The curious case of the bodyguards who did not guard or protect
It seems that in Michoacán justice has a quite peculiar sense of humor. The authorities, in an outburst of investigative zeal, have decided to detain seven bodyguards of the mayor of Uruapan, Carlos Manzo. The reason? His brilliant performance the night his boss was shot to death. Because, of course, when you hire a security team, what you really expect is that they take aesthetic notes of the fireworks show.
The State Prosecutor’s Office, with a solemnity that almost makes one feel sad, reported that these municipal police officers were arrested for a crime that sounds like a legal tongue-twister: homicide qualified by omission as a guarantor. Basically, they are accused of watching with the same passivity of an amateur in the cinema while Víctor Manuel Ubaldo, the adolescent aggressor, was shot, when he was already more immobilized than the hopes of transparency in the government. The arrests, a high-impact operation, were carried out at the Casa de la Cultura of Uruapan. Because nothing says “culture” like handcuffing the bodyguards of a murdered councilor in a venue that should promote the arts.
The transfer of these elite escorts (or perhaps we should say, failed elite) will be to the Lic. David Franco Rodríguez Penitentiary Center in Morelia, in exemplary coordination between the Prosecutor’s Office, the National Guard and the Army. One wonders if so many troops were necessary to escort those who, apparently, do not know what escorting is.
A tragedy turned into a bloody farce
Manzo’s murder was not an isolated event. It happened during the Festival de la Vela, an event that, ironically, should illuminate, not obscure. The young attacker and several of his alleged accomplices, who according to authorities had ties to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, later died in circumstances as “clear” as mud. With these arrests, the state and federal government desperately seeks to demonstrate that the crime will not go unpunished. Because nothing says “effective justice” like arresting those who were adorning the scene at the time of the crime, right?
The investigation now focuses on the mayor’s first security circle, that select group that was supposed to be his human shield. The million-dollar question we all ask ourselves, with sarcasm included, is: what chain of events allowed a teenager to be shot and then “killed” after being neutralized? It sounds like a poorly written script for a drug dealer series, where logic is the first casualty.
The official response: A monument to the obvious
The authorities, with the most serious face they could put on, have emphasized that these arrests are an “important step” to guarantee justice. The State Prosecutor’s Office has declared, in a display of insight, that “all aspects” of the attack will continue to be investigated, including the possible participation of other actors. Meanwhile, the Uruapan community hopes, with a faith that borders on the pathetic, that effective measures will be taken to prevent future incidents of violence in the region. Because, evidently, arresting bodyguards who failed is the magic formula to deter organized crime.
In short, we find ourselves facing a mess where reality surpasses the most absurd fiction. A murdered mayor, bodyguards who seem like extras in a comedy of errors, and authorities who try to sell the arrest of the latter as a triumph of the law. The spectacle of political violence and public security in Mexico never ceases to provide us with moments worthy of acidic and biting humor.
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