After the beheading of a mayor in Mexico, a former prosecutor is arrested in connection with the murder

A former prosecutor and local police officer was arrested Tuesday in connection with the gruesome incident Beheading of a mayor on October 6th.

Officials in the southern state of Guerrero confirmed that Germán Reyes was arrested for the murder of Alejandro Arcos just a week after he took office as mayor of the state capital Chilpancingo. The public prosecutor's office in Guerrero released a photo of the suspect, identifying him as German “N”, in accordance with the usual practice of not giving full names.

The arrest was shocking because officials had previously blamed the killing on a local drug and extortion gang and Reyes was previously employed as a special prosecutor for the state of Guerrero, a high-ranking position.

The conclusion was that Reyes — who was also a former military officer who retired as a military justice captain, according to his official resume — had somehow worked with the gang.

That would suggest that at least one of the two rival gangs fighting for control of Chilpancingo is controlling, intimidating or collaborating with officials there.

If Reyes is convicted, it would also be a sharp rebuke to the policy adopted by cities across Mexico of hiring retired military officers for top positions in local police departments, on the assumption that they would be less vulnerable to corruption.

It was also telling that state detectives had to rely on federal forces — soldiers and the National Guard — to make the arrest, suggesting they may not have trusted state and regional police who typically handle such duties.

It was not clear what title Reyes held in the Chilpancingo municipal security forces or whether he served under both Arcos and Arcos Substitute mayor who took office after he was killed. Four mayors from other cities in Mexico asked for protection a day after Arcos' remains were found.

Mexico's top federal security official, Omar García Harfuch, said earlier Tuesday that Arcos – the mayor whose body was found in a pickup truck and whose severed head lay on the roof of the vehicle – appeared to have been killed by the same gang that was responsible Killing of 11 market vendorsincluding four boys, last week.

The vendors, members of an extended family, were kidnapped in late October while they were on their way to sell their goods. Her Bodies were found dumped in the back of a pickup truck on an avenue in Chilpancingo last week.

While neither Harfuch nor prosecutors named the gang, a local human rights activist said the Ardillos were responsible for killing the market vendors.

The activist, who did not want to be quoted for fear of reprisals, said the Ardillos gang controls large swathes of the state and has state congressmen and other officials working for them.

The Ardillos are embroiled in a years-long battle for control of Chilpancingo with a rival gang, the Tlacos. As a result of these clashes, mutilated corpses have been lying around the city in recent years.

Mexican cartels often dump the bodies of their hostages – or release grisly videos of torture, interrogation and beheadings of their victims intimidate their rivals and authorities. News is are often left on victims' bodies by cartels that want to threaten their rivals or punish behavior that they claim violates their rules.

Chilpancingo, a city of about 300,000 people, is so completely dominated by gangs that in 2023 one of them staged a demonstration with hundreds of people, hijacked a government armored car, blocked a main road and took police officers hostage to demand the release of those arrested to reach the suspect.

The violence in Guerrero reached such unprecedented levels that Roman Catholic bishops announced earlier this year that they had helped bring about a ceasefire between two feuding drug cartels in another part of the state.

At the time, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who refused to confront the gangs, said he supported such talks.

“Priests, pastors and members of all churches took part and contributed to the peace of the country. I think that’s very good,” said López Obrador, who left office on September 30.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.