Mexico Drug War: Self-Defense Groups 'Police' Michoacán, Despite Arrival of Military

CNN Mexico: Javier Magaña
Translated by Noah Burton

One week after Army troops arrived in three Michoacán municipalities to take control of security, the self-defense groups that have emerged since February to defend the communities against organized crime continue to carry out their work of armed security.

In the municipality of Coalcoman, members of these groups remain armed, and in Buenavista men with faces covered continue to patrol the community. In Tepalcatepec, the men no longer wear hoods nor are they visibly armed, but they continue their patrols.

In February, residents of Buenavista and Tepalcatepec, tired of extortion and kidnappings, organized against criminal groups in the area. Since then, at least 25 people have died in shootouts. On May 15, residents of Coalcoman followed suit and took up arms. No deaths have been reported there, but two buses and one sawmill have been burned to the ground.

In the municipal seat of Buenavista, which borders the state of Jalisco, there were no soldiers on the ground this past weekend, only federal police, despite the fact that Army forces had been dispatched to the region to take control of the security situation.

There is suspicion and mistrust among some residents interviewed by CNNMéxico after soldiers last week detained four members of self-defense groups who were carrying firearms, eliciting complaints from members of the self-defense group and residents.

“We know that the Army only patrols the outskirts of the municipality and the surrounding towns,” the leader of the civil resistance told CNNMéxico anonymously at the entrance to Buenavista, where Federal police were inspecting vehicles entering the community.

The mayor of Buenavista, Luis Torres, made it clear that he was not happy with the presence of the self-defense forces. The town hall was taken over by members of the group on February 24, forcing the mayor to work from the neighboring municipality of Apatzingán.

The mayor thinks that the Army has not taken the necessary steps to locate and secure weapons in the community.

“Who are they to be in charge, just because they’re armed? Well I’ll just go and arm myself too, and I’ll be armed too. It doesn’t matter, it’s fine, we’ll see what happens, this is just really infuriating,” Torres told CNNMéxico.

At the entrance to the municipal seat of Buenavista, eight members of the self-defense group can be seen; in the same municipality, but in the community of Ruana, there are at least 15 people on patrols, and in the community of Felipe Carrillo Puerto there are also around 15 members of the self-designated community police.

In the municipality of Tepalcatepec there are around eight people at the entrance to the community. The largest self-defense force is in Coalcoman: around 30 people, all of them armed.

On February 24, the self-defense groups began to spring up around the municipalities of Michoacán bordering the state of Jalisco.

The federal government sent in troops, without specifying how many, on May 22, after the self-defense forces had established themselves for three months. On Monday, Secretary of Government Relations Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong declared that the state had retaken control of the region.

“Today I can tell you we have retaken the region, I’ll say it like that,” he told the media. “I should also tell you that there have been some detentions and that, of course, we have given protection, security, and support to all.” 

Despite the fact that Army forces have arrived to reestablish control of the security situation, they have not been able to disarm the local groups. In Tepalcatepec and Coalcoman, the self-defense group has the backing of the mayors.

“I had to stand with the town because they said to me: ‘you don’t have to let them disarm the community police,’” Coalcoman mayor Rafael García told CNNMéxico.

The mayor, who supports the group that emerged on May 15, says that it is still not safe to leave town.

García and Tepalcatepec mayor Guillermo Valencia consider the members of the community police groups to be honest people acting in defense of their communities.

“They are farmers, they are agricultural workers, they are working people and the only thing they have done has been to fight for security and freedom. They are people who dedicate themselves to their work and they were tired of paying fees [to organized crime groups], and this was a community-wide protest,” said Valencia

Only safe in their own community

Members of the self-defense groups of the three municipalities said that they will remain active until the leaders of the Knights Templar cartel disappear and residents can safely leave their communities and travel to other parts of the state.

“We feel safe in our town, but we know that we can’t leave because the Knights Templar are looking for us,” explained the leader of the self-defense group on terms of anonymity at the entrance to Buenavista.  

Spanish Original