Juan Manzo Rodríguez, brother of murdered Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo and Undersecretary of Government of Michoacán, stated that examining the close circle surrounding Grecia Quiroz, widow of the former mayor and current municipal president of Uruapan, could help clarify the murder. For that reason, he visited Ernestina Godoy Ramos, head of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), yesterday to ask her to take over the investigation and fully pursue the lines involving officials from the Michoacán municipality.
“I believe it is important to continue looking into the close circle because, in some way, there has been relevant information with interesting evidence that already makes it possible to establish a very clear theory of the case. Municipal officials who were protected by Grecia at the beginning of her administration and who were clearly involved in the murder have been hiding evidence and elements that should be part of the investigation,” he stated yesterday during his second interview this week with Alejandro Páez and Álvaro Delgado on the program “Los Periodistas.”
As he announced in his interview last Monday, Manzo Rodríguez went to the FGR to meet with Godoy Ramos and formally submit the request for the federal institution to take over the investigation into the murder of his brother Carlos, which occurred on November 1, 2025, in downtown Uruapan, Michoacán. Juan Manzo said during the conversation that having the FGR take over the case would make it possible to broaden the investigation and prevent the lines of inquiry involving municipal officials from going unexplored.
Also yesterday, the Michoacán Attorney General’s Office announced that, after Yesenia Méndez Rodríguez, Carlos Manzo’s former private secretary, expanded her statement, it would investigate a possible relationship between Grecia Quiroz and Samuel García Rivero, “Samuel N,” who is one of the alleged perpetrators of Carlos Manzo’s murder.
Regarding this decision by the state prosecutor’s office, the Undersecretary of Government also stated that Yesenia Méndez’s expanded statement strengthens a line of investigation pointing toward Grecia Quiroz. In his view, that information should be incorporated into a federal investigation that would allow authorities to further examine the actions of municipal officials.
“Based on the information in Yesenia’s statement, a line of investigation involving Grecia has been strengthened. In general terms, this key that the state Attorney General’s Office has opened should be part of the case being taken over by the federal Attorney General’s Office,” he said.
Manzo insisted that the investigation must fully examine the involvement of those who were part of the municipal administration and explained that the information provided by Méndez does not necessarily represent a complete turning point, but does reinforce allegations that had already circulated within the municipality itself.
“Yes, it strengthens all those assumptions, those things people were saying openly within the circle of the Uruapan municipal government among its employees,” he said. For that reason, he added, “it is very important because it clearly strengthens this entire version that already existed and that was part of what had been left unresolved in the investigation.”
Carlos Manzo’s phones, a key piece of evidence
Juan Manzo stated that one of the central issues in the investigation is the examination of his brother Carlos’s cell phones. He recalled that from the first days following the murder, he questioned why the devices had not been handed over to authorities and said that Michoacán’s Attorney General himself acknowledged that they had been requested twice.
“I mentioned the issue of the phones from the very beginning, and the Attorney General has said that he requested them on two occasions. From my point of view, this should have been handled with greater legal rigor,” he stated.
The state official also questioned how the devices were obtained and the explanations that have been given regarding their possession. He claimed that “a whole lot of lies have been told” to justify why the phones remained outside the investigation.
Manzo directly stated that authorities must determine who has the phones, who refused to hand them over, and which officials participated in administrative decisions involving individuals who, according to his account, should be investigated.
“It is about determining who has the phones, who has refused to hand them over, who authorized the administrative moves so that this man [Samuel García] could continue receiving a salary there. So I believe there are already more than sufficient grounds for that to happen,” he said.
He also requested an investigation into whether Grecia Quiroz may have had Carlos’s phones in her possession while they were still connected to the crime scene. Juan Manzo recalled that he spoke with her during the first days after the murder and that the explanation he received was that Carlos’s wish had been for no one to examine his phones.
“It seems completely absurd and ridiculous to me in the context of what we are seeing with a murder and given the seriousness with which the case must be handled,” he said.
The new statement provided by the former private secretary to the prosecutor’s office opened a line of inquiry connecting people close to Quiroz with García Rivero, who came to the Uruapan municipal government at the recommendation of the current mayor, according to information that has emerged in the case.
