Mexican city’s security chief held over mayor’s beheading

Los Ardillos specialise in drug trafficking in the state of Guerrero but have reportedly been expanding into extortion and other lucrative criminal enterprises.

Its members have also been trying to gain control of the city’s security forces.

According to Mexico’s security minister Omar García Harfuch, Mayor Arcos had travelled to an area controlled by Los Ardillos unaccompanied and without a security detail “for a meeting” when he was killed.

Prosecutors have so far provided little detail as to why they suspect Germán Reyes of involvement in the murder.

Reyes told a judge he “had no motive” to harm the mayor, saying that it was Mayor Arcos who had named him as the city’s security chief.

Meanwhile, the federal government has deployed more than 12,000 soldiers and members of the National Guard to the state.

Confronting the wave of violence in Guerrero and other hotspots of cartel and gang violence is one of the main challenges facing President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on 1 October.

During her campaign for the presidency, Sheinbaum had dismissed the “militaristic” approach of former Mexican president Felipe Calderón – who declared war on the cartels in 2006 – as ineffective.

She vowed instead to continue the approach of her immediate predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who avoided direct confrontation with the cartels, arguing it only led to more bloodshed.

Since being sworn in as president, she has said her government would work on solving crimes and combatting widespread impunity by creating a national intelligence system.