Mexico City. Businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego, president of Grupo Salinas, took advantage of the assassination of the mayor of Uruapan, Michoacán, Carlos Manzo, to address his employees during an event commemorating the 75th anniversary of Elektra, one of the conglomerate's companies that, according to the Tax Administration Service (SAT), has outstanding debts.

Wearing a white hat, similar to the one Manzo used, and which the businessman referred to in a social media post as"the dead man", Salinas Pliego delivered a message from a platform with the retailer's name as a backdrop.

“He became the eleventh mayor and one more statistic in the death toll that plagues our country, 80-100 deaths a day. What could be more important than that? And that's why I say it's a sad day too, because of the situation we're facing, but it's also a day of joy,” he said, referring to his company's anniversary.

“If you want to be rich, sell to those who have the least. It’s great advice my grandfather gave me,” the businessman told his employees.

Salinas Pliego is the fifth richest man in Mexico, according to Forbes. Among those on this list, he has stood out due to the public nature of his companies' debts to the Mexican tax authority (SAT), especially since the previous administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who began as an ally of the new government.

On October 26, the owner of Grupo Salinas asked the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo for an update on his companies' debt with the Tax Administration Service and publicly committed to settling it"in less than 10 days".

However, the amount the businessman is “willing” to pay (7.6 billion pesos, according to a letter sent to the President, which includes a prior payment of 2.7 billion pesos in 2022) is far from what the Mexican government is demanding: 74 billion pesos, as reported in June by the Federal Tax Attorney, Grisel Galeano.