Freshly installed Mexican mayor sacrificed herself to save family

When gunmen burst into her home, the freshly-
installed mayor of Temixco, south of Mexico City,
told them to leave her family alone and
surrendered to them, witnesses recalled.
Gisela Mota, who lived with her parents, was still
in her pajamas on Saturday morning when the
masked commando jumped a wall and stormed
the house.
The 33-year-old single woman's parents were
home along with her newborn nephew, whose
grandmother was preparing to give him a bottle.
The assailants beat up her relatives until Mota
"gave herself up so that they would let the others
go," said the mayor's mother, Juanita Ocampo.
"I told them that if they wanted to kill me,
they should kill me first," Ocampo told
reporters. "But she told them, 'I am Gisela.'
They took her because she was very brave."
But the triggermen pulled Mota from her bedroom,
took her to the living room and killed her in front
of her parents. Her desperate father ran after the
killers.
Mota's murder has become a tragic symbol of the
threats mayors face across Mexico and the
violence that has engulfed Morelos, where drug
cartels fight turf wars while kidnapping and
extorting citizens.

Mota was killed just one day after taking the oath
of office amid hopes among supporters that she
would fulfill her promise to curb crime in the city
of 100,000, known for resorts and water slides,
just two hours from Mexico City.
But the left-of-center mayor became one of the
victims of the gangland violence that has plagued
the city, as authorities blamed Los Rojos drug
gang for her murder.
Her home stands out among the other houses in
the humble neighborhood. It has a rustic wooden
door and a brick oven on the patio.
Neighbors recalled that on the eve of her murder,
Mota had celebrated her new job with music and
dancing.
"The next morning, six shots were heard.
We thought it was firecrackers. But we
heard them scream that they killed Gisela,"
said Pablo Ortega, a 48-year-old neighbor,
who said seven armed men had arrived in a
car.
Shortly after the murder, the police killed two
suspects in a shootout and arrested three others,
including a 17-year-old boy and a 32-year-old
woman.
Morelos Governor Graco Ramirez said Los Rojos
killed Mota as a warning to other mayors who
back his controversial plan to place state and
municipal police under a "unified command."
Ramirez praised his late colleague from the
Democratic Revolution Party as "independent and
combative."