Drug violence hits Mexican candidates - Gangs kidnap, kill to control elections

One candidate was gunned down with his son. Another is missing after assailants torched her home. In some towns near the U.S. border, parties can't find anyone to run for mayor. The violence is intensifying fear that Mexico's drug cartels could control the July 4 local elections in 10 states by supporting candidates who cooperate with them and killing or intimidating those who don't. The intimidation is the worst in the border state of Tamaulipas, where Mexican soldiers are trying to control an intensifying turf battle between the Gulf cartel and its former ally, the Zetas gang. Gunmen burst into the farm supplies business of José Guajardo Varela on Thursday and killed him and his son, after he ignored warnings to drop his bid for mayor of Valle Hermosa, a town about 30 miles south of Brownsville, Texas. "Organized crime wants to have total control over local elections," said Carlos Alberto Perez, a federal lawmaker for the conservative National Action Party...more