MEXICO CITY — A California couple with Mexican roots traveled south to visit relatives for the holidays, an annual tradition among many U.S. citizens of Mexican descent.
But then tragedy struck: Both were shot dead in the violence-plagued Mexican state of Michoacán, Mexican authorities said on Friday. The couple were victims of the violence that has rocked Mexico.
Police were investigating but had no immediate information on a motive or possible suspects, said Magdalena Guzmán, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office.
The two were shot shortly before midnight Thursday as they sat in a pickup truck on a road in rural Angamacutiro, a community of about 15,000 people in northern Michoacan.
In Angamacutiro, the security chief was assassinated and a former mayor disappeared in recent months – crimes that highlight the violence that has rocked the western state of Michoacán.
According to authorities and an obituary posted on social media, the victims of Thursday's double murder were identified as Rafael Cardona Aguilera, 53, and his wife Gloria Ambriz de Cardona, 50. Cardona was the brother-in-law of the city's mayor and the couple lived at the mayor's residence, the prosecutor's office spokeswoman said.
Cardona was born in the United States and his wife is a naturalized U.S. citizen, Guzmán said.
The couple lived in the Sacramento area and came to Mexico in late November to spend the holidays with relatives, Guzmán said.
The wife died at the scene and her spouse died shortly afterwards in a hospital, the public prosecutor said.
On Friday afternoon, a woman who answered a call from a relative in California declined to comment. “We’re in pain,” said the woman, who declined to give her name, before hanging up.
Angamacutiro Mayor Hermes Arnulfo Pacheco Bribiesca, brother-in-law of the slain Cardona, declined to comment, but the city expressed condolences on social media and sent “thoughts and prayers” to the grieving family. Christmas activities planned for this weekend have been canceled, a city official said, and a memorial mass is planned for Saturday In Honor of the slain couple.
For decades, Michoacán, a sprawling region west of Mexico City, has been a major source of immigrants settling in California and elsewhere in the United States. Many immigrants traditionally return during the year-end holidays to visit relatives and hometowns throughout Mexico.
In recent years, Michoacán has seen a wave of violence linked to gangs competing for various lucrative businesses, including drug smuggling, extortion and illegal timber harvesting.
According to authorities, the state is also a key transit route for precursor chemicals used in the production of fentanyl, the synthetic opioid, in the United States and shipped from China to the Pacific port of Lázaro Cárdenas on the Michoacán coast.
Angamacutiro has recently witnessed several high-profile crimes.
In October, Lizbeth Estela Romero, Angamacutiro's security chief, was shot dead outside her home. The city's former mayor, Maribel Juárez Blanquet, disappeared in August and is believed to have been kidnapped, authorities say. She remains missing.
The former mayor's brother, Erik Juárez Blanquet, a state lawmaker and former mayor of Angamacutiro, was shot dead in 2020 when two assassins on a motorcycle opened fire on his vehicle in the state capital of Morelia.
In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said it was “aware” of the shooting of the U.S. couple and was following developments “closely.” “The safety and security of U.S. citizens abroad is our top priority and we stand ready to assist in any way we can,” the embassy said, declining to provide further details.
Special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal and staff writer Andrew J. Campa contributed to this report.