BajaNomad - mexico legalizes vigilantes

mexico legalizes vigilantes

willardguy - 1-28-2014 at 10:39 AM

MEXICO CITY (AP) - 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.

Vigilante leaders will have to submit a list of their members to the Defense Department, and the army will apparently oversee the groups, which the government said "will be temporary." They will be allowed to keep their weapons as long as they register them with the army.

The military will give the groups "all the means necessary for communications, operations and movement," according to the agreement.

The vigilante leaders, who include farmers, ranchers and some professionals, gathered Monday to discuss the agreement, but it was not yet clear for them what it would imply. It wasn't known if the army would offer anyone salaries.

Misael Gonzalez, a leader of the self-defense force in the town of Coalcoman, said leaders had accepted the government proposal. But the nuts-and-bolts "are still not well defined," he added. "We won't start working on the mechanisms until tomorrow."

Vigilante leader Hipolito Mora said the agreement also allows those who qualify to join local police forces. "The majority of us want to get into the police ... I never imagined myself dressed as a policeman, but the situation is driving me to put on a uniform."

Latin America has been bruised by experiences with quasi-military forces, with such tolerated or legally recognized groups being blamed for rights abuses in Guatemala and Colombia in the past.

While the cartel may be on its way out, "there shouldn't be abuses by those who come after, there shouldn't be what we would call a witch hunt; there should be reconciliation," said the Rev. Javier Cortes, part of a team of priests in the Roman Catholic diocese of Apatzingan who have publicly denounced abuses by the Knights Templar.

Before dawn on Monday, soldiers and police arrested one of the cartel's top leaders, Dionicio Loya Plancarte, alias "El Tio," or The Uncle. (The Interior Department spells his first name with an "s," but the Attorney General's Office and U.S. authorities spell it with a "c.")

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.

The 58-year-old Loya Plancarte had a 30-million peso ($2.25 million) reward on his head from the Mexican government for drug, organized crime and money-laundering charges. He was considered one of the country's three dozen most-wanted drug lords in the late 2000s.

The Knights Templar ruled many parts of Michoacan with an iron fist, demanding extortion payments from businesses, farmers and workers, but the self-defense groups have gained ground against the cartel in recent months. Federal police and army troops were dispatched to bring peace to the troubled region, but the vigilantes have demanded the arrest of the cartel's major leaders before they lay down their guns.

Ramon Contreras, an activist in the vigilante movement from the town of La Ruana, which was the first to rise up against the Knights Templar, said the arrest "means a lot" to the vigilantes, but added that they won't rest until they see all the top bosses arrested.

Contreras voiced a common belief that the man who founded the cartel under the name La Familia Michoacana, Nazario Moreno, alias "El Chayo," is still alive, despite the government's statement in 2010 that he had been killed in a shootout with federal forces.

"He's still alive; there's proof he's still alive," Contreras said.

Loya Plancarte got his nickname, "The Uncle," because he is believed to be the uncle of another top Knights Templar leader, Enrique Plancarte Solis.

Loya Plancarte joined Plancarte Solis and Servando Gomez in forming the Knights Templar after the purported death of Nazario Moreno.

A local journalist from Michoacan recounted watching when Loya Plancarte led a sort of pilgrimage to a shrine erected to Nazario Moreno and had his assistants hand out 500-peso ($37) bills to people who attended.

Hook - 1-28-2014 at 10:56 AM

WOW!!!!

vgabndo - 1-28-2014 at 11:07 AM

There is something very unsettling in this. Yet, when governments get too comfortable and too many people are entrenched and paid-off, frontier justice seems to fill the void.

In the USA there are now almost 10X as many domestic terrorist militias in existence since the election of B. Obama. Often called Posses, they now associate openly with the most radical of American law enforcement. Specifically Richard Mack and the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. CSPOA. This Association now claims as followers, the Sheriffs of every California County which is part of the secessionist State of Jefferson. These para-military militias will NEVER give their names to the legitimate authorities, but it is easy to see them operating under the guidance and supervision of the police.

This unholy coalition doesn't target narcos, their enemies are environmentalists, The Forest Service, Fish and Game, special interest groups, and "the tribes".

Yes, I can document the crap out of all of this!

The whole thing smells of civil disorder; continuing in Mexico and nearing a boil in the States.

Here's an alternative thought, friends...

Mulegena - 1-28-2014 at 11:24 AM

just Imagine.

http://www.upworthy.com/youve-never-heard-a-cover-of-john-le...

jimgrms - 1-28-2014 at 11:39 AM

So it appears that the folks who are doing something about these crooks ,will soon be under the control of folks who were failing to do anything .!!

mtgoat666 - 1-28-2014 at 12:42 PM

yul brynner was so cool!

mtgoat666 - 1-28-2014 at 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hook
WOW!!!!

vigilantism, it's a slippery slope. look at parts of the world where govt cant or wont and so war lords are the law and order: afghanistan, pakistan tribal provinces, somalia, colorado city, etc.

degoma - 1-28-2014 at 01:17 PM

In the early 70’s I took summer extension courses in Mexico City. The courses were led by Paul J. Vanderwood a professor of history at San Diego State College. Professor Vanderwood had recently completed his doctoral dissertation, "The Rurales: Mexico's Rural Police Force, 1861–1914." During these summer sessions he continued his research; looking more closely at the bandits than the force that pursed them. This work was published in 1981, Disorder and Progress: Bandits, Police, and Mexican Development.

It sounds like an interesting read as do some of the books he published after that.

The Proof is in the Pudding

MrBillM - 1-29-2014 at 09:06 PM

Or, so it's said.

It's an experiment worth trying given the inability of the Government to solve the Narco problem.

IF it works out, ALL should Applaud. Private Enterprise to the rescue once again.

If NOT, then .................... Quien Sabe ?

mtgoat666 - 1-29-2014 at 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrBillM
Or, so it's said.

It's an experiment worth trying given the inability of the Government to solve the Narco problem.

IF it works out, ALL should Applaud. Private Enterprise to the rescue once again.

If NOT, then .................... Quien Sabe ?

private enterprise? more like community organizing and grass roots socialism, and it takes a village-ism.

wish them luck!

bajagrouper - 1-30-2014 at 06:41 AM

It appears something was lost in translation, think vigilance and not vigilantes,
when visiting Shari last year in Bahia I was told they have a vigilance group to watch for lobster and abalone poachers........

elgatoloco - 1-30-2014 at 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajagrouper
It appears something was lost in translation, think vigilance and not vigilantes,
when visiting Shari last year in Bahia I was told they have a vigilance group to watch for lobster and abalone poachers........

The groups on the coast are protecting their assets (fish,lobster,etc.) the others mentioned in article are attempting to protect their asses

The Virtues of Vigilantes

MrBillM - 1-30-2014 at 10:41 AM

Vigilantes do, indeed, have a mixed history even in the U.S.

BUT, in that mix, have been quite a few locations and periods in which vigilantism filled a necessary void and made things better for the law-abiding population.

In fact, for the most part, Vigilante movements were positive in their application before "many" carried their activities too far.

Wish them the best.

And Watch.

desertcpl - 1-30-2014 at 11:06 AM

yes, wish them the best,,

now the Gov. needs to relax gun control a bit

and let them buy more fire power