Mayor Lilia Gema García Soto of San Mateo Piñas, Oaxaca, Murdered

Lilia Gema García Soto, mayor of San Mateo Piñas in the state of Oaxaca, was shot dead this Sunday at the Municipal Palace, as confirmed by the Oaxaca State Attorney General’s Office in a statement. The motives for the attack on the official and the perpetrators of the crime are currently unknown.

The Attorney General’s Office explained that the attack occurred around 11:00 AM at the official government headquarters. “A group of armed individuals entered the Municipal Palace of San Mateo Piñas, where they fired on the mayor, as well as another individual present at the location,” the statement notes. The other person, a man who also worked for the municipal government, also died from the gunfire.

Following the homicide, the Secretariat of National Defense, the Navy Secretariat (Semar), and the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) set up a security operation in the area to locate the attackers.

“We strongly condemn the murder of the municipal president of San Mateo Piñas, Lilia Gema García Soto. There can be no impunity in the face of this event. We will cooperate with the State Attorney General’s Office to clarify the facts and achieve justice,” wrote the governor of Oaxaca, Salomón Jara, on his social media.

García Soto’s murder is the second of a mayor in Oaxaca in 2025. In May, Mario Hernández, mayor of Santiago Amoltepec, was killed in an ambush in which two municipal police officers also lost their lives. The crime remains unsolved.

García Soto had been mayor since December 2022. San Mateo Piñas is located in the southwest of the State of Oaxaca, nestled in the mountains and in the coastal region. According to the 2020 Inegi census, the municipality has 2,000 inhabitants. The main economic activity is agriculture, primarily the planting and harvesting of coffee.