Gisela Gaytan

Bertha Gisela Gaytán Gutiérrez (6 April 1986 – 1 April 2024) was a Mexican lawyer and politician aligned with the Morena party. She was a candidate for municipal president of her hometown of Celaya, before being murdered on 1 April 2024.

Biography Gaytán was born in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico on 6 April 1986. Gaytán graduated in law from Lasallista Benavente University with a master's degree in Administrative Justice. She worked both in a personal office and in the Municipal Comptroller's Office.

Career After graduation, Gaytán became a trial attorney. She was encouraged to enter politics in 2016, initially joining the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). In 2018 she joined Morena.

Assassination

On 1 April 2024, at the age of 37, Gaytán was shot and killed in the streets of at her first campaign rally for municipal president of Celaya. Her assassination occurred shortly before 6:00p.m. as she was surrounded by supporters. As seen in videos published on social media, supporters were chanting "Morena, Morena" before being interrupted by several gunshots. a candidate for regidor (city councillor), was also declared dead by the authorities following the attack, but it was later confirmed that he had gone into hiding out of a fear for his life.

Prior to Gaytán's assassination, she had requested police protection due to threats and intimidation. By the time of her campaign start, she had not received such protection.

Reactions Alma Alcaraz, the Morena party's candidate for governor in Guanajuato was the first to respond after news of the assassination broke. “I am angry, I am short of breath, I am shocked to have to give you such terrible news; a few minutes ago, our candidate from Celaya for Morena, Gisela Gaytán, was murdered. This is something that has us shocked and in mourning.” Subsequently, National Action Party (PAN) member Libia Dennise García Muñoz Ledo, condemned the crime and sent her condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Gaytán.

At a press conference on 2 April, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent his condolences to family, friends and colleagues. The Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, assured that the federal government had measured in place to protect political candidates from violence.