From the Editorial
La Jornada Newspaper
Sunday, November 23, 2025, p. 4
Demetrio N, one of the bodyguards of the mayor of Uruapan, Carlos Manzo, arrested last Friday along with six other municipal police officers who were carrying out the same work, shot the mayor’s murderer in the back of the head on November 1 with the same weapon that the criminal used, according to the presentation of evidence made by the State Prosecutor’s Office (FGE) of Michoacán in the initial hearing against the bodyguards and Jorge Armando N, The Bachelor, one of the alleged masterminds of the crime.
In the proceedings, held from 5:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. yesterday, in room 6 of the courts of the High Security Center for High Impact Crime number 1, in the Mil Cumbres prison complex, in Charo, Michoacán, a control judge issued informal preventive detention against the eight defendants (seven men and one woman) for their alleged participation in the homicide.
According to the FGE version, the Jalisco cartel New Generation (CJNG) He would have offered a payment of 2 million pesos for the murder of the independent mayor and people close to him leaked information about all his movements to members of the criminal group.
The Public Ministry documented that the detained local police officers – accused of the crime of qualified homicide in the category of commission by omission – did not fulfill their task of safeguarding Manzo and were even at a distance from him at the time of the attack.
The agent identified as Demetrio N admitted that he shot Víctor Ubaldo, 17, the perpetrator of the homicide; However, he said that he struggled with the teenager to take the weapon from him, but since he was very strong, he chose to activate it.
However, the representative of the FGE provided expert evidence that revealed that the young man was killed when he was already subdued and even handcuffed, and that in this condition he was still resisting. It was at that moment, when Demetrio N approached and shot at the back of the hitman’s head from 10 centimeters away, with the same weapon with which he attacked the mayor.
In the reconstruction of events, the testimony of a paramedic was included who stated that when he wanted to approach Víctor Ubaldo to help, the local security elements did not give him access; It was not until the National Guard arrived that they were allowed to pass, but the murderer was already dead.
In the almost eight hours of diligence, the Public Ministry agent made an oral presentation of the evidence to impute probable criminal conduct to those involved, provided videos recorded on existing security cameras in the crime area, expert and documentary evidence, as well as capture of conversations in virtual messages of Ubaldo with two accomplices.
Jorge Armando N, alleged mastermind of the crime and member of the CJNG He witnessed the session virtually from the Federal Center for Social Readaptation (Cefereso) number one in El Altiplano, in the state of Mexico; His lawyer was in person.
The Bachelor He was arrested last Tuesday in the San Juan neighborhood of Morelia, accused of organizing logistics and coordinating at least three hitmen to murder Manzo; On Thursday night he was transferred to El Altiplano.
This Saturday, after the control judge validated the detention process of the eight defendants, the defense requested duplication at 144 hours, so it will be next Wednesday when it will be decided if they are linked to the process.
The seven bodyguards will remain held in the Mil Cumbres prison complex, in Michoacán, and The Bachelor in the Cefereso of El Altiplano, in the state of Mexico.
(With information from Ernesto Martínez and Marco Antonio Duarte/ Special for The Day)
