Édgar Morales Pérez facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Édgar Morales Pérez
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The late Morales Pérez
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| Died | 12 August 2012 Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, Mexico
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| Resting place | Jardines de la Luz (Cemetery) |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Education | Instituto Tecnológico de Matehuala |
| Occupation | Politician, Civil engineer |
| Political party | Institutional Revolutionary Party |
| Spouse(s) | Noelia Cortez de Morales |
Édgar Morales Pérez was the mayor-elect of Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, Mexico, elected on July 1, 2012. He was a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM), which are in a coalition in his municipality. The National Action Party (PAN) had ruled Matehuala for several years, and Morales Pérez was scheduled to take office in September 2012.
On August 12, 2012, he and his campaign manager Juan Francisco Hernández Colunga were killed by gunfire while driving home from a birthday party. Hernández's wife survived the attack but could not identify the perpetrators.
Personal life and family
Morales Pérez was born into an entrepreneur family, and studied at Civil Engineering at the Instituto Tecnológico de Matehuala. Upon graduation, he began working for Constructions Tribasa, a construction company that allowed him to participate in several infrastructure projects in Mexico and Guatemala. He then created his own construction company and began offering services to the municipality of Matehuala. He became popular in Matehuala for financing sport events and dance contests. In early 2012, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) recruited Morales Pérez and proposed him for the municipal candidacy. He was survived by his wife, Noelia Cortez de Morales, and his three children.
Assassination
On August 12, 2012, Morales Pérez and his campaign manager, Juan Francisco Hernández Colunga, were driving home from a quinceañera party at around 1:45 a.m. when several gunmen ambushed them in the streets of the city of Matehuala, San Luis Potosí. Both of them died at the scene, while Claudia Martínez de Hernández, the wife of Hernández Colunga and the only living witness, was gravely injured and was taken to the nearest hospital; she could not identify the perpetrators.
The killers were not found but the Mexican authorities indicated that Los Zetas were the probable perpetrators of the attack.
Funeral
The mass ceremony and burial of Morales Pérez and his campaign manager were held on August 13. More than 1,000 people attended the ceremony, including local politicians and former mayors of Matehuala. After the mass was over, a mariachi group played songs in memory of Morales Pérez and Hernández Colunga outside the chapel where the mass was held as their coffins were taken to Jardines de la Luz cemetery.
Aftermath
San Luis Potosí governor Fernando Toranzo Fernández responded by calling on federal military forces to reinforce law enforcement throughout the state.
In honor of Morales Pérez, the municipality of Matehuala cancelled the celebration of the Mexican Independence Day on 16 September 2012.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) appointed Héctor Fermín Ávila Lucero as the mayor of Matehuala on 21 September 2012.
