Valentín Lavín Romero, the mayor of Temoac in the Mexican state of Morelos, was shot dead on Wednesday in his town hall. He had survived a previous assassination attempt in January 2025 when gunmen attacked him at a petrol station.
The hitmen entered the building in the middle of the day, shot Lavín Romero dead, and escaped on a motorbike. The Morelos prosecutor's office said it would exhaust all lines of investigation, but no motive or suspects have been identified.
Lavín Romero, a member of the Green party allied with the ruling Morena party, is the 14th mayor murdered since Claudia Sheinbaum became president in October 2024. Almost 100 mayors have been killed in Mexico since 2006, when the military was deployed to fight organised crime.
Local media reported that Lavín Romero allegedly had ties to crime groups. His mother-in-law, a former municipal treasurer, was arrested in September 2025 for alleged ties to Los Aparicio group and involvement in kidnappings. In March, activist groups demanded an investigation into his alleged role in the murders of two activists, Samir Flores and Sandra Rosa Camacho Flores.
The killing comes amid Operation Swarm, a federal crackdown on corruption networks between municipal authorities and criminal groups, under which 85 officials have been arrested in three states, including Morelos.
