Silver or Lead: How Cartels Capture Mexican Elections

Mexico's 2024 elections were historic in a lot more ways than one. On the surface, they saw the election of the country's first female president that plowed a shine-boundment ultimately. They resulted in a super-majority for her Marina party.

This firmly established the party as the dominant political force in the country following six years in charge under the previous Lopez-Obrador administration. But shine-bound's glass ceiling smash was not the only major story. There was also the unprecedented waiver's assassination attempts at targeted attacks on political candidates across the country.

In the last 20 years, violence targeting Mexican elections has steadily increased due to a variety of geopolitical forces incentivizing its use to achieve political ends. Target attacks, they're almost never tied to ideological passions, but more often to the competition between criminal cartels.