Self-Defense Groups 'Police' Michoacan, Despite Arrival of Military Javier Magana - CNN Mexico
go to original May 29, 2013

One week after Army troops arrived in three Michoacán municipalities to take control of security, the self-defense groups that have emerged since February to defend the communities against organized crime continue to carry out their work of armed security.

In the municipality of Coalcoman, members of these groups remain armed, and in Buenavista men with faces covered continue to patrol the community. In Tepalcatepec, the men no longer wear hoods nor are they visibly armed, but they continue their patrols.

In February, residents of Buenavista and Tepalcatepec, tired of extortion and kidnappings, organized against criminal groups in the area. Since then, at least 25 people have died in shootouts. On May 15, residents of Coalcoman followed suit and took up arms. No deaths have been reported there, but two buses and one sawmill have been burned to the ground.

In the municipal seat of Buenavista, which borders the state of Jalisco, there were no soldiers on the ground this past weekend, only federal police, despite the fact that Army forces had been dispatched to the region to take control of the security situation.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Translated by Noah Burton

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