Mexican mayor who waged war on cartels is killed

Carlos Manzo, known for tough stance on crime gangs, is shot at Day of the Dead fete.

- By KATE LINTHICUM

Carlos Manzo was famous in Mexico for saying what few other politicians would: That cartels operated with impunity and needed to be confronted with brute force. The mayor of a city in an avocado-growing region beset by crime and violence, Manzo suggested authorities should beat criminals into submission—or simply kill them.

It was a provocative message that resonated in some sectors of a country long afflicted by drug war bloodshed. Many here viewed Manzo, with his trademark white cowboy hat, as a hero.

But his iron fist rhetoric and criticism of the federal government's security strategy also earned him enemies.

Manzo acknowledged as much, saying he knew he could be targeted by organized crime. “I don’t want to be just another murdered mayor,” he said last month. “But it is important not to let fear control us.”

Manzo, 40, was gunned down Saturday night as he presided over a public celebration of Day of the Dead in acentral square in Uruapan, a city of 300,000 in the western state of Michoacan. One suspected gunman was killed and two others arrested.

The slaying, captured on video, provoked outery throughout Mexico and in Washington.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, with whom Manzo often sparred on issues of security, mourned an “irreparable loss.” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau posted a photograph of Manzo smiling and holding his young son just moments before the attack. “The U.S. stands ready to deepen security cooperation with Mexico to wipe out organized crime,” Landau wrote.