Mexican Citizens Take On Cartels and Corrupt Police

[longknife]

Something we hear almost nothing about here in the USA. And, what's interesting is that Mexico has some very strict gun control laws. Are these vigilantes exactly what some Big Government types are worrIed about here in the USA? Anyhow, some excellent pictures with commentaries @ Mexican Vigilantes Battle Drug Cartel [PHOTOS] - Business Insider

 

[American_Jihad]

Mexico Legalizes Vigilantes, Nabs Cartel Leader​

MEXICO CITY January 28, 2014 (AP)
By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO and MARK STEVENSON Associated Press

Mexico essentially legalized the country's growing "self-defense" groups Monday, while also announcing that security forces had captured one of the four top leaders of the Knights Templar drug cartel, which the vigilante groups have been fighting for the last year.

The government said it had reached an agreement with vigilante leaders to incorporate the armed civilian groups into old and largely forgotten quasi-military units called the Rural Defense Corps. Vigilante groups estimate their numbers at 20,000 men under arms.

The twin announcements may help the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto find a way out of an embarrassing situation in the western state of Michoacan, where vigilantes began rising up last February against the Knights Templar reign of terror and extortion after police and troops failed to stop the abuses.

"The self-defense forces will become institutionalized, when they are integrated into the Rural Defense Corps," the Interior Department said in a statement. Police and soldiers already largely tolerate, and in some cases even work with, the vigilantes, many of whom are armed with assault rifles that civilians are not allowed to carry.

...

National Public Safety System secretary Monte Rubido said the feared drug lord was arrested without a shot being fired. He said federal forces found Loya Plancarte in Morelia, the capital of Michoacan, "hiding in a closet" and accompanied only by 16-year-old boy.

Mexico Legalizes Vigilantes, Nabs Cartel Leader - ABC News

 

[Gracie]

If the government is corrupt and the police are as well, it is up to the people to bring justice to those who have terrorized them for so long. I say good on them for having enough and doing something about it.

 

[waltky]

Mexicans rise up against drug cartels...

Vigilantes vs. narcos: a security threat in Mexico badlands
Mon Jan 27, 2014 - Clutching shotguns, rifles and battered submachine guns, dozens of vigilantes prepare to head out on patrol in this rugged corner of restive western Mexico, where they are at war with a drug cartel.

The motley crew of renegades organize themselves into a neat line of pick-ups and luxury SUVs by the side of the road in the hamlet of Buenavista. Moments later, an armored convoy of federal police passes by. The two groups eye each other, a couple of vigilantes wave, and then each go about their business unimpeded. In violence-racked Michoacan, an impoverished agricultural state about 1-1/2 times the size of Switzerland, vigilantes are battling a cartel called the Caballeros Templarios, or Knights Templar, for control of swathes of the failing state. After letting the conflict brew, the government this month vowed to assert control but its messages have been contradictory. First it said it helped protect a vigilante leader because he was hurting the cartel, then days later it called on his group to disarm. It sent troops to seize their weapons, but immediately backed off after two civilians were killed in an early clash.

Since then, the security forces have turned a blind eye to the vigilantes' movements, seeing them as a much lesser evil and possibly a useful ally against the Knights Templar. Still, experts say the vigilantes' advance in this land of valleys where avocado and lime grow and mountains peppered with meth labs and marijuana fields risks creating a security quagmire for President Enrique Pena Nieto. "The bad guys are killing people, that's why we're taking up arms," said Fidel, the 37-year-old lime farmer turned vigilante, refusing to reveal his surname for fear of reprisal from the Knights Templar, a cult-like group that styles itself after caped medieval crusaders. "We're doing the government's work for them," he added as another vigilante proudly showed off a mother of pearl handle a local artisan made for his revolver. For now, the vigilantes have the Knights on the run.

They have taken over the abandoned, luxurious lairs of drug bosses, posting gunmen to fend off any Knights tempted to return. In one, hidden behind a warehouse facade, lay precious clues to the workings of organized crime: a radio scanner, check book stubs and ledgers detailing payments running into tens of thousands of dollars. No police had entered. So close is the cooperation that some vigilante leaders even have police bodyguards, and their ranks man sandbag roadblocks as federal troops roll by. "The strategy is about not clashing (with vigilantes), avoiding confrontation, and putting human life and dialogue at the fore," said Alfredo Castillo, appointed federal government commissioner for Michoacan in a purge of state security officials. "We are talking about neutralizing (the Knights') ability to operate, organize, recruit, finance itself and generate violence. That is what is really important."

