The entire police force of the Mexican town of Ocampo has been detained on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a mayoral candidate.<\/p>\n
Fernando \u00c1ngeles Ju\u00e1rez, 64, was shot dead by unknown gunmen on Thursday outside one of his properties.<\/p>\n
More than 100 politicians have been killed across Mexico ahead of general elections on 1 July.<\/p>\n
Mr \u00c1ngeles was the third politician to be killed in the western state of Michoac\u00e1n in just over a week.<\/p>\n
The town’s 27 police officers and the local public security secretary were detained by federal forces in the early hours of Sunday.<\/p>\n
Mr \u00c1ngeles was a successful businessman with little previous political experience.<\/p>\n
He had considered standing as an independent but eventually joined one of Mexico’s main parties, the centre-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).<\/p>\n
“He couldn’t stand seeing so much poverty, inequality and corruption and so he decided to run,” one of his closest friends, Miguel Malag\u00f3n, told El Universal newspaper.<\/p>\n
After his murder, prosecutors accused Ocampo’s public security secretary, Oscar Gonz\u00e1lez Garc\u00eda, of involvement.<\/p>\n
When Mexican federal agents arrived in the town on Saturday to detain him, they were stopped by local police officers.<\/p>\n
They returned with reinforcements on Sunday morning and arrested the entire force and their boss.<\/p>\n
They were handcuffed and taken for questioning in the state capital, Morelia.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors accuse the officers and Mr Gonz\u00e1lez of links with organised crime groups in the state.<\/p>\n
Mexicans will go to the polls next Sunday to choose a new president, senators and members of the Chamber of Deputies.<\/p>\n
More than 3,000 posts at regional and local levels will also be at stake.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc,co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"