Death in mexico

Additional bodies were unearthed today rising the total corpses discovered to 58.  Bodies were found in the municipalities of Vista Hermosa Michoacán and La Barca

 

The discovery was made inadvertently,  as an investigation was being conducted after the disappearance of two federal agents on November 3^rd.  The first bodies were found on November 7^th and the number of bodies continue to rise.

The federal PGR agency, made it clear that none of the 58 corpses were that of the missing agents  René Rojas Marquez and Gabriel Santiago Quijados suspected of being kidnapped by municipal police Michoacán.

So far, the bodies found have not been identified and it is not known whether they belonged to any organized crime group.  However, in the area between La Barca and the Michoacán towns of Briseñas and Vista Hermosa, there is a fierce conflict between CJNG and Templarios for over 18 months and it is suggested  that at least some of the dead belonged to one of the cartels.

Last night there was blood shed in the communities of Paracuaro and Apatzingan resulting in at least two federal police killed and ten injured. They have sent reinforcements and there are at least 100 police providing security in addition to hundreds of military personnel attempting to regain control of the region.

 

There still no casualty reports of the gunmen, but there are unconfirmed reports of potentially several killed.

There were reports throughout the day and into the night of clashes between armed men pretending to be part of the “citizen defense groups” (auto defensas) and police forces. The bloodiest confrontation occurred in Cuatro Caminos and Uspero, communities in Paracuaro and Apatzingan.

The fire fights were intense on the outskirts of the town but never reached the heart of the towns. The social media forums warned the "civilian defense groups" to remain inside their home through the night, to ensure they did not get caught in the cross fire between the police and the heavily armed gunmen.

The silent night was broken at around 10pm by the sounds of helicopters as they landed to pick up the injured to transport them to the militarized zone 43 in Tapalcatepec.

This comes after the advances of the "citizen defense group" were denied to prevent further advancements into Acahuato and the southern part of Apatzingan. The military had set up a perimeter and prevented the mobilization of the citizen groups to prevent confusion and potential for friendly fire from stray bullets.

Earlier in the day a ministerial police and a forensic investigator were ambushed and seriously injured, resulting in the pending violent confrontation.

Early this morning under heavy security of elements from state, federal and State Attorney General's Office, Edgar Jimenez Lugo, alias "El Ponchis" or "El Niño Sicario" left the Court of Justice for Adolescents in Morelos.

According to data from the Morelos government secretary, Jorge Vicente Guillén Messeguer, who said in an interview with Mexico’s Milenio news channel that the youth, had served all but about a week of his three-year sentence, had family in San Antonio. Once in the United States, Jimenez would be sent to what he referred to as a “support center” where he would be treated as a “boarder,” not as an inmate. 'El Ponchis', 17, left the detention center at 2:30 am Tuesday to be transferred to the International Airport in Mexico City .

The official explained that Edgar departed from Mexico City en route to San Antonio, Texas, USA, where his family is waiting for him to be admitted to a rehabilitation support center.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City released a statement Tuesday morning that shed little light on the fate of the youth, who was born in San Diego.

“We are aware of Edgar Lugo’s upcoming release by the Mexican authorities following completion of his sentence,” the statement said. “We are closely coordinating with our Mexican counterparts and appropriate authorities in the United States regarding Edgar Lugo’s release. Due to privacy considerations, we do not publicly discuss details of matters involving U.S. citizens.”

In a separate TV interview, Morelos Gov. Graco Ramirez said that Edgar's rehabilitation had been "notable," and that he would continue it in the United States.

Ramirez confirmed that the youth was not being extradited to the U.S. Rather, he was being sent there because his life was at risk if he remained in Morelos.

It may be recalled that on 20 November, it first was reported that the teenager would not leave prison until December 3, after spending three years in captivity.

the child assassin better known as "El Ponchis", is looking for alternatives to continue his social rehabilitation process and one that is being considered is his return to the United States, where he was born.

"He's scared, he knows that the situation will not be easy for him and there is a history of young people who have kidnapped once they graduate from the social rehab center of. He knows that and has asked, somehow, to be protected , "said Ana Virinia Perez Gomez, president of the Court of Justice for Adolescents in Morelos.

El Ponchis was born in the United States but has spent much of his time growing up in in Mexico, where sisters and an aunt live.

Upon serving his sentence, the Court of Justice for Adolescents Center in Morelos the adolescent will be released from the facility and whether or not he has been able to overcome his criminal behavior remains uncertain.

Edgar "El Ponchis" Jimenez Lugo was arrested three years ago when he tried to board a flight to San Diego, California, where the flight originated. BB Dec. 3, 2010

The child, admitted to being a member of the South Pacific Cartel and participated in kidnapping, torture and murder of at least four people. 

Édgar Jimenez Lugo, who at the time only14 years old, admitted to being a cartel member and participating in kidnapping and torture.  He was convicted of beheading four men whose bodies were found in August 2010 under a bridge near Tabachines.  He was accused abduction, of torture by beheading, transportation of drugs possession of weapons military use-only weapons,  and military use during his participation in the South Pacific Cartel.

Authorities later linked him with 300 violent deaths which occurred in Morelos where he had the task of beheading and mutilating his victims.

