Movimiento del Sombrero Profits From Manzo’s Murder, His Brother Charges

ByÁlvaro Delgado Gómez

This article by Álvaro Delgado Gómez originally appeared in the August 4, 2026 edition of SinEmbargo.

Mexico City, August 3 (SinEmbargo).– The Movimiento del Sombrero and the Mayor of Uruapan, Grecia Quiroz, have turned the murder of Carlos Manzo into a political discourse for electoral purposes and have obstructed the clarification of the case by not fully cooperating with the authorities, charged Juan Manzo, brother of the former mayor and undersecretary of Government of Michoacán.

In an interview with Álvaro Delgado on the program “Los Periodistas” broadcast through SinEmbargo Al Aire’s YouTube channel, Juan Manzo maintained that the priority should be to clarify his brother’s murder and not turn the case into a political banner heading into the 2027 elections, a process in which Grecia Quiroz has already confirmed she will seek the governorship backed by the Movimiento del Sombrero.

“It is more profitable for them not to deliver results, in order to politicize the absence of results. And it seems to me that in the case of the Movimiento del Sombrero they have used Carlos’s case, who is ultimately the greatest victim of this regrettable event, so that his death becomes a political discourse,” he stated.

Carlos Manzo was murdered on November 1, 2025, during the Festival de las Velas. To date, the authorities have made dozens of arrests over the alleged participation of members of organized crime, officials and members of his security detail. The most recent progress came at the end of July with the arrest in Jalisco of Ramón Ángel “N,” alias “El R1,” identified by the authorities as the alleged intellectual and financial author of the murder and leader of a cell linked to the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). In the same operation, Jesús Salvador “N,” “El Chuy,” was captured.

With these arrests, the federal Government reported that 31 people are now detained in connection with the case, among them criminal operators, alleged recruiters, officials and escorts of the Mayor himself, while the investigations continue to determine all responsibilities in the planning and execution of the crime.

Juan Manzo asserted in the interview that, beyond directly solving the crime, the political group to which his brother belonged would have the obligation to provide any information that helps the authorities clarify the facts. “It is not that they are going to solve it, it is simply having the will to cooperate, having the will to present the elements within their reach in order to uncover the context in which the crime could have developed,” he noted.

In that regard, he criticized that the arrest of José Manuel Jiménez, identified by him as a member of the Movimiento del Sombrero, had not been supported either, as well as the defense of other members of the group who face proceedings related to the case.

Juan Manzo also questioned the conduct of Grecia Quiroz, considering that she has fallen into contradictions regarding the available information about the threats that Carlos Manzo allegedly received before being murdered.

“If Grecia says that Carlos had threats, well those threats must be on the phones, and she does not want to hand over the phones. So there is a contradiction that she does not want to clear up because it is easier to point at those who are her opposition within this political struggle,” he maintained.

For the undersecretary, clarifying the murder must take precedence over any electoral aspiration. “Beyond the political struggle we must clarify the Carlos Manzo case, and each person will afterward have their right to participate legitimately in the elections,” he expressed.

Asked directly whether he believes that the Mayor of Uruapan and the Movimiento del Sombrero are profiting from the murder of Carlos Manzo, he responded in the affirmative.

“It is regrettable, but that is how it is, they profit from a tailored narrative with Carlos’s tragedy. I believe they have not acted with transparency,” he stated.

He added that those who truly seek justice should give priority to the investigations advancing without obstacles and without protecting people close to the movement.

“For those who are truly pained by the loss of Carlos, beyond the political, the most just thing is that it find total clarity and that there be no impunity,” he said.

He even warned that the political identity of some of those involved could become a factor for obstructing justice.

“Being from the Movimiento del Sombrero can become an element of impunity for the very crime against Carlos Manzo, and I am not going to accept that. Nor if there is impunity on the part of a member of Morena or another party,” he asserted.

Finally, Juan Manzo maintained that there is a strategy to turn the case into a tool of electoral profitability.

“There is a narrative that sees its interests affected in countless places where it seeks to participate. There are points where this narrative is used to obtain electoral profitability,” he concluded.

Grecia Quiroz assumed the municipal presidency of Uruapan after the murder of Carlos Manzo. In recent months she confirmed that she will seek the governorship of Michoacán in 2027 backed by the Movimiento del Sombrero, with which her husband won the mayoralty through the independent route. In addition, she registered with the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) the trademarks “Carlos Manzo” and “Movimiento Independiente del Sombrero,” which since the beginning of 2026 she can use to organize meetings, consultancies and political activities.

Since taking office, Quiroz has blamed state and federal authorities for the lack of security that, she maintains, her husband faced before being murdered. This past May she questioned that the federal Government granted protection to the Governor on leave of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, while she claimed that Carlos Manzo was “ignored” despite belonging to a citizens’ movement.

The murder investigation has also been accompanied by public differences between the Mayor and Juan Manzo.

The undersecretary of Government has accused her of not handing over his brother’s cell phone so that it can be reviewed by the Prosecutor’s Office, of trying to favor the release of detained escorts, and of the City Council paying for their defense.

Quiroz has rejected those accusations, asserted that the phone is available for the proceedings as long as the review is carried out in her presence, and denied that the municipal Government covers the fees of the escorts’ lawyers.

Álvaro Delgado Gómez is a journalist born in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, in 1966. He began his career as a reporter in 1986 and has worked in the newsrooms of El Financiero, El Nacional, and El Universal. In November 1994, he joined the weekly magazine Proceso as a reporter, where he served as Head of Political News and specialized in political coverage. He has authored several books, most notably El Yunque, la ultraderecha en el poder (Plaza y Janés), El Ejército de Dios (Plaza y Janés), and El engaño. Prédica y práctica del PAN (Grijalbo). His most recent book is El amasiato. El pacto secreto Peña-Calderón y otras traiciones panistas (Editorial Proceso).