Mayor Arrested Over Kidnapping And Murder Of Anti-Corruption Activist After UK MPs Write To Raab
This mayor has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and murder of an activist who took part in anti-corruption demonstrations directed against her after British MPs wrote to Dominic Raab asking him to demand answers from the Mexican government.
The arrest came after the victim’s sisters who are British nationals urged their local MP to put pressure on the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to demand answers from the Mexican government regarding the case.
Lizbeth Victoria Huerta, mayor of the municipality of Asuncion Nochixtlan in the south-western Mexican state of Oaxaca, was arrested with two other unnamed officials for orchestrating the kidnapping and murder of a local activist last Friday (7th May).
Claudia Uruchurtu Cruz, 48, whose sisters live in Sheffield, was attending a protest in Nochixtlan against Huerta when she disappeared on 26th March.
Local media reported at the time that Claudia was last seen in the town’s central square where she was mobbed by a group of people who bundled her into the back of a red pick-up truck and drove off.
At the time, Huerta claimed she was completely innocent and said she was prepared to cooperate with the Attorney General’s Office.
Oaxaca State Attorney General’s Office (FGEO) said three suspects have been detained who they suspect played a role in the activist’s forced disappearance.
Lopez Obrador, the Mexican president who is a member of the centre-left National Regeneration Movement (MRN) alongside Huerta, followed up the FGEO with a statement on Tuesday (11th May).
He said Claudia was murdered and that the killing appears to have been ordered by Huerta, adding that the incident was “extremely painful and tragic.”
The news site Oaxaca reported that the protests began after Huerta ordered her bodyguards to beat Alfonso Avendano Rodriguez half to death after he asked the president to pay back a MXN-500,000 (GBP-18,143) loan.
Following Claudia’s disappearance, her sisters, Elizabeth and Sara Uruchurtu Cruz, who are dual British-Mexican nationals, appealed to their local MP in Sheffield for support.
Several MPs wrote to foreign secretary Dominic Raab on behalf of the victim’s family raising their concerns about the situation.
The United Nations also took interest in the case, signing an open letter addressed to the Mexican government pressuring them to locate Claudia and identify who orchestrated her disappearance.
The Mexican government reacted to international pressure and launched an investigation which led to the arrest of the mayor who is seeking re-election this year.
The investigation is ongoing, and the three suspects are currently being held in detention.
