After break up with Morena in 2024Carlos Manzo, known as “The One with the Hat”became the first independent Mayor of Uruapan, Michoacánand his frontal stance against organized crime earned him the recognition of his community… and death.
The Government of Manzo, who was shot to death by organized crime on November 1 at a public event for the Day of the Dead, where moments before he had interacted with his children, was marked by controversial actions, as he not only got involved in security operations in person, but he even hit State security elements, accusing them of abuse of authority.
With its municipal government, the capture of one of the commanders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), “El Rhino”and repeatedly called on the Federation for help to end the violence in Uruapan.
That is, he took actions against crime that contrasted with the alleged passivity of the Governor of Michoacán, the Morenoist Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, whom he accused of being corrupt, stealing and extorting.
At the beginning of April, for example, the theft of a high-end truck in Uruapan provoked a police mobilization in which the man himself participated. Manzo aboard a helicopter, to follow up on the persecution that extended to a rural area of the Caltzontzin community.
“There it is, there it goes down, give it, give it!, here it comes, squeeze it“Manzo was heard saying in a recording made from the air.
At least two shots were then heard from the aircraft towards the stolen truck.
After the chase by land and air, authorities caught the carjacker and recovered a Mercedes Benz truck that had been violently stolen in Uruapan.
A month later and after the murder of a worker from the Uruapan City Council, outside a private school, Manzo instructed the Municipal Police to “shoot down” armed criminals if they resisted arrest or attacked the population.
“The policy of ‘hugs, not bullets’‘it’s over.
You have to put a lot of fire, a lot of force into it to annihilate, to put an end to the entire threat.“, he launched in his speeches.
“Criminals who are found to be armed and who resist arrest or who attack citizens, we must kill them, we must not have any consideration with them (…) We are not going to agree with any criminal group“.
Their statements were disapproved by President Claudia Sheinbaum; However, Manzo responded to the President that If he managed to pacify the municipality “without a shot” he would present his resignation and leave satisfied.
Manzo maintained that Uruapan was “surrounded” by criminal groups that lived by extorting producers, merchants and transporters.
“We were inherited criminal groups that are in all the hills, of all colors, of all the cartels, we are surrounded by criminal groups that are dedicated to extorting and killing.“, he expressed.
His moment of greatest tension came late August, when the Municipal Police arrested René Belmonte Aguilar, “El Rhino”, designated as the CJNG’s plaza boss.
Manzo activated code red, asked the population to protect themselves and demanded urgent support from the Federation.
“At this moment they are reporting to us that armed people are being mobilized to enter Uruapan… We ask that you take shelter until security conditions exist to lift this red code“he warned.
The episode confirmed its frontal collision strategy and its dependence on state and federal reinforcements to maintain control of the territory after blows to criminal commanders.
At the end of September, an officer from the Uruapan Municipal Police was injured in a new attack on elements of the corporation, so Manzo went out on patrol with a bulletproof vest in search of those responsible.
That month, the Mayor asked Sheinbaum for help again.
“If order is not put here in Uruapan, soon at the national level we will hear a strong uprising, of voice, of justice, and if necessary, even of weapons, because people are already fed up“he warned.
His “cleanup” bet involved captures that moved the local board – like that of “The Rhino” – but also increasing risks for himself and his team.
On the night of November 1, 2025, during the Candle Festival in the main square, an attacker approached him and shot him several times.
The federal government confirmed that, despite having protection, the hitmen took advantage of the vulnerability of a massive event.
The Mayor, who feared for his life, assured that citizens would continue fighting crime even if he was not there.
“They may screw me, but they are left with a very angry tiger that is the people of Uruapan. Waters, waters, because if they touch us they will touch the entire town of Uruapan“.