Benito Aguas Atlahua

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Aguas and the second or maternal family name is Atlahua.

Benito Aguas Atlahua
Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico
In office
29 August 2024 – 9 December 2024
Parliamentary groupPVEM
Constituency18th district of Veracruz
Municipal President of Zongolica, Veracruz
In office
1 January 2022 – 28 February 2024
Personal details
Born(1979-03-09)9 March 1979
Zongolica, Veracruz, Mexico
Died9 December 2024(2024-12-09) (aged 45)
Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico
Alma materUniversidad Veracruzana
OccupationEngineer, politician

Benito Aguas Atlahua (9 March 1979 – 9 December 2024) was a Mexican politician from the Ecologist Green Party (PVEM). He was elected the municipal president of Zongolica, Veracruz, in 2021 and, in the 2024 general election, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for Veracruz's 18th electoral district. He was murdered in Zongolica on 9 December 2024.[1]

Life and career

Aguas Atlahua was born in Zongolica, Veracruz, on 9 March 1979. He graduated as a quality-control engineer from the Universidad Veracruzana (UV) in 2002.[2]

In the 2017 Veracruz state elections [es] he was the PVEM's candidate for municipal president of Zongolica. He came in second place with 6,533 votes, behind the 8,319 received by Juan Carlos Mezhua Campos of the PAN-PRD coalition.[3]

He ran again for municipal president of Zongolica in the 2021 state elections, [es] this time for the Juntos Hacemos Historia coalition (Morena–PVEM–PT).[4] He won the election and took office on 1 January 2022 for a four-year term ending on 31 December 2025. On 28 February 2024, however, the Congress of Veracruz granted him a leave of absence from his position to stand for the Congress of the Union as the Sigamos Haciendo Historia coalition's candidate in Veracruz's 18th district.[5][a]

Aguas Atlahua was subsequently elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the 2024 federal election, receiving 59% of the vote against the 28.5% received by Erika Neri Medina of the Fuerza y Corazón por México coalition (PAN–PRI–PRD).[9] Following the convening of the 66th Congress on 1 September, he served on the lower house's committees for infrastructure, migratory affairs, and Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples.[10]

Death

On 9 December 2024, while eating lunch with his siblings in the town of Tepenacaxtla, municipality of Zongolica, Aguas Atlahua was shot at by an individual on a motorcycle.[11] Seriously injured, he was taken to a hospital in the municipal seat and then to another in the city of Orizaba, where he died the same day as a result of his wounds. A second person, a friend of the politician, was also killed in the attack.[12] Aguas Atlahua, aged 45, was survived by his widow and three children.[13]

Members of the Chamber of Deputies expressed their outrage at the killing and observed a minute's silence in memory of their colleague.[14] President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the attack and offered the governor of Veracruz, Rocío Nahle, the support of the federal Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection in investigating the crime.[15]

Aguas Atlahua's seat in Congress was taken up by his alternate, Jonathan Puertos Chimalhua, on 11 December 2024.[16]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Veracruz's 18th is classified by the National Electoral Institute (INE) as an indigenous district,[6] and Aguas Atlahua was a speaker of the Nahuatl language[7] and self-identified as Indigenous.[8]

References

  1. ^ Graham, Thomas (10 December 2024). "Mexico federal congressman shot dead in Veracruz". The Guardian.
  2. ^ "Perfil: Dip. Benito Aguas Atlahua, LXVI Legislatura". Sistema de Información Legislativa (SIL). SEGOB. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  3. ^ "Estadística de los Procesos Electorales Local Ordinario 2016–2017 y Extraordinario 2018" (PDF). Organismo Público Local Electoral – Veracruz. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  4. ^ "Memoria 2020–2021". Organismo Público Local Electoral – Veracruz. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  5. ^ Altamirano, Julio (28 February 2024). "Aprueba Congreso de Veracruz licencia a siete-alcaldes-y-cinco-diputadas". AGN Veracruz. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  6. ^ Molina, Itzel (9 November 2023). "Arranca proceso electoral 2023–2024 en Veracruz". Diario de Xalapa. Archived from the original on 7 August 2024. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  7. ^ Téllez, Roberto (10 December 2024). "Fuerte operativo de seguridad en funeraria de Córdoba para velar a Benito Aguas Atlahua". El Sol de Córdoba. Organización Editorial Mexicana. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  8. ^ Raziel, Zedryk (10 December 2024). "Asesinado en Veracruz el diputado federal del Partido Verde Benito Aguas Atlahua". El País. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  9. ^ "Diputaciones Veracruz – Distrito 18, Zongolica". Cómputos distritales 2024. INE. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  10. ^ "Dip. Benito Aguas Atlahua". Dirección General de Apoyo Parlamentario. Cámara de Diputados. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  11. ^ Ferri, Pablo (13 December 2024). "Una comida que terminó a balazos: así mataron al diputado federal Benito Aguas en Veracruz". El País. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
  12. ^ Morales, Flavia (9 December 2024). "Benito Aguas Atlahua, diputado federal del PVEM, fallece tras ataque en Veracruz" [Benito Aguas Atlahua, PVEM federal deputy, dies after attack in Veracruz]. Proceso. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  13. ^ Lagos, Gabriel (11 December 2024). "Dan el último adiós a diputado federal Benito Aguas Atlahua" [Final farewell to federal deputy Benito Aguas Atlahua]. El Sol de Orizaba. Organización Editorial Mexicana. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  14. ^ Cortés, Juan Carlos (10 December 2024). "Que crimen del diputado Benito Aguas no quede impune, exigen en San Lázaro" [Chamber demands no impunity in crime against deputy Benito Aguas]. Proceso. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  15. ^ Escobar, Dalila (10 December 2024). "Sheinbaum lamenta el asesinato de Benito Aguas, diputado del PVEM" [Sheinbaum deplores murder of PVEM deputy Benito Aguas]. Proceso. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  16. ^ "Jonathan Puertos Chimalhua rindió protesta como diputado federal de la LXVI Legislatura" [Jonathan Puertos Chimalhua sworn in as federal deputy of the 66th Congress]. Cámara de Diputados. 11 December 2024.