On Monday, October 28, Aurelio Santos Contreras, former mayor of Cotija and former candidate for the municipal presidency, was shot dead in the Los Corrales neighborhood, on Campestre Street, according to local police authorities. The attack was reported to emergency lines, and both the police and paramedics confirmed the death of the former official. Santos Contreras, who had held the municipal presidency for two previous terms and recently competed for the position with the PRD in the 2024 elections, was a teacher by profession.
The former mayor was part of the Morena party during his term from 2018 to 2021. Despite having sought the municipal presidency again in the last elections with the PRD, he did not achieve victory. This tragic event coincides with the murder of Yolanda Sánchez Figueroa, former mayor supported by the PAN, who was kidnapped in Zapopan by an armed group and released with the warning to withdraw federal forces from the area.
Cotija, a municipality located on the border between Michoacán and Jalisco, has been the scene of an escalation of violence attributed mainly to organized crime. Previous incidents, such as the one that occurred on September 11 with armed men intimidating the population, have led to the cancellation of the patriotic festivities in 2024, making Cotija the only municipality in Michoacán that did not commemorate independence this year.
Amid this tense climate, the acting mayor, Juan Pablo Aguilar Barragán, has requested a temporary 30-day leave for security reasons. The murder of Santos Contreras highlights the prevailing insecurity situation in the region, exposing the vulnerability of former public officials and the seriousness of the violence afflicting Cotija.
