Nuevo Leon state Attorney General Alejandro Garza y Garza
ruled out the involvement of drug gangs that have been blamed for the
assassination of many other mayors in Mexico.
Prisciliano Rodriguez, mayor of Doctor Gonzalez, was gunned
down Sept. 23 along with an aide. He was the fourth mayor killed in
northeastern Mexico in a month.
Garza y Garza said the two detained men confessed to killing
the mayor over a land dispute. He said an uncle of one of the two suspects
hired them a week before the assassination, asking them if they "wanted a
little job." The uncle remains at large.
The men were paid an initial $3,000 and given an R-15 rifle,
an Uzi and a revolver, Garza y Garza said. On the day of the assassination, the
uncle called his nephew and demanded the money back if they did not carry out
the killing, the prosecutor said.
The suspects told police they traveled later that day to
Doctor Gonzalez, where the mayor was coordinating a program to provide metal
roofing to residents, Garza y Garza said.
He said the pair waited until Rodriguez got out of his car
and opened fire about 20 times. The uncle allegedly met with them later that
day and paid them the remaining $3,000.
Police recovered guns buried in the backyard of one of the
suspects, and are checking them to determine if they match those used in the
assassination, Garza y Garza said.
He did not give details of the land dispute.
Small-town mayors are frequently assassinated in Mexico.
Land disputes are sometimes the motive, but most attacks
have been blamed on drug gangs that have tried to use isolated, lightly
patrolled towns to hide and hold kidnap victims, weapons and drugs.
