HomeNewsBriefMexico Politician Hacked to Death During Interview
BRIEF

Mexico Politician Hacked to Death During Interview

MEXICO / 13 SEP 2013 BY CHARLES PARKINSON EN

A politician in Mexico has been hacked to death in a machete attack during a secret media interview, leaving questions over who killed him, how they knew where he was, and whether it was linked to his alleged criminal associations.

Michoacan state legislator Osbaldo Esquivel Lucatero had gone to a secluded location in state capital Morelia on September 11, where he was giving an interview to a local journalist in the back of his car. Four men apparently arrived, forced the men out of the car, robbed them and then hacked them with a machete. The journalist and Esquivel's brother survived the attack, but the politician died after arriving at hospital, reported Proceso.

Esquivel served as mayor of the Michoacan municipality of Buenavista Tomatlan until 2011 and was alleged to have links to the Familia Michoacan cartel, reported Red Politica. He was one of dozens of politicians detained for alleged links to organized crime in 2009. The politicians were released without charge several months later.

According to Proceso, Esquivel had previously received death threats, the last coming in May.

InSight Crime Analysis

Esquivel represented the embattled district of Coalcoman, a region heavily contested by criminal groups, where politicians are often forced to pick one side or the other.

One of those groups is the Knights Templar, which emerged from an acrimonious split within the Familia Michoacan. While it remains unclear who killed Esquivel, if his earlier links to the Familia Michoacan are genuine, he may have been killed by the Knights for continuing to side with them, or by the Familia or other rivals for switching allegiance to the Knights.

SEE ALSO: More Knights Templar Coverage

Michoacan is also a hotbed for vigilante "self-defense" forces, which claim to defend communities against organized crime, although the Knights Templar have accused them of being a front for another criminal group, the Jalisco Cartel – New Generation (CJNG).

Earlier this year, vigilantes chased out the mayor of Buenavista Tomatlan -- the role Esquivel held when he was detained in 2009 -- and killed his brother. It is possible the attack on Esquivel was also linked to the self-defense movement. 

While it remains unclear who killed the politician, the fact it appears to be a targeted attack during a clandestine meeting with only his brother and a journalist present raises the possibility of a newsroom leak, with criminal groups known to keep journalists on their payroll

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

FENTANYL / 22 FEB 2023

The misuse of the term "cartel" by US lawmakers at a recent hearing on fentanyl prompts us to ask: should…

COLOMBIA / 29 OCT 2021

The fascination with “narco-culture” has taken over the entertainment and media industries: documentaries, TV shows, movies, podcasts, even a dedicated…

ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME / 10 NOV 2021

Criminal groups across western Mexico have increased their control of illegal logging, silencing landowners, government officials and even entire communities…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…