Mexico Starts Disarming Vigilantes (Updated)
Mexico Starts Disarming Vigilantes – BBC
Mexican security forces sent to quell unrest in the western state of Michoacan have started disarming local vigilante groups, state officials say.
The "self-defence groups" took control of a number of towns in an effort to drive out members of a drug cartel…
Mexico Forces in Deadly Clash With Vigilantes – Associated Press
The Mexican government moved in to quell violence between vigilantes and a drug cartel in Michoacan state, but the campaign turned deadly early Tuesday with a confrontation between soldiers and civilians who witnesses say were unarmed.
There were widely varying reports of casualties, but Associated Press journalists saw the bodies of two men said to have died in the clash, and spoke to the family of a third man who was reportedly killed in the same incident. No women or children died, contrary to earlier reports by the spokesman of a self-defense group…
Injured Leader of Mexican Anti-cartel Militia Vows to Go On by Joshua Partlow, Washington Post
More than a week after surviving a plane crash, the injured Mexican militia leader Jose Manuel Mireles rejected the government’s call for his movement to disarm, vowing to fight on until the drug cartel leaders in his area have been arrested and the state of Michoacan establishes the rule of law.
Mireles, a 55-year-old surgeon who leads the militia movement that has spread rapidly over the past year across Michoacan and seized territory from the Knights Templar drug cartel, spoke to reporters late Monday night from a safe house after receiving treatment at an upscale private hospital in Mexico City…
Caught this comment today that reflects what the violence in Michoacan appears to the author to be.
“I thought this article would be useful in understanding of the Michoacán situation. Although the government (or ‘governments’, state and federal) refuse to use the term ‘war’ to refer to the conflict in Michoacán, there is really no other word that is as appropriate to a situation that involves military forces, armed groups and police forces shooting it out for control of territory. It sure looks like a war to this Mexican. — un vato.”
A Mexican woman told me once that the Mexicans will take it and take it and take it, so much so that you would think they will take it forever. Then in an instant they’ll go off like a bomb and kill everybody in sight. I’ve always remembered that. I don’t know if it is true but I’ve always remembered it.
The striking thing about the self defence groups is that from what I read and see in photos there are a lot of middle aged, middle class men men in their ranks. These are productive guys who at that stage of life don’t go in for adventure and have a lot of pressing things to do, like feeding the kids and paying the bills. For them to drop all that and actively take up arms means this is an extremely serious thing for Mexico. Their prime spokesman is a 55 year old doctor for pete’s sake! I figured Col. Q was done for in Libya when I read that so many merchants and engineering students took up arms against him and now middle class, middle age men are taking up arms in Mexico.
There was big trouble in Mexico in 1810, in 1910 and now it is three years past 2010. I hope there isn’t a pattern there.
carl—this came out of Mexico media yesterday concerning the SD —check the last couple of sentences.
“The self-defense groups say they are popular with the people, and that their arrival is applauded. They say they have no ties to rival criminal gangs – something the Michoacán government and opponents leading protests against them allege.
“To say [self-defense groups are] purely people that want to protect themselves is an exaggeration,” says Father Patricio Madrigal, parish priest in Nueva Italia. Rival cartels certainly have reason to want to see the Knights Templar weakened, and could be taking advantage of the situation. But Father Madrigal adds that to his knowledge, any offers to vigilante groups by Knights Templar rivals have been rejected.
After Monday’s confrontation, the local bishop, Monsignor Miguel Patiño Velázquez – whose priests have supported the self-defense groups – issued a blistering pastoral letter saying, “The army and the government have fallen into discredit because instead of pursuing criminals, they have attacked the persons that defend them.”
Locals, many fearful to give their names, speak of crimes commonly carried out here before the arrival of self-defense groups, such as extortion, kidnapping, and rape.
Farmer Calixto Álvarez says he paid 1 peso per kilo of lemons [approximately $0.10 for every 2 lbs] he took to the packing plant and 3 pesos per kilo for each kilo of meat he sold to a slaughterhouse [about $0.25 for every 2 lbs].
“It got to the point that they couldn’t take deliveries anymore,” Mr. Alvarez says.
He supports the self-defense groups and, like many, says he wants them to stay armed and patrolling the region.
“The community is angry,” Father Madrigal says. He fears that if the government can’t keep citizens safe and simultaneously crack down on self-defense groups, “We could see a generalized uprising. We could see war.”