Dozens of Sierra de Zongolica residents gathered on Tuesday to bid farewell to Juan Carlos Mezhua Campos, a former mayor and indigenous leader killed on Sunday in Piedras Blancas. The funeral featured indigenous traditions and a five-kilometer procession to Zomajapa cemetery. His death adds to the wave of violence against politicians in Veracruz in 2025.
Juan Carlos Mezhua Campos, known as El Compadrito, was laid to rest in Zomajapa cemetery after a funeral mass at his Mezcam ranch. Family, friends, and collaborators, dressed in traditional indigenous attire, came down from ranches and villages to pay their respects. His wooden coffin bore the hat that symbolized his political activism, which made him mayor of Zongolica, a federal and state deputy, and leader of the now-defunct PRD.
In Atexoxocuapa, where he lived, men and women scattered copal smoke over his remains, an indigenous tradition to guide the soul. A white horse owned by the politician accompanied the five-kilometer funeral procession to the family chapel in Loma de Zomajapa, where he was buried. Mezhua, also a coffee grower, tourism entrepreneur, and housing developer, was promoting an independent political movement in Veracruz's central mountainous region.
The assassination took place on Sunday in Piedras Blancas, hours before a scheduled visit by President Claudia Sheinbaum to Veracruz port. The killing has stirred shock in a state grappling with escalating violence for two decades, with at least 14 political figures slain in 2025, including a female taxi driver killed by an armed group. It followed the murder of Carlos Manzo Rodríguez, mayor of Uruapan in Michoacán, on November 1.