AP/ MIAMI HERALD/ In a nation besieged daily by news of brutal violence, the report that Rodolfo Torre Cantu, 46, the leading gubernatorial candidate in the U.S. border state of Tamaulipas was assassinated a week before an election, along with at least four of his staff on a rural highways, has Mexico reeling. President Felipe Calderon immediately went on TV to condemn the brazen attack. “This was an act not only against a candidate of a political party but against democratic institutions, and it requires a united and firm response from all those who work for democracy,” he declared. Torre, a PRI candidate, was leading in recent polls by 20%. Torre's murder is the highest-profile case of political violence since 1994, when a presidential candidate, Luis Donaldo Colosio, was assassinated. “What organized crime wants is that we stay in our houses, that we are afraid, and they are saying, ‘We want to control the country,’” said Xóchitl Gálvez, a candidate for governor in Hidalgo State. She urged voters to vote to show that the people, not criminals, still rule. Officials said elections would be held as scheduled.
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