Juan Carlos Chavarria Cruz, the fifty-year-old general secretary of the Union of Municipal Workers of the town of Melchor de Mencos, was gunned down by several people on June 21, 2018. The incident occurred in one of the neighborhoods of that town.

Juan and his union had sued the current mayor Amado Yanes for abuse of power and breach of duty. After that, the mayor was stripped of immunity for the crime of disobedience because he refused to reinstate a group of employees who were sacked at the beginning of his term in office. The employees were members of the Union of Municipal Workers of the town of Melchor,

According to his wife’s statements to the police, Juan was killed while running an errand to deliver a silver bracelet to another person. As of September 2018, a series of eight investigative measures are pending. These include scientific analysis and requests for information from local authorities, as well as interviews with Juan’s trade union and co-workers to determine the circumstances under which he died and the motives behind the killing.