Mexico presidential candidate Patricio hurt, 1 dead in crash

María de Jesús Patricio Martínez (Photo by Mayitayita – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0)

MEXICO CITY — Mexican independent presidential candidate Maria de Jesus Patricio was injured in a road crash that also killed a person riding in her caravan and injured two others Wednesday.

The National Indigenous Council said in a brief statement that a vehicle carrying Patricio and 10 other people went off a highway in the state of Baja California Sur.

The group said a woman it did not identify was killed and council member Francisco Grado was in serious condition. Patricio and council member Lucero Islava also had injuries, the statement said, but gave no details.

The newspaper La Jornada published a photo of emergency workers assisting Patricio as she walked next to an ambulance and a picture of a white van resting on its roof in a desert countryside. The paper said Patricio’s left arm was broken.

Patricio, a Nahua indigenous healer from Jalisco state known popularly as “Marichuy,” has been running as an independent candidate seeking to get a place on the July 1 presidential ballot.

However, days before a deadline to gather some 866,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot, she is well short of the requirement.