"Edgar fulfills his sentence and will be credited with time served before or on December 3, 2013. Since he faces no U.S. charges, he will be free to move north upon his release should he so choose. The court has been considering several possibilities for his future" said Ana Perez Gomez Virinia. 

Analysis

Should society respect the institutions, or rather is it the institutions that should respect the society? Is there rule of law in a State where they kidnap, extort and murder with impunity? Why devalue the voluntary and respectable work of the community police, instead of providing them with necessary political and military support? Why isn't the State promoting legal frameworks and coordinating with them?

Charged as few other states with a thousand-year old culture [the Purépecha people established a complex society parallel to the Aztecs], a regional history and heroic memories of iconic characters [President Lázaro Cárdenas], Michoacán once again achieves notoriety in the national and global context. The social, cultural and political processes occurring today in this state make it a laboratory for dramatic and innovative social experiments.

The avalanche of facts, research, reports, statements, comments and interviews conducted by the press, their reporters and commentators on radio and television, reveal a scenario characterized by three phenomena:

 

• Proliferation and multiplication of criminal organization groups that now extend across a majority of the more than 100 municipalities in the state and that combine movement of drugs and illegal logging with extortion of agricultural producers, traders and families;     
• The impotence, indifference and even complicity of state and municipal governments with these criminal groups;
• A legitimate citizen reaction of self-defense, now represented by the community police, that add new towns and municipalities every day.

Meetings between Cartels and Government Leaders

Confirmation of the first phenomenon runs through the family networks and communication channels among neighbors, friends and coworkers. The media have been responsible for confirming the second: from the meeting that took place between the La Familia Michoacana and 14 elected mayors, including several current state government officials (Proceso), to the revelation of a Senate meeting with members of The Knights Templars [Los caballeros templarios] on October 17 (La Jornada Michoacán), most recently to an investigation of two meetings (July and October of 2011) between the Acting Governor and now Secretary of Government and top leaders of The Knights Templar during the state election campaign (Milenio)

Citizen Control


The third phenomenon, which assumes citizen and social control of territory, reproduces what happened in Chiapas with the Zapatista caracoles [regional self-government structures], and in Guerrero with the self-defense organizations that exist today in some 160 communities in 23 municipalities.

Springing forth under the inspiration and learning gained from the indigenous communities of the Purhépecha Meseta [Highlands] with Cherán in the lead, the self-defense groups of Michoacán now extend through the municipalities of Buenavista, Tepalcátepec, Aguililla, Coalcomán, Chinicuila, Tancítaro, Urapicho and several other communities on the coast.

If the Michoacán movements connect with their equivalents in Chiapas and Guerrero and with the various regional organizations in Oaxaca, it foretells and sketches a new corridor of community, municipal and regional self-management--an extensive area where social and citizen power takes precedence

It is likely that the case of Michoacán, with its nuances and differences, might already be the emblematic example. Some 5,000 years ago, when the first unequal societies appeared, where a minority exploited the majority, the heart of the social model has been the same: an interplay between three powers, the political, economic and social.

The class that governs and administers duties or taxes; the economic sector, which accumulates wealth at different rates and intensities; and the bulk of the citizens. State, capital and civil society are three forces whose dynamics give form and content to each society.

Exploitive 1%
Today, in modern times, characterized by a maximum concentration of mega-monopolies represented by some 500 corporations, the political class, regardless of its color or ideology, now plays at capital's side. Hard data, coming from scientific research, confirm the expression that once seemed outlandish: today 1 percent of the species exploits the other 99 percent.

Everything indicates that as the world becomes more complex, unpredictable, uncertain and fragile, many of the institutions, such as formal democracy, the market, centralized justice, the banks, will become obsolete.

As in Michoacán, the human, urban and rural communities are realizing that existing institutions, overwhelmed by all kinds of problems, are non-functional and that organized citizens must take in their hand the management of resources, key decisions, justice, food production, education, prevention and so on. The State and capital are already overwhelmed.

Today is the hour for citizen self-management. Viewed from that perspective, the self-defense groups of Michoacán, heroic and dignified, represent a fresh and hopeful alternative that should be recognized and supported

Michoacán government spokesman, Julio Hernandez, accused Mireles, without presenting any evidence, that Mireles had been in jail from 1988 to 1992 on charges of planting and harvesting of marijuana, the doctor rejects accusations flatly and there has not been any evidence produced to support this accusation….(Proceso)

The people who want to join the movement are within their rights. The Constitution itself, in Article 10, makes it very clear. Every village that does not have the safety and security of the institutions that were formed to do so, can be armed in self-defense of their rights, their property, their lives.

On tour in Tancitaro he was greeted by the people with respect and admiration, he told them;

"This movement has to grow, but only in states that can do so without involving political parties, only the people can defend because it is a matter of life. We can support them, we can give them everything, but they should get the breed and that have large, not hide, "says encouraging people.

When he leaves, Dr. Mireles receives enthusiastic applause, greetings, blessings and even slaps. "Men like you, we need," they say. He answers: "You can also do the same, we must overcome fear,  we already decided how we want to die ... fighting."