Mayor in Mexico ‘decapitated by drug gang’ just days after starting job - Photos circulated online claim to show the mayor’s head left on a truck in the street in Chilpancingo

The gruesome killing represents yet another challenge for the country’s new president, who faces increasing pressure to show progress in the fight against violent cartels.

The mayor of a city in southern Mexico has been murdered less than a week after taking office, authorities said Sunday, the latest in a series of attacks on politicians in the violence-plagued Latin American country.

Alejandro Arcos was sworn in last Monday as mayor of Chilpancingo, a city so violent that a drug gang openly staged a demonstration, hijacked a government armored car and took police hostage in 2023 to win the release of arrested suspects.

The mayor of the capital of Mexico's violence-plagued state of Guerrero was killed on Sunday less than a week after he took office, the state's governor confirmed. Alejandro Arcos was killed just six days after he took office as mayor of the city of Chilpancingo,

Alejandro Arcos' murder came days after the killing of another city official. according to the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Mayor of the city of Chilpancingo, Alejandro Arcos, was found dead less than a week after he started his new job.