In Mexico, the personal secretary and an adviser to Mexico City’s mayor were assassinated by gunmen on motorcycles in broad daylight Tuesday. Mayor Clara Brugada, who is a member of the ruling Morena party and is an ally of President Claudia Sheinbaum, confirmed the killings, saying her secretary, Ximena Guzmán, and adviser, José Muñoz, were shot dead in a “direct attack.” This came just hours after at least seven young men, including minors, were killed as gunmen opened fire on a group in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, where warring drug cartels indiscriminately target local communities. Residents are demanding justice. This is priest José de Jesús Pérez.

José de Jesús Pérez Negrete: “We must never get used to this violence. We don’t want to get used to the violent deaths like those that sadly occurred yesterday morning when seven young people were massacred.”

The U.S.-backed so-called war on drugs has led to decades of violence in Mexico. An estimated more than 450,000 people have been killed since 2006, while another 100,000 have been disappeared.