Bravery alone won’t beat the cartels

The murder of a mayor speaks to a core issue with the war on drugs.

The Big News Breakdown. Unpacking this week’s most important news.

He was known as the Mexican Bukele. The mayor of the municipality of Uruapan, in the western state of Michoacán, would often go viral for his hands-on, head-on approach to tackling organised crime in one of the deadliest places in Mexico. He was known for riding with armed police to personally oversee raids on criminal operations.

On Saturday, mayor Carlos Manzo was murdered after being shot several times by a still unidentified gunman.

Despite being the eighth mayor to be killed in a country almost numbed by daily violence, Mexican society reacted strongly. The governor of Michoacán, from the ruling Morena party, was booed and kicked out of Manzo’s funeral. Protesters stormed the state’s capitol building chanting anti-Morena slogans. Social media was filled with voices disparaging the government.

Beyond being a well-known public figure, Manzo’s murder affected many because it seemed to confirm that those who stand up to criminals end up being targeted first.

The murder has already been intensely politicised, with the most scrutiny honing in on whether or not the federal government offered Manzo enough help. Though clearly an important factor in the midst of the country’s third most dangerous municipality, it also distracts from an important point.