The assassination of Joel Ángel Bravo Martínez, mayor of San Miguel Amatitlán, has once again placed Oaxaca in the spotlight due to attacks against local authorities. The mayor, a member of the National Action Party (PAN), was killed on June 13 when an armed group shot him at his home. His death occurred weeks after he requested protection from state authorities after surviving a previous attack, according to reports from political figures and local media.
With this case, the number of mayors or elected officials assassinated in Oaxaca since 2022 has reached five. The murders have occurred in different regions of the state and have targeted officials who were either in office or about to take office, which has kept attention focused on the security conditions faced by municipal governments.
The most recent incident prior to Bravo’s murder occurred on June 15, 2025, in San Mateo Piñas, a municipality in the Sierra Sur region. On that day, Mayor Lilia Gema García Soto was assassinated during an armed attack inside the Municipal Palace. According to initial investigations, armed men entered the building and opened fire on the mayor and others present. A municipal official was also killed in the attack. The attack prompted a mobilization of state and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as a special investigation by the State Attorney General’s Office.
Weeks earlier, on May 15, 2025, Mario Hernández García, mayor of Santiago Amoltepec, was murdered. Official reports indicated that the mayor was ambushed along with others while traveling through an area of that municipality in the Sierra Sur region. The attack left several dead and generated a significant security presence in the region. The case once again placed Oaxaca at the center of the national debate on violence against municipal authorities.
Another homicide that shocked the state was that of Román Ruiz Bohórquez, mayor of Candelaria Loxicha. The mayor was murdered in October 2024 after being attacked with a knife. According to reports at the time, Ruiz Bohórquez was found wounded and taken for medical treatment; however, he died as a result of his injuries.
