72 bodies discovered on a remote ranch for identification   (AP)

The mayor of a northern Mexican town was shot dead this weekend amidst a wave of escalating drug-related violence in the state of Tamaulipas. Four separate bombs exploded there over the weekend—they, like the mayor's murder, appeared to be part of an effort by drug cartels to block the police investigation into the murder last week of 72 migrants, BBC reports.

Marco Antonio Leal Garcia, the mayor of the town of Hidalgo, was murdered while driving in an attack on his car that also injured his four-year-old daughter. The top prosecutor on the migrant murder case has gone missing, and officials say they are deeply concerned about his safety. Meanwhile, in the northern city of Monterrey, the Mexican army captured a key figure in the Zetas cartel.
(More Mexico drug war stories.)

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