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Uruapan Mayor Assassinated as 17-Year-Old Gunman Is Identified, Federal 'Rescue' Plan Readied

The killing has renewed debate over lowering Mexico’s age of criminal responsibility.

Overview

  • Municipal police killed the assailant, identified as 17-year-old Víctor Manuel Ubaldo Vidales, after he fatally shot Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo.
  • Relatives had been searching for Vidales following his recent disappearance from his home in Paracho, which aided his identification.
  • Authorities are being pressed to trace and detain the alleged intellectual authors of the assassination.
  • Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez held virtual sessions with the 113 Michoacán municipal presidents and with Catholic and evangelical leaders to shape a state rescue program, with a draft expected next week.
  • The case has reignited proposals to reduce the age of criminal responsibility to 16, highlighting long-standing cartel recruitment of minors and brief juvenile sentences for severe crimes.