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Seven bodyguards have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a popular Mexican mayor, authorities said.
Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo, an outspoken critic of cartel violence, was shot to death on November 1 during a public event to commemorate the Day of the Dead.
The Michoacán attorney general’s office said in a brief statement that the civil servants were detained for “possible involvement in homicide by gross omission related to Manzo’s killing.”
it follows On Wednesday, police arrested a man they said was the mastermind Officials say the person behind the murder has ties to a powerful drug cartel.
The attorney general’s office in Michoacán state, west of the capital Mexico City, said the seven guards had been arrested by state and federal officials, including the National Guard.
On Friday, troops and agents removed the suspect from a municipal building near where Manzo was killed, The Associated Press reported.
The 40-year-old mayor was attending a Day of the Dead ceremony with his relatives, which honors deceased family members and friends, when he was shot seven times, sending onlookers scrambling for cover.
Manzo’s assassination sparked mass protests and questions about why his security detail failed to stop the lone gunman.
The suspect was later subdued and shot by Manzo’s bodyguards.
Manzo has been outspoken about how avocado growers in the region are being extorted and threatened by criminal groups and has asked Mexico’s federal government to do more to curb the cartels.
Mexico’s security minister blamed the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which is engaged in drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion, for Manzo’s killing.
It is also notorious for targeting public officials who refuse to carry out its orders.
On Wednesday, Mexican officials arrested the mastermind of the assassination, who was only named Jorge Armando.
While the CJNG is considered the most powerful criminal gang operating in Michoacán, there are many other criminal gangs and their fight for control of drug, weapons and fuel smuggling routes often leads to deadly confrontations.
