Mayor found dead three days after being kidnapped
Edelmiro Cavazos of Santiago was seized at his home near Monterrey on Sunday. He might have been targeted because of his efforts to purge corrupt local police, the state governor says.


Edelmiro Cavazos, mayor of Santiago, had told a colleague in a neighboring town that he received a threatening visit from traffickers shortly after taking office. (Kristian Lopez, Reuters / August 17, 2010)

August 19, 2010

Reporting from Mexico City — Spiraling drug-war violence in Mexico's wealthiest region has claimed the life of a prominent mayor — kidnapped Sunday and found dead Wednesday — and prompted demands from panicked residents for army protection.

Edelmiro Cavazos was mayor of Santiago, a picturesque tourist town near Monterrey, Mexico's third-largest city and an industrial hub. He was grabbed from his gated home late Sunday by at least 15 gunmen wearing uniforms of a defunct police agency who arrived in a convoy of sport-utility vehicles, with patrol lights flashing.

Cavazos and a bodyguard apparently left the home to see what the members of the convoy wanted. Both were overpowered and bundled into the vehicles. The guard was released a short time later.

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