The Knights Templar cast themselves as a moral authority who defend the people, and have set out a strict set of codes in a small book emblazoned with red crosses and images of knights in armor. Some cartel leaders have even had portraits done of themselves dressed as knights. One bizarre slogan, visible beneath the paint defacing it on a roadside shrine to the Knights Templar, reads: "Power without justice only generates violence." The Knights have dangled the corpses of murdered rivals from bridges and kidnapped and "disappeared" those who refused to pay protection money, local residents say. The government says they have also ambushed and murdered soldiers.

DEFIANCE

See also:

Mexico says catches senior Knights Templar drug gang boss
Mon Jan 27, 2014 - Mexico said on Monday it had captured a leader of the Knights Templar, a violent drug cartel that has created a major security problem for President Enrique Pena Nieto.

The attorney general's office said security forces arrested Dionisio Loya Plancarte, known as "El Tio" ('The Uncle'), a top member of the Knights Templar, which has clashed with vigilante groups in the western state of Michoacan this year. He is the most senior member of the gang to be arrested. The Knights emerged from a split in another cartel in Michoacan known as La Familia and have controlled large swaths of the restive mountainous state in recent years, extorting farmers and local businesses and diversifying away from drug trafficking to activities such as mining. Plancarte is suspected of being the gang's go-between with corrupt security and justice officials, the attorney general's office said.

A picture of drug kingpin Dionisio Loya Plancarte is seen on a screen during a news conference at the Interior Minister in Mexico City

Mexico's government, which this month replaced top security officials in Michoacan, had offered a 30 million peso ($2.25 million) reward for information leading to Plancarte's arrest. "It is a success, we are seeing the government doing its job and we are happy," Hipolito Mora, one of a clutch of vigilante leaders in Michoacan, told Milenio television. The Knights' confrontations in January with heavily armed vigilantes in Michoacan have stirred concerns about Pena Nieto's strategy to combat widespread lawlessness in Mexico.

Since taking office in December 2012, Pena Nieto has sought to shift public attention to his efforts to reform the economy and away from grisly violence that has killed more than 80,000 people since his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, launched a military offensive against drug cartels seven years ago. But security forces are still embroiled in face-offs with drug gangs in much of the country, and critics have accused Pena Nieto of lacking a clear strategy, arguing that there has been little change from Calderon's military approach.

Government officials say they are determined to capture Servando Gomez, leader of the Knights Templar, who has openly provoked the government by making regular public statements posted on the Internet, some of them via the media. Though overall violence declined somewhat during Pena Nieto's first year, homicides rose in Michoacan, helping to spur the rise of heavily armed vigilante groups which this month occupied several of the Knights' strongholds in the state.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Mass grave and severed heads found by Mexican police...

Mexico police find mass grave and severed heads in Michoacan
6 February 2014 ~ Mexican police have found a mass grave containing at least 20 bodies in the small municipality of Tinguindin, in troubled western Michoacan state.

In nearby Zacan, the severed heads of four men were discovered by residents early on Thursday. Vigilante groups began an offensive in the area a month ago against the notorious Knights Templar drug cartel. A spokesman for the groups said the killings were probably a revenge attack carried out by the drug cartel. Forensic experts are trying to confirm when the bodies were dumped in the mass grave. The severed heads were found lying in the street close to a church, wrapped in rubbish bags and accompanied by a threatening note.

The vigilantes agreed to register their weapons and join the official security forces

Mass graves of suspected drug gang victims are not uncommon in Mexico. But it is the location of this latest discovery which is of particular concern, says the BBC's Will Grant in Mexico City. Federal troops were deployed in the state in mid-January after the vigilantes advanced towards the Knights Templar headquarters in the town of Apatzingan. In a matter of days, they managed to take over several municipalities previously controlled by the gang.

