# Mexico mayor killed during Day of the Dead event after asking for cartel help
Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, the mayor of Uruapan in Mexico’s western state of Michoacán, was shot dead in front of crowds gathered for Day of the Dead festivities, according to the evidence packet for the event dated 2025-11-01. The attack took place in the town’s historic centre and left a city council member and a bodyguard injured.
Authorities said the mayor was rushed to hospital after the shooting but later died. The packet says the attack was carried out by an unidentified man who fired seven shots, and that the weapon was linked to prior clashes between rival criminal groups operating in the region. The killing is another reminder of how exposed local officials remain in parts of Mexico where armed groups compete for territory and illicit routes.
Manzo Rodríguez had been under protection since December 2024, and his security was reinforced in May with municipal police and 14 National Guard officers, according to the supplied report. Even with that protection, he was killed during a public celebration in a place packed with residents and tourists.
The event also shows how public and political the aftermath has become. On Sunday, hundreds of Uruapan residents dressed in black marched in the funeral procession and carried photographs of the mayor. The procession included his black horse, with his signature hat placed on the saddle, while musicians played mariachi songs under police and military guard.
In recent months, the mayor had publicly asked President Claudia Sheinbaum for help confronting cartels and criminal groups. He had also accused Michoacán’s governor and state police of corruption. The killing has therefore landed not only as a public-security story but as a political one, with local anger directed at state and federal authorities.
The Guardian reporting supplied for this event says investigators are not ruling out any line of inquiry. That caution matters in a state that has seen repeated violence against elected officials and journalists, and where several criminal groups remain active. The packet also notes that another mayor in Michoacán, Salvador Bastidas of Tacámbaro, was killed in June.
For Uruapan, the immediate picture is grim: a mayor shot in a public square, a community in mourning, and a security system that failed to protect a local leader who had been warning for months that organised crime needed a stronger response.
