MEXICO CITY (CN) - In her morning press conference on Monday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to the murder of outspoken Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo, killed Saturday night during Day of the Dead celebrations in his home state.

"The strength of the state is justice," she said, adding the war against the narco and militarization didn't work.

"That is what led to the situation of violence in Michoacan," Sheinbaum said before directly blaming her predecessors, referring to the Mexican drug war that can formally be traced back to 2006 when Felipe Calderon launched Operation Michoacan.

Calderon deployed tens of thousands of Mexican troops to various cartel hot spot states, including Michoacan. Due to the operation and other interventions, cartels split into smaller factions causing rising homicides rates throughout the country.

In 2012, Pena Nieto took over the presidency and largely continued Calderon's militarization tactics.

"What generated this violence that has barely decreased was six years of Calderon, six years of Pena," Sheinbaum said, referring to the former presidents. "Our strategy has always been attention to the causes of violence, zero impunity and intelligence," she said.

Carlos Manzo was shot seven times Saturday night in front of dozens of people in the central plaza of Uruapan, Michaocan.

One of Manzo's attackers was immediately killed by a bodyguard. The dead attacker has not been identified, and it is unclear how many more were involved in the attack.

In a press conference Sunday, Federal Security Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch said that the gun used in the murder was linked to armed clashes between organized criminal groups. The mayor was being protected at the time by 14 members of the National Guard and local police.

Manzo ran for mayor in 2024 as an independent after cutting ties with the Morena party, which he criticized for not being tough enough on crime.

Manzo was known for his social media presence, where he called out organized crime networks.

In September, Manzo threatened an armed civilian uprising if the federal government didn't solve the murder of Uruapan police officer Vidal Brigido Guzman.

"If there is no attention from the federal government, if there is no attention from the justice system, we are going to let the people take justice into their own hands," Manzo said in a press conference after announcing the temporary cancellation of cable car construction until the murder was solved.

Manzo appealed to Sheinbaum and Harfuch for protection due to multiple threats against his life, which was granted.

"Since the month of December 2024, he had been assigned protection, and in May an additional reinforcement. Unfortunately, the assailants took advantage of the vulnerability of a public event to organize the attack," Harfuch said Sunday.

"I don't want to be added to the list of murdered mayors," Manzo told a Mexican media outlet in a September interview.

On Sunday, crowds gathered in Uruapan outside his funeral.

Videos on social media show Michoacan Governor Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla, of the Morena party, leaving the building and quickly being escorted into a security vehicle as angry crowds screamed, "murderer!" at him and urged him to step down from office immediately.

Other protesters gathered outside of and broke into the Uruapan government palace in opposition to Bedolla.

Manzo is the seventh mayor murdered in the four years Bedolla has been Michoacan governor.

Two involved in the lucrative Michaocan citrus industry - long a target of organized criminals - were also murdered in the past month.

Alejandro Torres Mora and his wife were murdered on Saturday. Torres Mora was a significant lime producer and the nephew of former self-defense group leader Hipolito Mora, who was killed in 2023.

Hipolito Mora rose up against cartels in his region of La Ruana, Michoacan, that were kidnapping and extorting lime growers in order to control the market.

And on Oct. 20, Bernardo Bravo's body was found in his truck riddled with bullets. Bravo was the president of a significant Michoacan citrus growing association and, before his death, made several complaints against organized criminals and extortion networks in the citrus industry.

Bravo's father was murdered in 2016 in a nearly identical manner, and also after demanding an end to extortion.

Source: Courthouse News Service