Wife of assassinated Mexican mayor to assume his office, vows to fight drug cartels

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

By Lizbeth Diaz

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -The wife of a mayor brazenly assassinated during Day of the Dead celebrations in the violence-ridden Mexican state of Michoacan will assume her husband’s job on Wednesday, following several days of protests demanding justice for the crime.

Grecia Quiroz will replace her husband, Carlos Manzo, as mayor of Uruapan, known as Mexico’s avocado capital, President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday at her daily morning press conference. The swearing-in will take place Wednesday afternoon at the state’s congress.

A hooded gunman shot and killed Manzo, 40, on Saturday night as he attended a candlelight festival in an attack that sparked national outrage, in part because of his outspoken criticism of the federal government for not doing more to fight organized crime.

Moments before the shooting, Manzo had given a speech in the city of 350,000 and carried around his young son in his arms, dressed as a skeleton.

“They took the father of my children from me, but they were wrong, this isn’t over,” Quiroz said at a memorial service for Manzo on Monday. She promised to continue Manzo’s fight against powerful drug cartels that have become entrenched in the lucrative avocado and lime business. Carlos Bautista, leader of the Independent Hat Movement, to which Manzo belonged, told Reuters that the new mayor will be protected by at least 14 security agents.

“This is something that should never happen again,” Bautista said of Manzo’s killing, adding that some of Manzo’s political allies have also received death threats.

The Michoacan attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the alleged death threats.

There is growing discontent in Michoacan over the violence plaguing the region, where lemon and avocado producers have for years denounced extortion, kidnappings and killings linked to cartel violence. A leader from the local avocado sector, Bernardo Bravo, was killed in October.

Manzo’s murder triggered a wave of violence in Michoacan, including from residents demanding justice. In the state capital, Morelia, protesters vandalized government buildings for two days in a row.

Authorities have arrested two people in connection with Manzo’s killing and pledged to continue investigating. Sheinbaum said she also met in person with Quiroz and Manzo’s brother.

“They are quite right to demand justice and that this investigation be carried out to the end,” Sheinbaum said.

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; writig by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Emily Green and Leslie Adler)