Vigilantes Fighting Drug Cartels in Mexico Is a Thing
Vigilantism isn’t something that's really condoned in the real world. While it makes for great movies (after all, Bruce Wayne is basically just a rogue citizen who fights crime dressed like a bat), the repercussions in the real world are much more dire. Outside the law and operating according to their own rules and codes, vigilantes are typically the enemies of any organized law enforcement — in no small part because vigilantism is illegal. But this tried and true rule has been turned on its head in Mexico, where authorities have united with local freedom fighters against one of the country’s drug cartels.
It’s all going down in the Mexican state of Michoacan, where the Knights Templar cartel have been wreaking havoc for the past few years (Knights Templar is comprised from the remnants of the previously powerful and now defunct La Familia Michoacana cartel). Along with drug trafficking, the cartel’s main source of income, the Knights Templar is also known for kidnapping, extortion, and murder.
Local law enforcement was overwhelmed and over the last year or so small groups of so called “self-defense groups” (or as they’re called in Mexico, “autodefensas”) have been popping up in communities around the region to protect themselves. Made up of mostly ranchers and farmers, these loosely organized groups started off defending themselves against extortion attempts by the Knights Templar and eventually began making strikes against the cartel. As could be expected, authorities weren’t too thrilled with people taking the law into their own hands and there were several clashes between officials and the self-defense groups.
But then, Mexico basically legalized vigilantism. Well, technically officials found a loophole that benefitted both sides: Vigilante leaders agreed to take their armed civilian groups and set up groups called Rural Defense Corps. These semi-military organizations allowed civilians to join forces with the overstretched law enforcement and unite their efforts against the drug cartels.
A large group of Rural Defense Corps members marched into the Knights Templar stronghold of Apatzingan. Unarmed but with support from the Mexican government via troops and armored vehicles, the vigilantes took control of the city of over 90,000 people, or “liberated it” as they described it on twitter (yes, the citizen vigilantes fighting drug cartels are on twitter). The civilian fighters and federal authorities then set up roadblocks throughout the area to catch cartel members, reportedly picking up the brother of one of the cartel's leaders.
But before you go rooting for the “autodefensas” fighting a cartel, you should know that they might not be as 100% altruistic as they sound. According to members of the Knights Templar, the fighters are actually working for a rival cartel from the neighboring province of Jalisco, the Jalisco New Generation cartel, with whom the Knights Templar have been feuding over turf. And while reports from the ground seem to indicate that some, if not most, of the vigilante fighters are Mexican citizens sick of their country’s years-long drug war, there does appear to be evidence that the citizen forces have been infiltrated by rival cartel members. Late last month, Mexico’s attorney general said in a news conference that authorities had proof that some of the weapons used by vigilante fighters were supplied by Jalisco New Generaton.
All in all, an estimated 60,000 – 100,000+ people are believed to have been killed through cartel violence in Mexico since 2006.
[Pic via Flickr - Expert Infantry]
