Newly elected Mexican congresswoman abducted at gunpoint


Security forces in Mexico are searching for Norma Azucena Rodriguez Zamora, a newly elected congresswoman who was abducted at gunpoint on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old served as mayor of Tihuatlan in the state of Veracruz. On July 1, she was elected to represent eastern Veracruz in the lower house of Congress, and was set to take office on Sept. 1. She was driving on a highway in Hidalgo state when two men shot at her car, injuring her driver and assistant and causing the vehicle to flip over, BBC News reports. The gunmen forced her out of the car and shoved her into their vehicle.
Last month, the mayor of Naupan, Genaro Negrete Urbano, was abducted and killed in the same area. Rodriguez's party, the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution, has demanded her safe release. It was a particularly violent campaign season in Mexico, with at least 48 candidates murdered before July 1.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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