For Manzo, however, it is not enough to open that line of investigation: authorities must examine the people surrounding the municipal administration and determine what role they played before and after the murder.
“She hides the phones; hopefully there is nothing more, and they have also hidden the demand for the arrest of Jiménez, the head of the security detail,” he stated.
The former mayor’s brother also explained that the security personnel involved are part of Grecia Quiroz’s municipal administration and questioned why, while the murder is being investigated, the administration itself is providing legal defense for those officers.
For this reason, he insisted that the investigation must go beyond the alleged material perpetrators already identified and examine the relationships, decisions, and possible omissions of those who were part of Carlos Manzo’s inner circle and the current municipal administration.
“I am convinced that this line will have to be fully investigated, but I want the FGR to take over the case and allow these investigations to proceed,” he demanded.
Carlos Manzo’s secretary expands her statement
Yesterday, Israel Vega Rodríguez, Vice Prosecutor for Intelligence and Criminal Investigation and Acting Head of the Michoacán Attorney General’s Office, explained that Yesenia Méndez expanded her statement last Monday. The agency is therefore developing a plan to resume this line of investigation, which had previously been abandoned due to a lack of allegations.
“The complaint was only received the day before yesterday, so the investigation plan is currently being prepared. We have to exhaust all lines of investigation. If we have this new information, obviously we have to carry out the corresponding actions and try to clarify the matter,” he said when questioned by the press.
Just last Tuesday, Yesenia was interviewed by Delgado and Páez on “Los Periodistas.” The former municipal official explained that Samuel García, who has been charged as an alleged accomplice in Carlos Manzo’s murder, came to the Uruapan municipal government through the recommendation of Grecia Quiroz, who was then president of the municipal DIF and is now mayor.
Yesenia, one of Carlos Manzo’s closest collaborators, stated that Samuel García maintained a close relationship with Grecia Quiroz, a connection that allegedly played a decisive role in his arrival at the Uruapan municipal government and his subsequent appointment as director of Public Relations and Protocol, with a monthly salary of 70,000 pesos. Carlos Manzo’s former private secretary added that she saw him sending Quiroz photographs, screenshots, and messages about the mayor’s activities, despite having warned him herself that such information should not be shared.
Yesenia Méndez’s allegations during the interview on “Los Periodistas” are particularly relevant because García Rivero was charged as an alleged accomplice in Manzo’s murder. According to the investigation presented before a control judge, the former director of Public Relations and Protocol allegedly provided information about the mayor’s schedule and location during the festival in exchange for two packets of cocaine.
During her conversation with Delgado and Páez, Méndez insisted on the need to identify the person or people within Carlos Manzo’s circle who had access to the information that was ultimately used to locate him.
“When the murder happened, it was only two months after he arrived. He had no reason to have the schedule—yes, the public one, but not the private schedule or the president’s minute-by-minute schedule. That is where things do not add up. Someone was giving it to him, and who from inside was leaking that information?” the former private secretary stated.
Juan Manzo points to Grecia and the Sombrero Movement
Last Monday, during his first interview of the week with “Los Periodistas,” Juan Manzo Rodríguez said that Grecia Quiroz and members of the Sombrero Movement are linked to the murder. For that reason, he announced that he would travel to Mexico City that same week to ask the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to take over the investigation and prevent the case from being politicized and used for political gain, as he alleged was happening with Grecia herself and Jorge Álvarez Máynez, leader of the Citizens’ Movement (MC). He fulfilled that plan on Wednesday.
“Do you suspect Grecia?” Páez Varela asked him.
“It is not a matter of whether I suspect her; the evidence is there: she is hiding information. I believe that if there were a clear willingness to cooperate, we would be in a different situation, without a doubt,” the Michoacán official stated.
“Is Grecia being manipulated by political or criminal interests?” Delgado asked.
“I don’t know about criminal interests, but definitely political ones,” Juan replied. “What we want is for the case to be clarified without any political overtones, and Carlos’s case has already been politicized. The Máynez case [Jorge Álvarez Máynez, leader of the Citizens’ Movement, who expressed his support for Grecia Quiroz] is just an entry point,” the murdered mayor’s brother said.
Source: sinembargo
