Mexican vigilantes seize new town from drug cartel.


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Nueva Italia (Mexico) (AFP) - Vigilantes seized a drug cartel's bastion in western Mexico on Sunday, sparking a shootout as the civilian militia gained new ground in their struggle against the gang in a violence-plagued region.


Hundreds of armed civilians riding in more than 100 pickup trucks rolled into the Michoacan state town of Nueva Italia and were met by gunfire from presumed Knights Templar cartel members when they reached the municipal office.


"They shot at us from two locations and the clash lasted around an hour and a half," Jaime Ortiz, a 47-year-old farmer and vigilante leader from the town of La Ruana, told AFP.


Two members of the self-defense unit were wounded, he said, standing in the 40,000-population town's main square, surrounded by hundreds of men armed with AK-47 assault rifles, bulletproof vests and radios.


Some sidewalks were soaked in blood in the town's empty streets.


Later, on a highway leading to the town, authorities found two men hanging from a bridge, though it was not immediately known if the killings were related to the vigilantes' advance. Mexican cartels have hanged many victims in recent years.


Michoacan's growing civilian militia movement, which first emerged nearly a year ago, has seized more communities in recent weeks in its bid to rout the Templars.


The turmoil in Michoacan has become the biggest security challenge of President Enrique Pena Nieto's 13-month-old administration, which inherited a drug war that has killed more than 77,000 people in the past seven years.


Pena Nieto deployed thousands of troops and federal police to the state in May, but the reinforcements have failed to contain the violence.


Interior Minister Miguel Osorio Chong has said the self-defense units are illegal. Yet some critics charge the government is protecting them.


The Templars have accused the vigilantes of being a proxy force for the rival Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, a charge the militias deny.


The militias have now surrounded Apatzingan, a city of 123,000 people considered the main Templar stronghold in Michoacan's lime- and avocado-growing region known as Tierra Caliente, or Hot Country.


Vigilante leaders say Apatzingan is a key target because of its importance to the cartel and because it is a vital trade hub for their limes, avocados and mangos.


In October, hundreds of self-defense militia members marched into Apatzingan unarmed and fled after being welcomed with gun shots in the main square.


"It is very close. We want to seize it but we don't have a date yet. It will be in the next few days," said Hipolito Mora, a prominent vigilante leader from the town of La Ruana.


In Nueva Italia, the streets were empty, restaurants and shops closed their doors and residents shut their windows after the vigilante incursion.


The vigilantes met with the mayor and residents to explain their strategy against organized crime.


"At first we supported the Templars because we believed that they were protecting Michoacan," said a mother of two who attended the meeting and requested anonymity.


"But now the economy is very weak, they don't let us work and they charge protection money," she said.


Towns began to form vigilante forces in February 2012, saying they were fed up with the local police's inability or unwillingness to stop the cartel's murders, kidnappings and extortion rackets.


But some see the self-defense forces with suspicion.


Opponents of the vigilantes have burned trucks and buses in the past week to protest the militias' incursions in the region. The vigilantes say the protesters are coerced or paid by the Templars.


http://news.yahoo.com/mexican-vigilantes-seize-drug-cartel-bastion-220248151.html


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  • 4 weeks later...

The vigilantes have taken another town....

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-26103464

Vigilante groups in the troubled Mexican state of Michoacan have entered a stronghold of the Knights Templar drug cartel, occupying the main square.

Hundreds of vigilantes, backed up by armoured vehicles and troops, arrived in Apatzingan on Saturday.

They have also set up roadblocks around the city, in western Mexico.

The cartel controls much of the drug trafficking in the area, carrying out killings and kidnappings and extorting money from local people.

Vigilante leaders, who have joined the official security forces, and the army have been searching house by house for leaders of the Knights Templar.

Some arrests have been made, including the brother of one of the organisation's top leaders, according to local reports.

The vigilantes "will be in charge of security in Apatzingan", Michoacan deputy government secretary Fernando Cano told AFP news agency.

In the beginning of January, the "self-defence groups" launched an offensive against the Knights Templar gang, taking over several municipalities in Michoacan.

On 11 January, they also occupied the central square of Apatzingan, where the cartel's command is based.

But there were reprisals, with arson attacks against local businesses.

The new operation began just before 11:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Saturday.

The vigilantes, federal police and soldiers walked unchallenged into the centre of Apatzingan.

Checkpoints have been set up along several access routes to the city "to check who goes in and out," said vigilante leader Estanislao Beltran.

'No further delay'

The strategy has been agreed between the vigilante leaders, army and police officers and President Enrique Pena Nieto's envoy to Michoacan, Alfredo Castillo.

On Friday, one of the vigilante leaders, Hipolito Mora, said the occupation could not be delayed any longer.

"We need to enter Apatzingan, which is the heart of the whole region and, as we all know, of vital importance for the criminal organisation," said Mr Mora.

"There can't be any further delay, as that would put under risk the lives of so many people who are supporting our movement," he added.

The Knights Templar cartel has accused the vigilantes of working as a proxy army for the New Generation cartel, from neighbouring Jalisco state.

The two rival organisations have been fighting a turf war for control of criminal activities in Michoacan and Jalisco.

But the vigilantes have fiercely denied any involvement with the New Generation cartel.

They say they have taken matters into their own hands as the Mexican government has failed to guarantee the security of their families.

More than 70,000 people have died in drug related violence across Mexico in the past six years.

On Thursday, police found a mass grave with some 20 bodies in the Michoacan town of Tinguindin.

Hours earlier, four severed bodies in plastic bags were found in the nearby village of Zacan. They were left outside the local church, accompanied by a threatening note.

A spokesman for the vigilante groups said the killings were probably a revenge attack carried out by the Knights Templar.

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I really can't say as I blame the vigilante's. Their government is completely useless and corrupt; it does pretty much nothing about these scumbag drug cartels so it really was inevitable that people eventually take the law into their own hands.

 

When your own government won't do their damned job, what other choice is there?

 

Assuming they win the war against the cartels, don't be surprised if they turn on the corrupt politicians and police next.

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The trouble is in such regions you never know who the good guys are as the area is rife with drug related income due to its low employment and minimal wages.Most officials are probably on the take in one way or the other so residents of such areas are on a lose lose situation.

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