Vocal anti-cartel mayor shot and killed at Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico

The anti-cartel mayor who pushed for anti-drug trafficking laws was fatally shot at a Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico.

Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo has taken a hardline stance against the drugs and gangs that run large parts of Mexico, criticizing current Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for her lack of serious action against the problems. The city he was elected to lead is located in Michoacán State, an area with particularly high cartel-related violence.

“We need greater determination from the president of Mexico,” he said in a September statement, where he also vowed not to take “a single step back.”

“I do not want to be just another mayor on the list of those who have been executed and had their lives taken away from them. I am very afraid, but I must face it with courage.”

“If she thinks she’s going to detain these criminals without a single shot fired and that they’ll just turn themselves in, well, she should get it done,” he noted in a speech in May. “And believe me, if she manages to do that, I will immediately submit my resignation.”

Then, on Saturday night, while attending a local Day of the Dead celebration, Manzo was shot seven times by an unidentified assailant. He would die of his wounds at the hospital later. The most shocking part of the successful murder of the politician was just how significant a security presence was at the event. His detail included “officers handpicked by Manzo as well as 14 National Guard members,” according to a report by Fox News.

Mexican Security Minister Omar García Harfuch says that an investigation into the assassination is ongoing, blaming the shooting on “organized crime.”

“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,” he said at a presser on the killing. “There will be no impunity.”

It is not hard to believe that a member of the cartel could have pulled off the public hit, perhaps even paying off one or more members of Manzo’s security for their cooperation in the matter. It also highlights the need for the United States to take action in securing the southern border so this kind of violence doesn’t spill over and become the norm. President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts have largely been successful in removing illegal aliens, but stonewalling from leftists and activist judges could continue to gum up the works until the end of his second and final presidential term.

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