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Vigilantes arrested in Mexico

June 28, 2014

Mexican authorities have arrested Jose Manuel Mireles, a vigilante leader, and 82 other people of a group set up ostensibly to battle drug gangs. Officials say Mireles was carrying "weapons of exclusive military use."

https://p.dw.com/p/1CRro
Jose Manuel Mireles Mexiko ARCHIVBILD 2013
Image: Reuters

The medical doctor turned prominent vigilante leader (pictured center) and his armed supporters were detained when they entered Lazar Cardenas, a Pacific coastal town in Mexico's western state of Michoacan.

The federal government commissioner in the state, Alfredo Castillo, said Mireles' group had planned to travel on to the state capital of Morelia.

Vigilantes, mostly farmers and civilians, took up arms in early 2013, claiming that local police were incapable of protecting them from gangs, especially the Knights Templar drug cartel.

Legalized as 'rural police'

In May this year, Mexico's federal government decided to legalize such vigilantes as so-called rural police forces but vowed to arrest any armed group that failed to register.

More than 85,000 people have died in drug-related killings in Mexico since 2007, when former president Felipe Calderon dispatched the army to battle cartels.

Current President Enrique Pena Nieto set the military into Michoacan in January to restore order. Since then, troops have killed several Knights Templar members.

ipj/tj (Reuters, AFP)