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Sho rtly after 8 p.m. last Saturday, an assassin, wearing a white hoodie pulled over his head, exited the Hotel Alamada and walked about 50 metres to Plaza Morelos in the centre of Uruapan, a city in western Mexico branded as the avocado capital of the world.

His target: Mayor Carlos Manzo, who had risen to national prominence by loudly confronting the heavily armed organized crime groups who’ve unleashed violence throughout his region in power struggles over territory.

The assassin, carrying a 9-mm Beretta handgun, began weaving through crowds in the plaza, which included families with children, gathered for the Festival of Candles, part of the local Day of the Dead celebrations.

Surveillance video released by local authorities along with a timeline of events showed the assassin edging closer, homing in on Manzo, who was also dressed in white and accompanied by his wife and two children as he greeted people in the crowd.

When the assassin reached Manzo, he fired seven times before the mayor’s bodyguards — assigned by the federal government — responded, much too late, with lethal force.

Surveillance video captured an assassin, wearing a white hoodie and circled in red, approaching Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo, circled in blue, during the Festival of Lights celebration on Nov. 1, 2025. (Michoacan State Attorney General's Office)

Manzo’s killing triggered a spasm of fury that's now fuelling protests across the fertile state of Michoacan, which produces limes and avocados found on Canadian grocery shelves.