Share
News

Mexico's Traditional and Indigenous Community Police Come Under Fire from Drug Cartels

Share

Mexico’s traditional and Indigenous community police forces are coming under increasingly deadly fire from drug cartels, authorities said Monday.

Adrián López, the chief prosecutor in the western state of Michoacan, confirmed that gunmen linked to drug cartels shot to death seven members of the community police force in the town of Coahuayana over the weekend.

The community guards were killed just days after seven members of an Indigenous community police force were kidnapped, allegedly by cartel gunmen, and put through “hell” in another Michoacan town before they were freed Friday.

In the face of cartel turf wars that have emptied towns in the Mexican countryside, many places have turned to “community police,” who are relatively untrained members of the town who volunteer or are paid a small stipend to protect residents.

More common in Indigenous towns — which have centuries of experience in organizing and defending themselves — the community police are a more established and trusted force than the ephemeral “self defense” squads that flourished in Michoacan between 2013 and 2014 to fight the cartels, but were quickly corrupted.

But while they enjoy the trust of their fellow townspeople, the community guards cannot match the firepower of the cartels that want their land.

López, the state prosecutor, said the attack in Coahuayana Saturday was related to battles by drug cartels to control the coastal area, a main route for landing seaborne shipments of cocaine.

“This all involves the decision of the members of criminal groups to gain territory and carry out illegal activities, mainly drug smuggling,” he said.

Coahuayana (koh-why-YAH-nah), which sits on the Pacific coast near the neighboring state of Colima, is particularly attractive for the cartels; go-fast boats transporting cocaine from South America have a straight route here, but often dump floating bales of cocaine at sea with location devices, to be picked up and taken ashore.

“The area on the coast of Michoacan and Colima has been ideal for picking up packages of cocaine from South America,” López said. “There have been innumerable seizures of packages of cocaine by the Navy.”

While nobody in Coahuayana would say which gang carried out the killings, suspicion immediately turned to the Jalisco New Generation cartel, which has long been active in the region.

The cartel is also suspected of being responsible for the kidnapping of seven community guards — six men and one woman — who were abducted last Tuesday and released Friday in the Purepecha Indigenous township of Tangamandapio (tahn-gah-man-dah-Pee-oh) Michoacan.

Those traditional officers are known as “Kuárichas,” (KWAH-rich-ahs) in Purepecha. In Indigenous towns, such forces have legal status to handle minor offenses.

The seven were abducted Tuesday, and a massive search operation was launched involving helicopters, the military and state police. None would say who kidnapped them or what was done to them, but suspicion once again fell on the Jalisco cartel, based in the neighboring state of that name.

Related:
Officials Confirm They Euthanized Peanut the Rescue Squirrel Because Someone Involved with the Raid to Seize It Was Bitten

One of the officers, Brayan Javier, said after his release, “the truth is, it was hell there, because of a lot of things that happened.”

The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , , , ,
Share
The Associated Press is an independent, not-for-profit news cooperative headquartered in New York City. Their teams in over 100 countries tell the world’s stories, from breaking news to investigative reporting. They provide content and services to help engage audiences worldwide, working with companies of all types, from broadcasters to brands. Photo credit: @AP on Twitter
The Associated Press was the first private sector organization in the U.S. to operate on a national scale. Over the past 170 years, they have been first to inform the world of many of history's most important moments, from the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the fall of the Shah of Iran and the death of Pope John Paul.

Today, they operate in 263 locations in more than 100 countries relaying breaking news, covering war and conflict and producing enterprise reports that tell the world's stories.
Location
New York City




Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.

Conversation