Mexican Mayor Killed During Day of the Dead Celebrations

Local politicians in Mexico often fall victim to political and organized crime violence.

Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, mayor of the municipality of Uruapan, was shot and killed in the town’s historic center on Saturday night. According to state prosecutor Carlos Torres Piña, the man was taken to the hospital and later died.

A municipal council member and a guard were also injured in the attack.

The attacker was killed at the scene, Federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch told reporters on Sunday.

García Harfuch said that the attack on the mayor was carried out by an unidentified man who shot him seven times. He added that the gun was linked to two gunfights between rival criminal groups operating in the area.

“No investigation is ruled out that would clarify this cowardly act that cost the mayor his life,” García Harfuch said.

Michoacan is one of Mexico’s most violent states and a battleground between various cartels and criminal groups fighting for control of territory, drug distribution routes and other illegal activities.

On Sunday, hundreds of Uruapan residents, dressed in black and holding photos of Manzo Rodríguez, took to the streets of the town to accompany the funeral procession and bid farewell to the slain mayor. “Justice! Justice! Get Morena out!”, referring to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s ruling party. They shouted slogans.

In recent months, the mayor of Uruapan had made a public appeal to Sheinbaum on social media for help in fighting cartels and criminal groups. Michoacan’s pro-government governor, Alfredo Ramírez, had accused Bedolla and the state police of corruption.

At the head of the procession was a man leading Manzo Rodríguez’s black horse; On his saddle was one of the mayor’s signature hats. A group of musicians, also dressed in black, followed and played mariachi songs.

Dozens of police and military officers stood guard around the narrow streets of the agricultural town, where avocados are the main crop.

The attack on Manzo Rodríguez, a former member of parliament for Morena, was captured on video and shared on social media. Footage showed dozens of residents and tourists, some in costume and with face paint, enjoying the event surrounded by hundreds of lit candles, marigolds and skull decorations. Several gunshots are then heard and people run for cover.

Another video shows a man lying on the ground while an officer performs CPR while armed police guard the area.

Manzo Rodríguez had been under protection since December 2024, three months after taking office. García Harfuch said his security was beefed up with municipal police and 14 National Guard officers last May, without specifying the reason for the measure.

Manzo Rodríguez, nicknamed “Mexican Bukele” by some due to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s harsh security policies, took office as mayor of Uruapan after winning that year’s midterm elections with an independent movement.

The mayor’s murder followed the death of Salvador Bastidas, mayor of the municipality of Tacambaro, also in Michoacan. Bastidas was killed when he arrived at his home in the town’s Centro district with his bodyguard in June.

In October 2024, journalist Mauricio Cruz Solís de Manzo was shot in Uruapan shortly after interviewing Rodríguez.