MEXICO CITY — A newly released video shows the mayor of a town in south-central Mexico being threatened and humiliated by armed members of a drug gang, and the mayor confirmed Tuesday that it is genuine.
The 2015 video posted to social media this week shows the mayor-elect of the town of Mazatepec being forced to kneel at gunpoint. The masked gunmen demand he give them money and appoint an ally to a key police post.
Mayor Jorge Toledo Bustamante is heard saying he is willing to tolerate the gang, but couldn’t come up with the amount of money they were demanding, which was equivalent at the time to about $400,000.
The gunmen are believed to belong to the Rojos gang, which operates in Morelos and the neighboring state of Guerrero.
Toledo Bustamante told Radio Formula on Tuesday that the video is genuine and that the demands for money have continued. He said he hadn’t reported the incident previously because of fear of the drug gang, citing the murder of the mayor of a nearby town just weeks after the video was filmed.
It is unclear if Toledo Bustamante committed any crime. He said he was going to give a statement to prosecutors on the incident.