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Gangster-turned-lawmaker is new face of Mexican politics

Pedro Carrizales, 39, is part of a deluge of political outsiders who won office for Morena, the party of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in Mexico's July 2018 elections. [AFP]

Pedro Carrizales’s body is a hodge-podge of scars and tattoos that tell the story of how he went from street-gang thug to Mexican state congressman, reborn like the mythical phoenix inked on his chest.

Carrizales, 39, is part of a deluge of political outsiders who won office for Morena, the party of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in Mexico’s July 1 elections.

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