By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

Two senior aides to Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada were shot dead in a brazen daylight attack on Tuesday morning, in what authorities are calling a targeted assassination.

Mayor Brugada’s private secretary, Ximena Guzmán, and longtime adviser, José Muñoz, were killed on their way to work after Guzmán stopped her black Audi along a busy avenue to pick up Muñoz for their daily commute.

Mexico City’s mayor is considered second in political importance only to the president. The mayor’s office has long been a stepping stone to the presidency, something true for Sheinbaum and her predecessor.

But for years, the idea has prevailed of Mexico City as a relatively peaceful oasis protected from the brutal drug cartel violence prevalent in other parts of the country. There has always been street crime, but the cartels, while present, maintained a lower profile in the capital.

That illusion was partially dashed in 2020 with the brazen ambush of Mexico City’s then police chief on another central boulevard. Omar García Harfuch was wounded, but two bodyguards and a bystander were killed in the attack involving more than 20 people and heavy weaponry.

García Harfuch immediately blamed the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

There had not been another such attack on public officials in the capital since then.

According to eyewitnesses and CCTV footage, a gunman approached the vehicle on foot, firing several rounds through the windscreen before shooting both Guzmán and Muñoz at close range.

The attacker then fled the scene, reportedly with the assistance of at least one accomplice on a motorcycle.

Police have since recovered a motorbike and another vehicle believed to have been used in the escape.

Forensic investigators examined the bullet-ridden Audi as the city reeled from the rare but shocking attack in the capital.

Surveillance video from a nearby building showed the shooter calmly approaching the car with a motorcycle helmet in one hand and a gun in the other.

After firing multiple rounds into the vehicle and at both victims, he turned back once more to shoot Muñoz as he collapsed on the pavement.

Mayor Brugada, visibly emotional during a news conference, described the two aides as close colleagues and friends with whom she had “shared dreams and struggles” over the years.

“I will not rest until those responsible are brought to justice,” she vowed.            

President Claudia Sheinbaum, informed of the killings during her morning press conference, condemned the attack as “a deplorable incident” and offered full federal support.

Both Sheinbaum and Brugada belong to the ruling Morena party.

Security Minister Omar García Harfuch, who survived a cartel ambush in 2020 in Mexico City, called the killings “calculated” and said early signs suggest the work of a professional hitman. He did not speculate on a motive.

While violence against local politicians, especially in rural areas, is tragically common in Mexico, attacks in the capital are less frequent.

However, this shooting has raised fresh concerns about the reach and boldness of organised crime even in the heart of Mexico’s political centre.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Investigators are reviewing footage and analysing evidence as they search for suspects.

Mayor Brugada, 61, was elected in June 2024 and is widely seen as a rising figure in national politics.

The murders of her aides mark one of the most serious political attacks in the capital since the 2020 ambush on García Harfuch, then the city’s police chief, which was blamed on the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

 

 

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