Mexico Government Sends Michoacan Self-Defense Leader to Prison

[polly7]

Published 3 January 2015

While the Mexican state has failed to find solutions to insecurity issues in Michoacan, officials have actively been looking to demobilize the self-defense forces that sprung up to protect communities against cartel violence.
A Mexican court sentenced 26 members of a self-defense group in the Michoacan state to prison on Saturday, including its leader Hipolito Mora, following a deadly confrontation with a rival group in December.

Background: Michoacan Self-defense Forces

In Michoacan, self-defense groups date back from the 1990s, when small farmers began to organize in order to recover the lands that drug-cartels – essentially the Knight Templars.

The groups benefited from the formal support of the Mexican army, until the federal state started to consider them as a dangerous competitors in the management of national security. In early 2013, the members of the self-defense forces were urged to join the newly-created Rural Forces, aimed at formalizing a local defense force under state control.

Despite facing threats of criminalization, the majority of groups refused to demobilize and turn in their weapons, arguing that the resources of the new state-run force's remained significantly under the security needs of the region. One of their main prominent leader, Dr. Jose Manuel Mireles was subsequently arrested last June, which provoked anger many social organizations since then.

Full article: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Mexico-Government-Sends-Michoacan-Self-Defense-Leader-to-Prison-20150103-0016.html

[Xipe Totec]

1. Dr. Mireles in his own words.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Thank you, Polly. We need to know about it. This is so sad. No end in sight. n/t