Cartel Connected Mexican Governor Kicked Out of Murdered Crime-Fighting Mayor’s Ceremony

The cartel-connected governor of the Mexican state of Michoacan had to leave a ceremony and wake held to honor Carlos Manzo, the murdered Mayor of Uruapan, who had become famous in Mexico for his hard stance against cartels. Amid insults, shoves, and shouts, Governor Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla had to make a quick exit after trying to attend the event. Hours later, hundreds of protesters vandalized the governor’s palace and even attempted to torch it during a protest over Manzo’s murder and the raging cartel violence that plagues Michoacan.

On Sunday afternoon, Ramirez Bedolla traveled to Uruapan for a ceremony in honor of Manzo. As Breitbart Texas reported, Manzo died in a cartel attack when a gunman fired numerous shots at him during a Day of the Dead celebration. At the ceremony, relatives and followers of Manzo shouted for Ramirez Bedolla to leave, claiming he was not welcome at the event. The public called him a killer and a narco-trafficker. Breitbart Texas was the first news outlet to publish a series of documents proving that Ramirez Bedolla is the nephew of a drug lord convicted in the United States and the cousin of a second convicted drug lord. During his term as governor, Ramirez Bedolla has been widely criticized for being unable to control the cartel violence in his state.

By Sunday afternoon, hundreds of protesters gathered outside of the governor’s palace in the Michoacan state capital of Morelia, where they called for Ramirez Bedolla’s resignation and demanded an end to the cartel violence. Soon after, some of the protesters began to riot and vandalize the government building. Some of the protesters even tried to set fire to it.

Manzo’s murder sparked controversy in Mexico, where the country’s top security official, Omar Garcia Harfuch, revealed that Manzo had been assigned 14 National Guardsmen as a security detail. However, it remains unclear where the bodyguards were when the murder took place. According to Harfuch, the murder was carried out by a teenage gunman with the help of two other men.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected]. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].