the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Nov 10, 2025
On Saturday, November 1, an assassin gunned down Carlos Manso, the mayor of Uruapan, a city in Michoacan, Mexico. The nineteen-year-old gunman shot the mayor seven times in the middle of a popular Day of the Dead celebration, while he was surrounded by a big crowd, including his family.
Carlos Manso was a deputy for the ruling Morena Party from 2021 to 2024. Then he ran for mayor of Uruapan, the second largest city in the state of Michoacan. He ran on a platform of directly attacking the cartels that dominate the region and cleaning out the corrupted officials who are tied to them. As mayor, Manso gave a big wage increase to the municipal police force with the condition that they dedicate themselves to fighting organized crime.
Since 2006 when former president Felipe Calderon declared war against the cartels, the situation has only gotten worse. Michoacan is now the center of a dispute between different cartels, including the CJNG (Jalisco New Generation Cartel), the Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar), the Viagras, and the Family. Many officials are either tied to the cartels directly or look the other way at their activity.
And though Manso was in the same party as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and said her politics are OK, he criticized her for not doing enough about the crime that exists in many states in Mexico. He demanded weapons and support from the central government she leads, for his fight against the cartels.
After Manso was gunned down, a big angry crowd stormed the city hall of Uruapan chanting “Fuera Morena,” “Fuera Sheinbaum,” (Out with Morena, Out with Sheinbaum), demanding that the governor and the president of Mexico resign. Riots have since spread across the state of Michoacan. People are fed up with so many years of fraud, crime, and impunity.
The question remains how far people can go. The cartels and the corrupted officials tied to them in the Mexican government are very powerful, linked to the businesses and parties that control the whole country.
But a fight against the cartels could start a fight against the whole system, toward the real transformation that Mexican workers need in the entire country.