Authorities in Mexico detained 34
vigilantes who formed part of a "self-defense group" that allegedly
kidnapped police officers and seized police equipment earlier this week
in the western state of Michoacán.
The army raid in the town of Buenavista represents the strongest blow
yet against the growing vigilante movement that has seen masked
townspeople throw up checkpoints in several parts of southern and
western Mexico.
The vigilante groups say they are fighting violence, kidnappings and
extortion carried out by drug cartels, but concerns have surfaced that
vigilantes may be violating the law, the human rights of people they
detain, or even cooperating with criminals in some cases.
Sensitive over their lack of ability to enforce public safety in
rural areas, official have, up to now, largely tolerated vigilante
groups that have sprung up in Michoacán and neighboring Guerrero state.
But the Buenavista vigilantes apparently overstepped the bounds of
that tolerance when they took over the town's police facilities,
kidnapped officers and seized police weapons and vehicles earlier this
week.
The army displayed for cameras the 34 detainees Thursday, and said
that 29 assault rifles had been seized in the raid, along with 15
pistols. The army did not detail how many of those were police weapons.
The soldiers freed five municipal police officers and the police
chief and recovered a half dozen vehicles the vigilantes had seized.
Some of the detainees wore printed T-shirts with the legend
"Community Police," and some shouted to journalists, "We are community
police!"
There is a semi-official, semi-recognized "community police" system
in some parts of Mexico, where heavily Indian communities mete out forms
of traditional justice, but the "self-defense groups" are not part of
it.
The vigilantes seized local police officers after accusing them of
supporting one of the drug cartels that have been engaging in turf
battles in the area. The Michoacán-based Knights Templar cartel is
fighting the Jalisco New Generation gang in the area.
However, charges of drug-cartel alliances have flown both ways.
The vigilantes in Buenavista and the nearby town of Tepalcatepec
popped up in February with suspiciously sophisticated weapons, printed
T-shirts and clothing that doesn't reflect the usual mix of
participants. In other towns, vigilantes are mostly ragged farm workers
with old, single-shot hunting rifles.
A professionally printed banner, of the kind often used by the
Knights Templar, was hung by a roadside last week accusing the
Buenavista vigilantes of being criminals working for a drug gang.
There was no immediate information on whether the 34 detained
vigilantes had been formally charged. They could face weapons
possession, kidnapping and other charges.
The mayor of Buenavista, Luis Torres, told the Milenio television
news channel that the vigilantes were "people who are from the town ... I
respect them, I respect their ideas ... but not their way of acting."
He said he hoped soldiers and federal forces would take over security in
the town.
Questions have abounded about whether some of the self-defense groups
are simply attempts by rural political groups to call attention to the
poverty and lawlessness of their regions, in hopes of attracting more
government funds.
In a meeting with the country's top human rights official, Raúl
Plascencia, the leader of the Guerrero vigilante movement, Bruno
Placido, said that "if the government starts investing in development,
the (vigilante) movement will start demobilizing," according to a
statement by Plascencia's National Human Rights Commission.
Plascencia, who has expressed reservations about the vigilante
movement in the past, turned his fire on authorities Thursday, saying
that "there is no justification for the government to neglect its duty
to ensure public safety."
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