VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico — Gunmen killed a state congressional candidate and his wife and two sons in their home Saturday in the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco, in southern Mexico.
Jose Francisco Fuentes Esperon, 43, was found dead along with his wife, 38, and sons ages 9 and 13 in the state capital, Villahermosa, according to state Attorney General Rafael Gonzalez Lastra.
Fuentes Esperon was a former university rector and was widely known in the capital.
The state government immediately offered to provide protection for any candidate who wants it ahead of Oct. 18 elections.
Gonzalez Lastra said in a statement that President Felipe Calderon called Tabasco Gov. Andres Granier “to express his support and stress his decision to help in investigating the case to the end.”
“There are no words to express these events. We are deeply moved and at the same time indignant,” Gonzalez Lastra said.
The statement offered no information on the method or possible motive in the killings but said they occurred “with cruelty and viciousness.”
Local and state politicians have increasingly become victims of violence that has cost over 13,500 lives since Mexico launched an offensive against drug cartels in late 2006.
Also Saturday, the army reported that five gunmen and a bystander were killed at a lake in a shootout that began when assailants opened fire on an army patrol on the outskirts of the northern city of Monterrey. One assailant and a bystander were wounded late Friday.
The army accused local police of protecting the gang and said it seized seven rifles, two grenades and 10 notebooks naming “police personnel who offered information and protection.”
