Maria Santos Gorrostieta: Mexico's mayor-heroine found beaten to death Dr Maria Santos Gorrostieta, the 36-year-old former mayor of the town of Tiquicheo, had already survived two assassination attempts and the murder of her first husband. Yesterday, Mexican President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto swore during a talks with US President Barack Obama in Washington that he would do "everything we can" to reduce drug-related violence in his country that has already claimed at least 50,000 lives since a military assault was launched on the cartels in 2006. On November 12, the mother-of-three described as "Mexico's heroine" was driving her young daughter to school in the city of Morelia when she was ambushed by a gang of armed men who pulled her from her car and began beating her. Witnessess described how she begged the men to leave her child alone and then got into her abductors' car, leaving her daughter, screaming but unharmed, in the road. Five days later the mutilated body of a woman, who had evidently been tortured before she was killed, was found dumped by a roadside. It was later identified as Dr Gorrostieta. In October 2009 a group of gunmen shot Dr Gorrostieta at least seven times in an ambush in which her husband was killed. In a famous act of defiance shortly afterwards, she went public with photographs of her wounds. "I wanted to show you my wounded, mutilated body," she stated, "because I'm not ashamed of it... I am a strong and righteous woman, and despite my wounds, I'm still on my feet. Read the Telegraph obituary for Maria Santos Gorrostieta here.