By Jorge Antonio Rocha
Mexico City, Mexico — The killing of Carlos Manzo, the mayor of Uruapan, Michoacán in western Mexico, drew national ire as another political killing adds to the long list of elected officials murdered by organized crime in the country in recent years.
Manzo, nicknamed the “Mexican Bukele” for his hard stance on organized crime, presided over Uruapan, a small municipality in Michoacán, a state caught in the crossfire of Mexican drug cartel violence.Since his election in 2021 until his murder last Saturday, November 1, Manzo — an independent — had pledged to cleanse his municipality of the criminal organizations controlling the region.
His government was characterized by his hard-line rhetoric and media-covered patrols through the streets of Uruapan.
Manzo was fatally shot during the Day of the Dead festival in the municipality’s main square, with his constituents, wife, and children witnessing his murder.
The latest political killing in Mexico soon went viral, with Mexicans and opponents of the ruling MORENA party lashing out at President Claudia Sheinbaum for maintaining the security strategy of her predecessor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The murder
State prosecutors said 17-year-old Víctor Manuel Ubaldo Vidales killed Manzo. Vidales is suspected of being a minor recruited by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most violent criminal organizations.
The killing, a brazen attack carried out in a public space, raised concerns and criticism over the alleged neglect by the federal government toward Manzo’s safety, as the mayor had reported death threats on several occasions since taking office.
However, Mexico’s top security chief, Omar García Harfuch, stated that the mayor had been granted a security detail composed of 14 National Guard troops.
At the time of the attack, one of Manzo’s security officers shot and killed the underage hitman.
Protesters in several municipalities of Michoacán took to the streets, and in Apatzingán, demonstrators stormed and set fire to the municipal government palace.
The various demonstrations led to several arrests by the state police.Following the massive outcry, President Sheinbaum unveiled a peace and security strategy specific to Michoacán to stabilize the state during her morning briefing on Tuesday.
Plan Michoacán is a strategy focused on strengthening local police and prosecutors while allocating federal government offices within the state.
The plan also envisions investments in infrastructure, agriculture, and education.Sheinbaum also announced that there would be an emergency alert button for mayors in the state.
Alongside protesters, Sheinbaum’s political opposition was also quick to condemn the political assassination and blame the federal government’s failed peacekeeping strategy.
Members of the ruling party’s main opposition bloc, the PAN party, promptly lashed out against the federal government.Even former President Felipe Calderón — architect of the infamous war on drug cartels and a native of Michoacán — took to social media to condemn the assassination.
[Felipe Calderón tweet link][JORGE, PLEASE ADD A QUOTE FROM FELIBE CALDERON]
Figures regarding the current state of violence and insecurity in Michoacán are mixed and vary depending on the source.
While the federal government, through the Ministry of Security and Civilian Protection, points to a notable reduction in violence — with a reported 50% drop in total homicides from 2021 to 2024, figures dating from when the MORENA party won the state elections with current governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla — Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography reports that homicides in Michoacán have more than doubled from 2012 to 2024.
For the late Manzo, violence in his home state had drastically worsened under the Calderón administration and its war on drugs.
“Where did the tragedy begin? It began in Michoacán, on December 11, 2006, when Felipe Calderón decided to militarize the country — not to provide security to citizens, but to become an accomplice of the cartels he served,” he said during a hearing in the lower house in 2022.
Calderón’s infamous legacy in the state earned him the moniker “The Butcher of Michoacán” due to his military-led strategy.
On November 4, the Congress of Michoacán elected Manzo’s widow, Grecia Quiroz, as the new mayor of Uruapan. During a meeting, she declared:
“We are going to continue with Carlos Manzo’s legacy, and we know that he spoke strongly and clearly — we will continue with that same firm conviction, you can be sure of that.”
