Mexican mayor shot, killed during Day of the Dead festivities – National

Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, the mayor of the Uruapan municipality of Mexico’s western state of Michoacán, was gunned down Saturday night in the town’s historic centre. Manzo Rodríguez, 40, was rushed to a hospital, where he later died, according to state prosecutor Carlos Torres Piña.

A city council member and a bodyguard were also injured in the attack on Saturday.

The person who shot Manzo Rodríguez was killed at the scene, Federal Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said during a news conference on Sunday.

Manzo Rodríguez was shot seven times by an unidentified man, García Harfuch said. The weapon used was linked to two armed clashes between rival criminal groups operating in the region, he added.

“No line of investigation is being ruled out to clarify this cowardly act that took the life of the mayor,” García Harfuch said.

“We send our deepest condolences to his family, loved ones and the residents of Uruapan, who today are experiencing a painful and unjust loss at the hands of organized crime,” García Harfuch added. “There will be no impunity.”

Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, the state’s governor, said that Manzo Rodríguez’s assailant was working with two other suspects, who have been arrested.

It’s not clear how many more people were believed to have been involved with the shooting. The motive is also not known at this time.

The attack on Manzo Rodríguez, a former Morena legislator, was captured on video and shared on social media. The footage shows dozens of residents and tourists, some in costume and with painted faces, enjoying the Day of the Dead event surrounded by hundreds of lit candles, marigold flowers and skull decorations. Then several gunshots rang out, and people could be seen running for cover.

In another video, a person is reportedly shown lying on the ground as an official performs CPR while armed police officers guard the area.

Manzo Rodríguez is the seventh mayor to be killed in Michoacán since 2022, the New York Times reports.

On Sunday, hundreds of Uruapan residents took to the town’s streets to accompany the funeral procession and say goodbye to the slain mayor.

At the head of the procession, a man led Manzo Rodríguez’s black horse with one of the mayor’s signature hats placed on the saddle. A group of musicians, also dressed in black, followed and played mariachi songs.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took to X on Sunday to condemn the “vile assassination” of Manzo Rodríguez.

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“I express my deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, as well as to the people of Uruapan, for this irreparable loss,” she wrote. “From the moment this grave event became known, I spoke with the governor of Michoacán and the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, who has maintained constant communication with the state attorney general.”

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, a former ambassador to Mexico, said that his thoughts are with the family and friends of Manzo Rodríguez.

“The US stands ready to deepen security cooperation with Mexico to wipe out organized crime on both sides of the border,” he said. “Here’s Carlos holding his young son at the celebration just moments before the attack. May his soul rest in peace and may his memory inspire prompt and effective action.”

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

In recent months, Manzo Rodríguez had publicly appealed to Sheinbaum on social media for help in confronting the cartels and criminal groups. He had accused Michoacán’s pro-government governor, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, and the state police of corruption.

Manzo Rodríguez had been under protection since December 2024, three months after taking office. His security was reinforced last May with municipal police and 14 National Guard officers, García Harfuch said, without specifying what prompted the measure.

Manzo Rodríguez was often seen wearing a bulletproof vest and expressed fears for his own safety.

“I don’t want to be just another mayor on the list of those executed, those whose lives have been taken from them,” Manzo Rodríguez said in an interview in September with journalist Joaquin Lopez-Doriga.

“How many mayors have they killed because they opposed making these pacts with organized crime?” he asked in another September interview with Mexico’s Milenio TV.

— With files from The Associated Press

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