Javier Sicilia: 'Mexico's Self-Defense Brigades are Legitimate but Dangerous' Proceso
go to original February 12, 2013

Grief and loss drive Mexican poet Javier Sicilia's determination to challenge corruption and poor governance in his country. (Eneas De Troya/flickr)

The leader of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, Javier Sicilia, defended the outbreak of self-defense brigades in different states of the country, as in Guerrero, Michoacan, Chiapas and Oaxaca.

Interviewed after meeting privately with the leader of the Senate, the PRI member, Emilio Gamboa Patron, the poet said that such movements are "legitimate". Citizens, he said, have decided to act in the absence of response from the Mexican state against the escalation of violence unleashed by organized crime gangs.

Sicilia stressed that "the state has a long job of refounding itself, together with the political parties and citizens. As long as this hasn't happened, these self-defense groups are legitimate, as has already occurred, as with the EZLN for a long time, the community police of Guerrero, and well, we respect them, we welcome them. It isn't the best, but confronted by ineffectiveness of the state, it is the best."

However, he warned that the phenomenon "is dangerous because groups can form that are not really for self-defense and they can do much more damage to the country; so we have focus on the emergency and work together."

The actions of the self-defense brigades, he insisted, is a sign that the state is overrun and also penetrated by organized crime.

See Spanish original

Posted by Reed Brundage at Mexico Voices

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