Five More Rural Villages in Central Guerrero Start Community Police Rogelio Agustín Esteban - Milenio
go to original February 17, 2013

GUERRERO - At least five communities in the municipality of Tixtla, in the central region of Guerrero, are ready to organize their citizens and join the organized police system of the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities (CRAC).

Artemio de Jesus Barrera, of El Durazno  ejido [indigenous community with communally owned lands]  said people in the locality are tired of all the illegal acts that are recorded without receiving the support of the legally established authorities.

"There are many people who stay within the village for fear of being assaulted. There are many robberies in homes and people don't go out at night. They suffer extortion by the criminals who have arrived and no one stops them," said the ejido representative.

Last year, De Jesus Barrera was almost the victim of an assault: "I am president of the fertilizer program and they gave me a four wheel drive vehicle. One day they [protesting teachers] were waiting for me on the road, but I didn't go out that day at the scheduled time. The teachers should pay the consequences, as they rocked the cars and shot a van; they punctured all the tires."

The people of El Durazno [Peach] asked the support of then Mayor Jorge Luis Campos Espiritu and they called a meeting to present the issue to him. The former mayor's response generated anger among the people.

"We citizens met with the teachers and he said that we'd better kill them, but we're not murderers, and we told them that if he wanted us to act that way, then he had to give us an order."

For that reason, now that thefts have intensified in El Durazno, they decided it was time to enter the self-defense movement, even with some men hooded and armed to install security check points.

Today, with El Durazno protected by its own citizens, legally established authorities are trying to enter the town to regain control. The ejido commission replied that it had let the police work up until now.

"Now we ask the police not to try to enter; they had their chance. The people have lost their confidence because even the investigative police have arrived in pairs to attack them."

He indicated that they seek to assume the security model and justice system of the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities, a position shared by residents of El Troncón, Zacatzonapa and Teconzintla, plus two villages who prefer proceed discreetly in order to prevent the government from exerting pressure.

"We do this in order to stem the tide of crime, because there is cattle rustling, robbery, so based on our organization, we intend to stop people who do those  things. We want to close ranks so that all of this ends," he said.

See Spanish original

Posted by Reed Brundage at Mexico Voices

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