Indigenous Mexican presidential candidate injured in highway accident

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The first indigenous woman to run for the Mexican presidency was injured and at least one other person killed when a van in which she was traveling was involved in an accident in western Baja California state on Wednesday, campaign social media said. Maria de Jesus Patricio, running as an independent candidate for president in the July election, suffered a fractured forearm in the accident, according to Carlos Godinez, a state emergency services official. The person killed, one of 11 in the van, was not identified. Patricio, known by the nickname Marichuy, previously served as the spokeswoman for the National Indigenous Congress, or CNI, the political arm of the Zapatista National Liberation Army. "Our spokeswoman Marichuy and councilor Lucero Islava were injured," the CNI said on its Facebook page without providing further details about the accident. Independent presidential aspirants have until this weekend to gather some 866,000 voter signatures in at least 17 Mexican states to appear on the July ballot. A traditional healer and native Nahua speaker, Patricio has not yet met the signature requirement. (Reporting by David Alire Garcia, Diego Ore and Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Paul Tait)