Yolanda Sánchez, mayor of Cotija, was murdered in Mexico. Just 24 hours after the election of the first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, the mayor of a western Mexican city was assassinated.
Local authorities confirmed the news, and the government of the Mexican state of Michoacan strongly condemned the killing of Yolanda Sánchez Figueroa, the municipal president of Cotija.
Reports indicate that Sanchez was killed in an armed attack. The public security secretariat of Michoacán state announced a security operation in coordination with federal agencies to apprehend those responsible for the crime.
Yolanda Sánchez, a lawyer and legal consultant in civil law with experience in the agricultural sector, made history by becoming the first woman to hold the municipal presidency of Cotija. She won the June 2021 elections with 3,486 votes and assumed office on September 1, 2021. She expressed her happiness at being the first female mayor of the municipality, which she called “land of saints, cradle of globetrotters, of people of work, struggle, and good will”.
The mayor had previously been targeted by organized crime. In September 23, 2023, she was kidnapped by alleged members of the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel while in Zapopan, Jalisco, the neighboring state of Michoacán. Sánchez was released three days later, and the incident led to the arrest of three men.