In a not-idle threat laced with back-story, the leaders of a Mexican civil self-defense force (labeled a vigilante force, because it is not officially part of the state, in a part of Mexico where the State has failed), have told the Army that either the army takes care of the local cartel, called the Knights Templar, or the self-defense force will.
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| Mexican Self-Defense Forces |
For
now, the self-defense group is pulling back, because the Army has decided to
face the Knights Templar. It wasn’t
always the case. The Knights Templar are
the remnants of La Familia Michoacán, in Michoacán state. La Familia, and Michoacán state was the site
of the first cartel drug war launched by former president Felipe Calderon and
the cartel largely ran the State as a de facto government. It was beaten back for a time and then
regrouped when the Army moved north to take on the Zetas in Tamaulipas State
along the Texas border, leaving the townspeople to fend for themselves. Yes, it’s like a real-life version of El
Mariachi.
The
self-defense forces have been controlling towns, setting up road blocks, and running
make-shift prisons in small towns in Michoacán for months now, setting up a war
with the Knights Templar, and generally embarrassing the central government.
(See story from January)
The
AP reports that the self-defense forces made a daring march
late last month into Apatzingan, an agricultural city that is the central
stronghold of the pseudo-religious cartel that for years has dominated
Michoacan, a state that sends a steady stream of avocados and migrants to the
United States.
This follows on the heels of a
march earlier last month by some self-defense forces, where the Army forced
them to go unarmed, and they were fired on by the Knights Templar, and the
Knights Templar shooting out rural power stations. (See earlier coverage)
Apparently, the self-defense
forces were fed up. The Government got the
message: The government announced Monday that troops would patrol Lazaro
Cardenas, which is the country's largest port in terms of cargo volume and
which has seen a number of huge seizures of precursor chemicals used to make
methamphetamines.
The AP reports: On Tuesday, Apatzingan was peaceful but
tense, with residents on the streets and trucks filled with limes moving in and
out of town. There were frequent roadblocks manned by the military in the city
and checkpoints guarded by heavily armed self-defense groups in the rural areas
outside town.
This story is worth watching
more. When government totally breaks
down, as it has in Michoacán, the people will rise up on their own at some
point. The Army has some in to try to
restore some order and avert a civil war between the citizens trying to form basically
a new government and the cartel, which is the de facto government. If the central state doesn’t do it, the
citizens will, and when they do, all hell will break loose.
Full story: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mexico-vigilante-groups-back-off-fight-cartel-20797373
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