Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum is having a bad week, and it’s only Monday. Even so, she hasn’t let it stop her from further isolating herself from the common-sense countries in the Western Hemisphere and telling the people protesting the cartels in Mexico that she isn’t budging on her “hugs, not bullets” or “hugs for drugs” policy or whatever the heck she calls it these days.
It all started on Saturday evening when Carlos Manzo, the popular 40-year-old mayor of Uruapan, a town in the cartel-run, violence-ridden state of Michoacán was murdered during a Day of the Dead festival in the public square. He was holding his toddler son and having a good time with his family and constituents when someone emerged from the crowd and shot him.
Related: Mayor Who Begged Sheinbaum for Help Fighting Cartels Assassinated at Day of the Dead Celebration
I covered that on Sunday, but I’ve learned a lot more about Manzo since. As I said, he was extremely popular and had a bright future ahead, with many saying he would likely become the state’s governor or even president of Mexico one day. His only crime was being outspoken and tough on violence and cartels. Many compared him to El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele when it came to the way he wanted to clean up the country.
According to the Associated Press, “Manzo had been under protection since December 2024, three months after taking office. His security was reinforced last May with municipal police and 14 National Guard troops.” He’s asked Sheinbaum for help fighting the cartel violence in his region, and he has made accusations against Michoacán’s governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, along with the state police, implying they’re corrupt and fail to stop criminal organizations like Jalisco New Generation Cartel and La Familia Michoacán, both of which the United States has designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
Manzo also spoke out recently, stating that he and Sheinbaum didn’t see eye-to-eye on how to treat the cartels. Sheinbaum is into this kumbaya Gustavo Petro lite junk and claims that the way to get rid of the cartels is to try to understand them and get to the root of why they start in the first place. Manzo believed that it was important to neutralize crime as it happened through any means necessary.
Sheinbaum spoke out on Sunday and Monday, saying there would be no impunity for whoever killed Manzo, but she’s doubling down on the way she handles the cartels. “Some are calling for militarization and war, as happened with the war on drugs. That didn’t work,” she said, adding that homicide rates are down in her country. She also accused the “right wing” of being the ones who wanted the war on drugs. Sounds like she’s been reading the MSM rulebook. Rule #323: Label anything you’re against as “right-wing” or “far-right.”
She may have a few homicide numbers that she can rattle off, but the fact is that these cartels do act with impunity in many regions of Mexico, including Michoacán, and there’s no real sign of it stopping. Many call for the use of force or a Bukele-style crackdown. Of course, many also believe that Sheinbaum is affiliated with the cartels. Just last month, I reported that the State Department revoked the visas of 50 prominent leaders within Sheinbaum’s Morena Party as a part of the Donald Trump’s war against narco-terrorists. As of 2023, organized crime became the fifth-largest employer in Mexico.
The law-abiding Mexican people are angry. They’re fed up with the violence, and they’re letting her know. On Sunday and Monday, protests erupted throughout Michoacán and other cities in the country. Thousands took to the streets and chanted phrases like “Claudia is a murderer” and “Justice! Justice! Out with Morena!” Some even invaded government buildings, including the governor’s palace in Michoacán, where they broke furniture, painted slogans on the walls, and set items on fire. There are hundreds of videos of the on-going protests on X. Here are a few.
Enraged Mexican protesters take over the Government Palace, seeking justice for Carlos Manzo’s murder and Alfredo Bedolla’s ouster, slamming Morena’s narco-rule:
“Government murdered him!” pic.twitter.com/ybG9LTE81h
— Culture War Intel (@CultureWar2020) November 3, 2025
JUST IN: Town hall set on fire in Michoacan, Mexico as protests spread after killing of local mayor pic.twitter.com/ZWlDZV95xx
— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) November 4, 2025
Mexican citizens are protesting the assassination of the mayor of Michoacán and have occupied the city government headquarters.
Some people say that situations similar to those in Nepal are occurring in that city.
President Sheinbaum’s “hugs, not bullets” policy appears to be… pic.twitter.com/yKTFjqGZGp— Juan Manuel Ríos P (@jmriosp) November 3, 2025
As I said, people are fed up.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau posted his own tribute to Manzo on X on Sunday, and offered the following to the Mexican government: “The U.S. stands ready to deepen security cooperation with Mexico to wipe out organized crime on both sides of the border.”
While Sheinbaum didn’t respond to that directly, she did allude to it, saying that she rejected any sort of foreign intervention because that “gets you nowhere.”
But Sheinbaum’s increasing isolationism, particularly from democratic countries, is becoming a problem. Last month, she announced that she would not attend the Summit of Americas, which was to be held in the Dominican Republic in December, because the dictators from Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua were not invited. Colombia’s Petro made the same declaration.
And as I’m writing this, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced that the summit is postponed until 2026. The official reasoning via the Dominican Republic is that the build-up of the U.S. military in the Caribbean is making some countries uncomfortable, as well as the fact that several Caribbean nations are dealing with the effects of Hurricane Melissa Reading between the lines, my guess is that is by sometime in 2026, Venezuela will be free from tyranny, Petro will be voted out of office, and who knows what else will happen, and that’s what Rubio and other various leaders are hoping for. I may write more on that later in the week.
On behalf of the United States, we are grateful to Pres. Abinader for his friendship and his willingness to host the Summit of Americas. We fully support the decision to postpone the summit and will continue to work together with the Dominican Republic, and other countries in the…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) November 4, 2025
The other big news related to Mexico’s isolationism today is that the government of Peru announced that it was cutting diplomatic ties with our southern neighbors. The reason? Well, the short of it is that Mexico was harboring former Peruvian Prime Minister Betssy Chávez, who is currently in legal trouble in her home country. President José Jerí said that it’s not the first time Mexico has interfered with Peru’s affairs. Mexico’s Foreign Ministry claims it was just complying with international laws.
Either way, Sheinbaum isn’t currently making any friends at home or abroad. She’s under pressure from her constituents, the U.S., and many other countries in the region, and I have a feeling this is only the beginning.
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