Photo: reviewjournal.com

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF    

Antonio Ramírez Itehua, the mayor of the farming town of Astacinga, in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, was shot in the early morning hours of Monday Feb. 4, and remains in serious condition.

Ramírez Itehua, a member of the Nueva Alianza political party, was attacked by unknown armed assailants in a drive-by shooting while traveling along a highway in the southern Sierra de Zongolica region of the state to the Astacinga municipal palace.

According to a preliminary medical report, Ramírez Itehua was struck three times by the bullets, once in the back of his neck and twice in his thorax.

He was initially taken to the nearby state-run Tlaquilpa Hospital, but due to the severity of his wounds, was later transferred by helicopter to the private hospital in Córdoba, Veracruz.