Valentin Lavin Romero Valentin Lavin Romero via Facebook

Mexican authorities on Monday arrested the widow of a mayor in central Mexico who was shot and killed last week, on charges she was involved in an extortion case, according to prosecutors and local media.

Valentin Lavin, the mayor of the town of Temoac and allied with President Claudia Sheinbaum's leftist party, was shot and killed during a town hall on July 22.

The crime occurred in the state of Morelos, a region close to Mexico City where several drug cartels are active.

The state prosecutor's office said Monday they arrested Marisol "N," which the Mexican press identified as the mayor's widow, as well as Geovany Emmanuel "N," chief of the municipal police. The office released images of both suspects with their eyes blurred out, as is customary in Mexico.

Prosecutors said both were detained as part of an anti-extortion operation, though it did not provide further details of the arrests or if it had any connection to Lavin's death.

Almost 100 mayors have been murdered in Mexico since 2006, when drug-related violence surged, official figures show. Since the current government took office in October 2024, at least 14 mayors have been murdered in the country, Uno TV reported last week.

Earlier this month, attackers shot dead the husband of a Mexican councilwoman, with the gunfire also injuring the politician and her daughter as the family was reportedly on their way to a school graduation.

The country was particularly shocked by the fatal shooting of mayor Carlos Manzo in the state of Michoacan last November, during Day of the Dead celebrations.

Sheinbaum said July 14 that homicides in Mexico had fallen by nearly half since September 2024, touting the reduction as a result of her security policies since taking office.

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