Small-Town Mayor Stoned To Death In Western Mexico

[Purveyor]

By GUSTAVO RUIZ
Associated Press Writer

MORELIA, Mexico (AP) -- A small-town mayor and an aide were found stoned to death Monday in a drug-plagued western state, the fifth city leader to be slain in Mexico since mid-August.

Michoacan state Attorney General Jesus Montejano said the bodies of Tancitaro Mayor Gustavo Sanchez and city adviser Rafael Equihua were discovered in a pickup truck abandoned on a dirt road near the city of Uruapan.

Montejano's spokesman, Jonathan Arredondo, said initially that the victims were hacked to death with a machete, but the attorney general said they were killed with stones.

Arredondo said police were trying to determine a possible motive.

Tancitaro, a town of 26,000 people, is in a region where soldiers have destroyed more than 20 meth labs in the last year and several police officers have been killed by suspected drug gang members.

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AP: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_DRUG_WAR_MEXICO?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-09-27-18-40-01