Michoacán - Self-defense groups hung a green banner with a message in white letters:
"Welcome to Buenavista, community free of protection payments and the Knights Templar."In the town, the atmosphere is tense. Dozens of Federal Police patrols and the Army surround the municipality, located in the heart of the Tierra Caliente [Hot Country].
At the headquarters of Military Zone 43 which is located in the city of Apatzingan, there is the constant movement of federal forces. They go out to patrol in the municipalities where their presence has been requested for more than three months in the face of the wave of violence.
On the road from Apatzingán to Buenavista there are two army checkpoints, one with advanced technology, X-ray equipment to detect weapons. No vehicle passes that has not been reviewed by the military.
At a check point at the entrance to to Buenavista Tomatlán, along with 12 Federal Police, a group of at least 10 armed persons wearing the self-defense group's T-shirts stand behind sand bags, with a truck used to make patrols. Along with the men are a couple of women who cover their faces with scarves, whose job is to support them with food.
The town hall is practically abandoned. The civil guards say the mayor, Luis Torres Chavez, left days after they emerged and occupied the police headquarters as a base of operation. Torres Chavez's brother was shot dead on May 1 in the township. The initial investigation by the state attorney general points to the self-defense groups operating in the area as the perpetrators. In this regard, the civil guards deny this and point out that the mayor has abandoned them to their fate.
Meanwhile, the economy begins to resurface. Gasoline has been supplied and although there is still fear, businesses that for two months had not supplied the shops in the area have returned, and people are out in the street.
Even in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, known as La Ruana, there are at least three lime packinghouses returning to work after more than two months since production stopped. At two gas stations that supply the community, gasoline tankers arrived and refilled the tanks with fuel.
Although self-defense group are still in operation, there is only one road block with seven men, one carrying a 12 gauge, sawed-off shotgun, others wear white T-shirts with the words "Community Police".
Hipolito Mora, the group leader, says they are prepared for everything and as evidence he shows a pistol that he wears tucked in his waist. He assures that they are allowing the Army and the Federal Police to do their job, which is to combat organized crime, especially the Knights Templar.
"We will not lay down our arms. We allowed the Army to enter because, ultimately, that was the request we had always made, but it was under the condition that the self-defense group would continue in operation." he explains.He says he is a "fan" of [President] Felipe Calderon [a native of Michoacan], whom he would have liked to have known, because he "hitched up his pants" to confront the criminals.
The objective of the community policemen now, says Mora, is coping with thieves and drunkards, but he warns that if the federal forces abandon them, they will return to fighting against organized crime, as they have done in recent months.
Three women with children, seeing the cameras, approach Hipolito Mora and ask to be interviewed because they have relatives who have been detained for over two months, and they complain that they have not been listened to by the federal government. Between tears, they demand that they return their husbands who are being held in Toluca, in the state of Mexico, because they are innocent. They were detained for being part of the struggle to seek security for the people. One of the women said it is already almost three months since the arrest occurred and only eight people have been released.
... In the municipality there are dozens of members of the Federal Police who carry out various patrols in the area, supported by military. Despite this, the fear can be smelled. Spanish original