At least 63 people carrying out public duties have been murdered in the state of Michoacán in the last five years; This list includes the mayor of Uruapan, Carlos Manzo, murdered on the night of Saturday, November 1 after an event commemorating the Day of the Dead.
According to statistics collected by Data Cívica, At least seven of the victims served as mayors, and there are eight with the murder of Carlos Manzo.
The most recent case prior to Manzo Rodríguez is that of the mayor of the municipality of Tepalcatepec, Michoacán, Martha Laura Mendoza Mendoza, who was active in Morena and was murdered on June 17 along with her husband, in front of her home, in the midst of the fights between two organized crime groups that sought control of said municipality.
Another of the most emblematic cases is that of the mayor of Cotija, Yolanda Sánchez Figueroa, murdered on June 3, just one day after the elections. The mayor was about to finish her term when she was killed, and it stands out because nine months earlier she had already been kidnapped by organized crime.
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Carlos Manzo had federal protection
The murder of Carlos Manzo occurred despite the fact that, according to the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, he had federal protection since 2024 and even, last May, “reinforcement” of said protection had been granted.
Just a couple of months ago, the municipal police of Uruapan had arrested René Belmontes, alias “El Rino” or “El Chamuco”, identified as a generator of violence in the region and alleged plaza boss at the service of the Nueva Generación Cartel. For this reason, The mayor had once again requested the support of the Armed Forces and federal security elements. Even, had repeatedly urged the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, to send more resources to address the situation of organized crime that stalks Uruapan in the face of struggles for control of the territory.
García Harfuch confirmed that, according to the first ballistic analyzes carried out after the attack on Manzo Rodríguez, The weapon with which the crime was committed had been used in previous confrontations between cartels.
Sample of the collapse of the security system in Mexico
For Rubén Ortega Montes, an academic at the University of Guadalajara and specialist in security matters, The murder of the municipal president of Uruapan, Michoacán, Carlos Manzo Rodríguez, is an example of the collapse of the security system in Mexico.
Thus, he stated, Michoacán and Mexico are confirmed as a “failed state”, incapable of protecting even its own rulers. “Not even this mayor, who is the second most important in the state of Michoacán, after Morelia, was safe. This shows that freedom of expression and expression of ideas, in terms of everything that concerns governance and government, are limited. Anyone who dares to tell the truth is silenced with lead or silver, and, apparently, the case of Carlos Manzo is that they silenced him with lead,” he said.
The specialist regretted that, despite the statements of the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, that the mayor had federal protection, “the attack had been carried out without obstacles.”
“Manzo should have been more protected”
“It surprises me because I consider García Harfuch a truly professional in public security work. By saying that he had the protection of the federal government and they killed him in this way, although he says that they took advantage of the vulnerability of a public act, since that is when a character should be protected the most, within a security circle and with intelligence work around. If someone brings weapons, it can be detected. So, they are incompetent, they are ineffective, they are ineffective and they are indolent with all this criminal policy,” he said.
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Ortega Montes added that the death of the mayor occurs in a context where fear has become an instrument of government, a policy that, he said, only reflects the authorities’ fear of losing power or facing organized crime.
“Right now, the easiest thing is to keep your mouth closed and thereby say that you agree with this wrong policy that is being forged in Mexico, a policy that they are turning into fear, into fear as state policy. No hugs, no bullets; That is nothing else but fear: the fear of losing power, the fear of facing crime. When they swore and protested to comply with the constitutional mandate – Article 1 on human rights and Article 21 on security and the administration of justice – they are not carrying it out,” he denounced.
Governor of Michoacán was rebuked at Manzo’s funeral
The academic highlighted that the governor of Michoacán, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, was rebuked this Sunday at the funeral of Manzo Rodríguez, where the attendees shouted “murderer” at him. He said that This reaction reflects social fatigue with a government that, in their opinion, has opted for passivity.
In fact, Seven of the eight murdered municipal officials have been killed during the six-year term of Ramírez Bedolla: Enrique Velázquez Orozco, mayor of Contepec, murdered in February 2022; César Arturo Valencia Caballero, municipality of Aguililla, in March 2022; Guillermo Torres Rojas, mayor of Churumuco, in April 2024; Yolanda Sánchez Figueroa, from Cotija, in June 2024; Salvador Bastida García, municipality of Tacámbaro, last June; Martha Laura Mendoza, mayor of Tepalcatepec, also last June; and now, Carlos Manzo.
“We already saw how they ran Governor Bedolla away from the funeral shouting murderer, when he mocked and told Carlos Manzo how many he had killed, since we did not see him in operations or in arrests of robberies or assaults. He wasn’t saying he was going to take a stand against organized crime, knowing what a thousand-headed monster it is. When he resorted to asking the President, the Secretary of Security, and the governor himself for support, he found nothing but silences that kill,” he stated.
Organized crime has a strong presence in Michoacán
Regarding the general panorama of Michoacán, he pointed out that the Nueva Generación Cartel maintains a strong presence in that entity, as well as in other states of the country, due to the fragmentation and expansion of organized crime.
“This cartel and its leader come from Michoacán and are present in Zacatecas, Veracruz, Guerrero and Oaxaca, among other places. I think that the municipal presidents that they cannot bring to office with money, then they demand that they hand over the police stations, the public works, the regulations or the national holidays. If they don’t, they start chasing them until they have to succumb. They have to hand over power to the organized crime that rules in those places,” he warned.
Oaxaca faces a similar situation
The academic stated that The case of Uruapan is emblematic, but not isolated, since it is repeated in different parts of the country. He recalled that entities like Oaxaca face a similar situation, with municipalities under the control of criminal groups that act without hierarchical coordination, which generates ungovernability.
“In Oaxaca, with almost 500 municipalities, organized crime has quite a presence. There are different cartel cells that no longer respond directly to their national or international bosses, and therefore there is a total lack of control. These town bosses want to control the municipalities, and we fall into an ungovernability that we do not want to recognize. A study already said that 70% of Mexico was organized crime territory,” he commented.
Finally, Ortega Montes called on the authorities to abandon the politics of fear and assume the constitutional obligation to guarantee security and justice.
“We are going to call on them to leave this criminal policy that is based on the government’s fear of facing its obligation and responsibility for which they were elected. Mainly it is not the services: it has always been the State police, public security and the administration of justice,” he concluded.
Manzo homicide exhibits the vulnerability of municipalities
The murder of the municipal president of Uruapan, Michoacán, Carlos Manzo Rodríguez, once again places the vulnerability with which local governments face organized crime at the center of the debate. as well as the absence of an effective national security policy, considered international security analyst David Saucedo.
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