EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – It was a little over a month ago that a cowboy hat-wearing Carlos Alberto Manzo called on residents of Michoacan, Mexico, to take up arms against drug traffickers if the federal government did not stop widespread murder and extortion.
“We have detained people and placed them in (state) custody only to learn they were freed and returned to their criminal activity,” he told Grupo Formula at the time. “We are calling on authorities to detain and prosecute these people. If that isn’t done, the alternative is to call on the people and make a more radical decision. If that implies taking up arms amid an institutional void, that is what they are forcing us to do.”
Manzo, the mayor of Uruapan, Mexico, was shot to death late Saturday near the city square in front of thousands of people attending a candle-lighting ceremony at Immaculate Church on the eve of Day of the Dead. A city councilman, a municipal police officer and a third city employee were wounded by gunfire.
Manzo’s city police officers shot a gunman dead and detained two other suspects. His assassination sparked a protest at the state capital of Morelia and vandalism of government buildings on Sunday. Further protests are planned, and Mexican news outlets are questioning whether the government or drug cartels control the streets in large swaths of Mexico.
On Monday, Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla Trejo explained how the assassins were able to get past a contingent of Mexican National Guard members in Uruapan.
“The role of the National Guard was to provide security in the periphery” of the event, Trevilla said. “In December, we did a risk analysis and the mayor determined municipal police officers he knew, he trusted would provide personal security, and they did a good job until this happened, mostly because how vulnerable this event was.”
Participants at the quasi-religious event weren’t searched or screened, he said. Further, Manzo liked to go out in public a lot, Trevilla said.
-
People chant during a funeral procession for late Mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, who was shot dead during the Day of the dead celebrations, in Uruapan, Michoacan state, Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) -
People carry the coffin of late Mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, who was shot during Day of the Dead celebrations, in Uruapan, Michoacan state, Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) -
People chant during a funeral procession for late Mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, who was shot dead during the Day of the dead celebrations, in Uruapan, Michoacan state, Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) -
A hat worn by late Mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, who was shot during the Day of the dead celebrations, sits on his horse at his funeral in Uruapan, Michoacan state, Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
The alleged slain assassin had no ID on him but surveillance footage shows he may have stayed at a hotel in Uruapan and visited a couple of business establishments prior to the shooting.
“There is no indication his people (municipal police officers) were linked to organized crime. One of the officers killed the gunman; they were the ones who reacted, those in his primary circle,” Public Safety Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said on Monday.
Garcia said the Michoacan Attorney General’s Office is leading the investigation but federal authorities are willing to intervene if called.
He said it was “obvious” this was a targeted attack but it’s unknown who ordered the killing. He mentioned the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Viagras and other organized criminal groups are active in Uruapan.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said she canceled public events on Sunday out of respect for Manzo’s family and vowed to assist in bringing his killers to justice.
She downplayed blame being laid at her administration for not reining-in the cartels and said it’s part of a media campaign funded by conservative critics.
“Yesterday, I said we will use all the power of the state; that is justice. […] Militarization and the war on drug traffickers didn’t work. That is what led us to violence in Michoacan. The war on the narcos did not work,” she said on Monday.
Read: Read More