A government official in Mexico, Carlos Manzo, who was serving as the mayor of Uruapan, was trying to fight against the cartels in his state of Michoacan. He even told his police officers that if they shoot cartel members they would be rewarded, as we read in the New York Times:

Before his death, Mr. Manzo — who started an independent political initiative known as the Sombrero Movement — had clashed with Ms. Sheinbaum over her security strategy, which he described as flawed and ineffective. He called for an iron fist approach to crime, even announcing he would reward police officers who killed cartel hit men.

Carlos Manzo was eventually gunned down.

Carlos Manzo

November 1st of 2025, Manzo was attending the Day of the Dead celebration in Uruapan, and was gunned down by a cartel assassin while he was next to his son. The event is an image of the horrendous and diabolical state of Mexico: they celebrate the dead — revere the dead as a harkening back to the paganism of pre-Christian Mexico — and in the midst of this cult of the deceased, bloodshed occurs. The one who tries to combat the bloodthirsty and abysmal criminal organizations is the one who is murdered. The gunmen has been identified as Manuel Ubaldo Vidaldes who, according to El Pais, “was reportedly connected to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).” According to sources close to the story, the murder of Manzo was ordered as a response to the police — under the authority of Manzo — arresting the CJNP’s regional boss, Rene Belmonte. Belmonte was running an extortion racket against small local farmers in Michoacan. According to Manzo’s wife, Grecia Quiroz, the federal government ignored Manzo’s continuous please for help against cartel violence in his city. On the day that Belmonte was arrested, on August 27th, Manzo posted a video on social media urging locals to stay home, warning that CJNG gunmen were readying to enter the city. During the following weeks, cartel violence got worse in Uruapan, and local police officers were attacked.

As a response to Manzo’s murder, thousands upon thousands of people in Mexico took to the streets to demand for an end to the cartel backing government.

Gen Z is rising up in Mexico

because they are the first generation to have access to enough information

to know that their entire government works for the cartels. pic.twitter.com/jDscey70FU

— Tablesalt 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@Tablesalt13) November 16, 2025

Manzo is being called Mexico’s Bukele (the leader of El Salvador who transformed his country from being one of the murder scenes of the earth to being a much safer country by actually fighting crime and putting the criminals behind bars or having officers shoot them in battles). As we read in the New York Times:

A large banner on the barricades protecting the Angel of Independence monument memorialized the mayor by comparing him to Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s tough-on-crime president: “They took away our Mexican Bukele, Carlos Manzo, to scare us. But they gave us a national hero.”

One of the demonstrators even called for the United States to intervene:

Roberto Navarro, 64, a farmer from Jalisco state, said he brought the banner to honor Mr. Manzo as a rare Mexican politician willing to stand up to cartels. He added that the mayor defended farmers like him, who often must pay extortion fees to criminal groups.

Only the United States, Mr. Navarro said, could loosen the cartels’ grip. “What can we do as citizens? Ask for intervention, which is the only solution,” he added.

Ms. Sheinbaum has repeatedly opposed that idea, stressing that while her government cooperates with U.S. authorities on intelligence sharing, any foreign security operation on Mexican territory would violate its sovereignty.

It makes one wonder if the US is involved in the demonstrations because it wants to take over Mexico for its own interests. Regardless, the cartel violence must be put to an end and Mexico is too corrupt to do it.