A mayor in Mexico\u2019s western state of Michoac\u00e1n was shot dead in a plaza in front of dozens of people who had gathered for Day of the Dead festivities, authorities have said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mayor of the Uruapan municipality, Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodr\u00edguez, was gunned down Saturday night in the town\u2019s historic centre. He was rushed to a hospital where he later died, according to state prosecutor Carlos Torres Pi\u00f1a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A city council member and a bodyguard were also injured in the assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attack on the mayor was carried out by an unidentified man who shot him seven times, the federal security secretary, Omar Garc\u00eda Harfuch, told journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The weapon was linked to two armed clashes between rival criminal groups operating in the region, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo line of investigation is being ruled out to clarify this cowardly act that took the life of the mayor,\u201d Garc\u00eda Harfuch added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michoac\u00e1n is one of Mexico\u2019s most violent states and is a battleground between various cartels and criminal groups fighting for control of territory, drug distribution routes and other illicit activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Sunday, hundreds of Uruapan residents, dressed in black and holding up photographs of Manzo Rodr\u00edguez, took to the town\u2019s streets to accompany the funeral procession. They chanted \u201cJustice, justice. Out with Morena\u201d, a reference to the ruling party of the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In recent months, the Uruapan mayor had publicly appealed to Sheinbaum on social media for help to confront the cartels and criminal groups. He had accused Michoac\u00e1n\u2019s pro-government governor, Alfredo Ram\u00edrez Bedolla, and the state police of corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the head of the procession, a man led Manzo Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s black horse, with one of the mayor\u2019s signature hats placed on the saddle. A group of musicians, also dressed in black, followed and played mariachi songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the narrow streets of the agricultural town dozens of police and military officers guarded the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attack on Manzo Rodr\u00edguez, a former Morena legislator, was captured on video and shared on social media. The footage shows dozens of residents and tourists enjoying the event before several gunshots ring out and people run for cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In another video, a person is seen lying on the ground as an official performs CPR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manzo Rodr\u00edguez 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, Garc\u00eda Harfuch said, without specifying what prompted the measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manzo Rodr\u00edguez, who some nicknamed \u201cthe Mexican Bukele\u201d in reference to the tough security policies of El Salvador\u2019s president, Nayib Bukele, took office as mayor of Uruapan after winning that year\u2019s midterm elections with an independent movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mayor\u2019s killing follows the death of Salvador Bastidas, mayor of the municipality of Tac\u00e1mbaro, also in Michoac\u00e1n. Bastidas was killed in June along with his bodyguard as he arrived at his home in the town\u2019s Centro neighbourhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In October 2024, journalist Mauricio Cruz Sol\u00eds was also shot in Uruapan shortly after interviewing Manzo Rodr\u00edguez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A mayor in Mexico\u2019s western state of Michoac\u00e1n was shot dead in a plaza in front of dozens of people who had gathered for Day of the Dead festivities, authorities have said. The mayor of the Uruapan municipality, Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodr\u00edguez, was gunned down Saturday night in the town\u2019s historic centre. He was rushed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":36293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[11261,183,5304,6063,6573,12758,12407,9331,11287,1384,6083,7234,5241,1458,11273,4066,6303,7896,2264,10453,6825,11111,10197,6030,10419,9515,10454,12408,5331,3797,1510,5572,12287,12187,421,3805,5655,11259,5349,8033,594],"class_list":["post-47379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-accused","tag-assault","tag-attack","tag-battleground","tag-black","tag-captured","tag-carlos-alberto-manzo-rodriguez","tag-city","tag-claudia-sheinbaum","tag-corruption","tag-dead","tag-death","tag-died","tag-distribution","tag-drug","tag-el","tag-el-salvador","tag-funeral","tag-government","tag-guard","tag-hospital","tag-injured","tag-investigation","tag-journalist","tag-justice","tag-killed","tag-killing","tag-mar-garcia-harfuch","tag-mayor","tag-mexican","tag-mexico","tag-military","tag-movement","tag-n","tag-police","tag-president","tag-security","tag-shot","tag-social-media","tag-video","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47380,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47379\/revisions\/47380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}