Honduran police probe killing of opposition mayor ahead of elections, arrest suspect

Honduran police said on Sunday they had arrested a suspect in the killing of an opposition-party mayor who was seeking re-election, in the Central American country's latest bout of political violence ahead of national elections this month. Francisco Gaitan, mayor of the municipality of Cantarranas outside the capital, Tegucigalpa, and member of the Liberal Party, was shot to death on Saturday night after a political rally.

Honduran police said on Sunday they had arrested a suspect in the killing of an opposition-party mayor who was seeking re-election, in the Central American country's latest bout of political violence ahead of national elections this month.

Francisco Gaitan, mayor of the municipality of Cantarranas outside the capital, Tegucigalpa, and member of the Liberal Party, was shot to death on Saturday night after a political rally. The alleged shooter has been arrested, police said. "The police are investigating the participation of other people who may have acted as facilitators of this crime ... to determine if there are political motivations," Commissioner Ronmel Martínez, head of the police investigations unit, told a news conference on Sunday.

Police are also investigating the killing on Saturday of Elvir Casanas, a candidate for the local council in the rural municipality of San Luis in the northwestern department of Santa Barbara, according to the opposition party LIBRE. The killings came less than two weeks before the general elections on Nov. 28. LIBRE's presidential candidate, Xiomara Castro, is 17 points ahead of Tegucigalpa Mayor Nasry Asfura, the candidate for the ruling National Party, according to recent surveys.

Nearly 30 people have been killed in political violence since December 2020, when the primary elections process began, according to the Violence Observatory at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UHAH). The victims include candidates and political activists, as well as their family members, according to Migdonia Ayestas, head of the Violence Observatory.

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