The vigilantes say state and federal police had failed to provide security to them and their families. They decided to act to rid Michoacan of the Knights Templar cartel, a brutal organisation known for its involvement in drug trafficking and extortion of local businessmen and farmers Just over a week ago, the vigilantes agreed to join the official security forces, but most of them have so far refused to lay down their weapons. On Tuesday, President Enrique Pena Nieto pledged to spend $3.4bn (£2bn) on schools, roads, hospitals and other infrastructure in order to address the underlying causes of the unrest.

BBC News - Mexico police find mass grave and severed heads in Michoacan

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - Kill `em all, let God sort `em out...

FEDERAL POLICE, SOLDIERS TO PATROL MEXICO STATE
Mar 31,`14 -- Mexico's government is sending federal police and soldiers to help quell an increase in violence in Mexico state, the country's most populous state that borders the capital.

Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said Monday federal forces will patrol and also carry out operations at bars and night clubs, where shootouts and killings have been a common occurrence in recent months.

Osorio Chong says the federal government is sending the help at the request of Mexico state Gov. Eruviel Avila.

He says the agents and soldiers will remain in the area through 2018, when the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto ends. Pena Nieto was governor of Mexico state before being elected president.

Davila said 6,000 surveillance cameras have been installed throughout the state.

News from The Associated Press

See also:

Mexican security forces kill Michoacan cartel leader
Tue Apr 1, 2014 - Mexican security forces killed a leader of the violent Knights Templar drug cartel on Monday, officials said.

The cartel has created a major security problem for President Enrique Pena Nieto in the western state of Michoacan, where it has been fighting vigilante groups.

Enrique Plancarte was killed by Mexican marines in an operation in Michoacan, security officials said. "The identity of Enrique Plancarte, believed killed in a confrontation with marines, is being confirmed," Mexico's security ministry said via Twitter, adding that it would provide more information on Tuesday. Earlier this year, security forces captured another senior Knights Templar member, Dionisio Loya Plancarte, known as "El Tio" ("The Uncle").

Since taking office in December 2012, Pena Nieto has sought to shift public attention to his efforts to reform the economy and away from grisly violence that has killed more than 80,000 people since his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, launched a military offensive against drug cartels seven years ago. U.S. agencies last month helped Mexico capture the world's most-wanted drug kingpin, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, marking a major victory for Pena Nieto's government.

Mexican security forces kill Michoacan cartel leader | Reuters

 

[editec]

Viva los vigilantes mexicanos

 

[waltky]

Mexico Legalizes Vigilantes...

Mexico legalises vigilantes, handing weapons to farmers in bid to fight drug cartel Knights Templar
Sun 11 May 2014, Authorities have begun handing out blue uniforms and assault rifles to vigilantes in western Mexico, legalising a movement that formed last year to combat the vicious Knights Templar drug cartel.

Scores of farmers lined up at a cattle ranch to receive the uniforms of the newly created rural state police force in Tepalcatapec, one of the towns that founded the self-defence militias in the lush agricultural state of Michoacan. The units were also making their debut in the neighbouring town of Buenavista, which revolted in February 2013 against the cult-like Knights Templar gang because local police failed to protect them. "With this we become legal," said the white-bearded vigilante leader Estanislao Beltran, nicknamed "Papa Smurf", after slipping into his blue uniform. "We are part of the government." The new rural police officers then sang the national anthem at a formal swearing-in ceremony in the town square.

Former vigilante spokesman Jose Manuel Mireles says the movement is infiltrated by criminals.

The federal government, which had tolerated the vigilantes, has warned that anybody found carrying weapons illegally after Saturday's deadline to join the police will be arrested. But vigilante leaders said they still had to hash out details on pay and who would be in command, though they would work alongside the regular state police. The rise of the vigilante movement, which has spread to some 30 towns, brought fears that it could turn into a dangerous paramilitary force. The violence in Michoacan has turned into one of the biggest security challenges to president Enrique Pena Nieto, who deployed thousands of troops to restore order last year and named a special security envoy earlier this year.

The transition comes amid deep divisions within the vigilante movement, with accusations that it is infiltrated by cartels and the recent arrest of one of its founders. Authorities have also found several cases of criminals posing as vigilantes. Late on Friday, 135 "pseudo-vigilantes" were arrested in La Mira, near the port of Lazaro Cardenas, after clashing with troops, a state security official told AFP.

Prominent vigilante fired after five deaths