12 states select National Action Party candidates in Mexico elections

World Today

An historic day in Mexico: elections in 12 states produced at least six victories for the center-right National Action Party and toppled the ruling party.

One place where the elections may make a difference is in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas where violent crime is rampant. CCTV America’s Franc Contreras reports.

Brave citizens witness another gun fight in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

With the Gulf and Zetas cartels battling for power, it’s among the most unsafe places in the world.

But history was made in Sunday’s election, when Francisco Cabeza de Vaca beat the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, toppling that party from power for the first time in nearly nine decades.

The PRI also lost in the crucial Gulf coast state of Veracruz, which has 5 million registered voters.

But it is Tamaulipas that has captured international attention lately, especially following the recent kidnapping and escape of football star Alan Pulido. Tamaulipas has one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world.

And two former state governors, Tomas Yarrington and Eugenio Hernandez, both of the ruling PRI, stand accused in the United States of having ties with organized crime.

In his new book, investigative journalist Humberto Padgett documents the connection between Tamaulipas politicians and criminal groups. Padgett said the winner of Sunday’s election now has a historic opportunity to end corruption there.