TIJUANA. Apparently, Social Encounter Party's (PES) candidate for Mayor in Tijuana, Julián Leyzaola, always carries a personal firearm holstered around his ankle, and he showed it off during a campaign rally.
This "Lieutenant Colonel" bolstered that the gun is "the only protection" he needs when talking to the Sólo Ángeles motorcycle club, reports Mexican news outlet El Universal in their column "Kiosko".
"In a meeting with members of the Sólo Ángeles group in Tijuana, we heard, some jaws dropped when this former public servant pulled out his gun in the blink of an eye. Pistol in hand, he assured the audience, 'this is the only protection I need'. Word around town is that the moment in question was really awkward for the biker; could it be that Leyzaola wants to earn the office by showing everyone the guns?"
It's not easy to make a bunch of hardened bike riders that usually look like this:
Of course, no one expects that a candidate and (possible) future public servant to just go around their campaign events revealing a concealed firearm.
Does he carry for every rally or was this just a "show" for the bikers in the audience?
Tijuana's Sólo Ángeles club is a group of motorcycle enthusiasts that, aside from their shared love for riding together, they also organize several fundraising events to help in the community, of which the most popular are the "Toy Run" and "Shoe Run" each Christmas and Children's Day.
Leyzaola Pérez was the target of an assassination attempt last year while in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, when he was the city's Chief of Police; the attack left him wheelchair-bound. Not wanting to stay in that other border town, he arrived in Tijuana just in time to join the 2016 election process and contend for Tijuana's Mayor Office.
His past as Chief of Public Safety in Tijuana has been a cause for division among the voters; murder rates dropped during the last months of his tenure, but numerous civilian associations have accused him of human rights violations.
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jose.sanchez@sandiegored.com
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