Tag Archives: Michoacan

Mexico’s Vigilante State…Al Jazeera English

This new report from Al Jazeera is not available online to those of us in the US.  Perhaps a listero in another country can figure out a way to post this via Facebook or some other platform that would be viewable in the US…  It sounds like an interesting piece with on-the-ground reporting.

Mexico’s Vigilante State

“Correspondent Teresa Bo takes viewers to the troubled state of Michoacán for an immersive examination of the autodefensa movement.  With tension between the vigilantes and the government increasing this week, a tenuous disarmament deadline looming, and new allegations of cartel affiliations…I think the story will shed some light on how things have been unfolding on the ground.”

Click here for some background and preview to the new Fault Lines on Michoacan. 

Violence in Michoacan, Guerrero, Juarez…

I have been less than systematic in reporting deaths from homicide in Ciudad Juarez and I also find myself relying on (and doubting) these new reports from the Mexican government. Several people I trust who live in Mexico have responded to me privately that they believe the government is purposefully under-reporting homicide numbers.  So, the evidence we have from the press is sporadic and partial, as are my efforts to find this evidence and share it with the list.  I was away from the computer most of the day yesterday as I sat for hours in a waiting room at the ICE Detention Center in El Paso, waiting to testify about the violence in Juarez and in Mexico generally as background information in an asylum case.

During the course of the day, I received several reports from list members about confrontations with large numbers of deaths. The first report was from Guerrero where shootings in several different places left 7 people dead.

Bloody morning in Guerrero… From Proceso Online…5 people were killed in the capital of Chipancingo despite (or because of?) the fact that some 3000 federal agents had been sent to the city to keep order during a demonstration by members of the Movimiento Popular de Guerrero. Also, in Acapulco, another two people were killed. 

When I got home last night, I saw an article in El Diario (from El Universal) of confrontations in Michoacan that left at least 17 people dead. The Guardian also reported these killings, contrasting the events with the government’s announcement of a 14% decrease in killings since the same period last year (Dec-March)…  

And in Juarez yesterday there were 2 separate killings reported and today, two men were shot in an electrical shop and another person injured.

Uruapan, Michoacan…7 bodies displayed in public park…

Early Sunday I saw the notice in El Diario that 7 men had been found dead in Uruapan, Michoacan. Later that afternoon, the report was expanded and the photographs appeared–the seven men were displayed in the grassy area of a traffic circle, sitting in white plastic chairs, shot in the head and with posters displaying messages:
Cartulinas said, “Warning, this is going to happen to all muggers, pickpockets, thieves of cars, homes and pedestrians, kidnappers, rapists and extortionists.”
And variations on that theme… Several of the dead have been identified and they are small-time thieves and beggars.  Hmmm.  Meanwhile, Proceso reported that the Secretary of Government of the state of Michoacan told the media that they should not magnify the multiple execution in Uruapan without being sure to put it into context and explain that it was related to narcotrafficking. Otherwise, the incident would be used to say something bad might be happening in Uruapan.  Did anyone think to ask how such a work of “installation art” could be completed without the help (or at the least the non-interference) of authorities?
And perhaps I am mixing up too much here, but today there was a long AP article reporting on the involvement of the Honduran police in death squads involved with social cleansing…all paid for by the US.But this incident seems a clear case of social cleansing. Also, there have been many articles lately in both Mexican and US press noting the growth of  vigilante groups. Most of the articles present this as a positive development.  And this was not the only multiple homicide reported today in Mexico… More to follow… molly

14 bodies in Ciudad MAnte, Tamaulipas; 44 murdered in 7 states all across Mexico on Saturday

For the second time in a month, 14 mutilated bodies have been abandoned in
the town of Ciudad Mante in Tamaulipas. Also, according to the story posted
from Cronica, during the wave of violence yesterday in Mexico, at
least 44 people were murdered in the states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz,
Guerrero, Nuevo Leon, Jalisco, Durango and Michoacan. In the Veracruz case,
11 bodies were found in a clandestine grave. The article lists other
incidents. I posted a google translation.

Abandonan camion con 14 cuerpos mutilados en Cd. Mante, Tamaulipas

Fourteen mutilated bodies found outside Mexican supermarket

GOOGLE TRANSLATION

Violent events in seven states yesterday left a balance of 44 dead

Mar Horacio Ramos, Ignacio Roque and David Madriz Homes | National

24.06.2012 | Creation Time: 23:36:30 | Last Modified: 00:05:45

During a wave of violence yesterday at least 44 people were killed in
separate incidents related to organized crime in Tamaulipas, Veracruz,
Guerrero, Nuevo Leon, Jalisco, Durango and Michoacan.

In Tamaulipas, 14 mutilated bodies appeared inside an abandoned truck in
the parking lot of a shopping mall in Ciudad Mante.

A source from the state attorney explained that at 09:00 hours was reported
the discovery of the bodies along with a narcomensaje in the parking lot of
a supermarket chain located in the center of the municipality.

The prosecution explained that it is 10 bodies of men and four women all
mutilated and a narco message to the Gulf Cartel.

While in the municipality of Lerdo de Tejada, Veracruz, was located a
clandestine grave with eleven human skeletons.

The Secretary of the Navy of Mexico undertook dig up human remains.

Meanwhile, in various municipalities of Guerrero the wave of violence left
seven people killed, five of whom died in shootouts in the municipality of
Apaxtla Castrejon and another died in hospital Teloloapan. In Acapulco, a
shooting left as a result one dead, one wounded and a woman deprived of
their liberty.

In Monterrey, a body was found in a car, while gunmen executed one person
and wounded his nephew left refusing to pay a fee.

In the first event in the center of Monterrey was found a corpse in a
Volkswagen Jetta with the plates FGR-2162.

Moreover, in San Nicolas de los Garza, a man about 60 years old was shot by
an armed, while his nephew aged between 20 and 25 were injured.

In another incident, after close off a motorcycle, the driver of a van was
amagado by armed men who kidnapped him, but managed to escape despite being
tied hand and foot.

Meanwhile, in San Sebastian del Oeste, Jalisco, human remains were found
buried in three mass graves, which correspond to three people.

The bodies were in a ranch called Palmillas de Macedo and experts from the
Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences (IJCF) exhumed the skeletal remains.
One of the bodies has a bullet in the head and is maimed.

In Durango, two people were killed and one was injured more seriously, when
staff moved Expert Services on board an official unit Soapy village was
attacked by several gunmen with these results.

Within the limits of the municipalities of Buenavista Tomatlan and
Tepalcatepec in Michoacán five bodies, three men and two women, were found
inside plastic bags.

Alleged gunmen executed the coup de grace to the five people, among which
one of the women was pregnant and was beheaded, and one of the men were
maimed arm. The rest of the bodies were blindfolded and showed signs of
torture.

In addition to the bodies found on the bridge of Piedras Blancas, right
next to a grocery store, was found pinned to the chest of one of the women
a message that said: Here we leave a little present gentlemen to see that
it can be since we’re here Mencho and Rafa Álvarez: att 8 CJNG.