I call them “citizen militias. Members and supporters call them “autodefensas.” America’s mainstream media calls them “vigilantes.” Wikipedia calls them “paramilitaries.” The Mexican government calls them “the enemy.” Not because the citizens who’ve taken-up arms against cartel rape, torture, murder, extortion and intimidation and police, military and government corruption are violating Mexico’s gun laws – which they are. It’s because the autodefensas threaten the status quo. In other words, it’s all about the money, money, money. With the arrest of Dr. José Mireles and other AD leaders, sh*t’s getting real. Here’s a borderlandbeat.com story of a standoff between autodefensas and the government where both sides are holding prisoners. Where’s the American media on this . . .
Residents of Buenavista Tomatlán, Michoacán have detained (since Monday night, July 14) 12 policemen; 10 of them federal and two ministerial, demanding the release of their relatives and fellow autodefensas of Buenavista and La Ruana, imprisoned since February 2013. They ensure that the policemen will not be released until they liberate those who are still imprisoned.
It is important to note that although some mass media have said that this is a protest against the arrest of an autodefensa group led by Dr. José Manuel Mireles at the port of Lazaro Cardenas, the protesters refer to the arrests that occurred a year ago when the fight against organized crime was just beginning.
The gun registry agreement signed with Commissioner Alfredo Castillo, the latter promised to review the cases and release the detainees who don’t have any other felonies other than carrying a weapon for self-defense. This has not happened, so now the people of Buenavista are requiring him to keep his word.
Not to be “that guy”, but if we (the US) legalized pot I wonder how much of their (the autodefensas) would just go away…
Oh, also, this is unrelated but sign this, because I live in NY and want to stick it to Cuomo and, more importantly, because we all want it.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-suppressors-nfa-regulated-item/wVgXbqP8
I doubt they would. At all. There will still be a lot of the same exact kinds of violence and at the exact same intensity surrounding the harder narcotics; meth, heroin, cocaine, etc. Sales of these other drugs will increase out of necessity to replace the revenues lost due to reduced demand for their weed.
See that’s the thing though, you’re right the quality of the violence probably wouldn’t change but the sale of those hard drugs+human trafficking+etc wouldn’t increase, the market is saturated already.
So it would simply be a vacuum. Yes, some of that may be made up by hard drugs but only a small fraction. So the quantity of violence would likely go down.
So yeah, I’d love to see what would happen.
I don’t expect the violence to go down; I expect it to go UP. Think about it; all those cartel members who were formerly working on pot will have to earn their keep somehow. If the harder drugs’ markets are saturated then most of them will have to go into human trafficking, kidnapping, extortion and possibly new crimes. Or, the cartels will have to export their excess labor to markets where they may be profitably re-deployed. What market might that be? Perhaps we will see these cartel workers squeezing out domestic labor engaged in distribution and retail activities north of the Rio Grande.
Huh, that is an interesting thought… I’ll buy that.
Hey genius, the auto defensas are not the problem…
No need to be rude guy, I forgot the word “problem” after “their”. It’s pretty obvious the autodefensas aren’t the problem (hence: autodefensas)
Signing petition was easy, since the ATF already has my name on the subject as a registered owner. And my can works GOOD!
Too bad the anti’s can’t see and appreciate how important armed citizens are to justice. Also too bad that bribery (“la mordida” or a bite of the action) is so ingrained in everything that transpires in Mexico that I fear there’s no hope. But I admire the citizens that are trying to change things. It worked in the USA once.
“Too bad the anti’s can’t see and appreciate how important armed citizens are to justice.”
Hah! The anti’s don’t see any need for armed citizens because our politicians, bureaucrats, judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers are somehow immune to apathy, corruption, ineptitude, and limited resources. Of course they are never able to explain what exactly creates that immunity.
If we legalize weed it it will be placed under Obamacare, the IRS will administrate it and gun owners won’t get any. As for the press not covering what looks to me like the beginning civil war I guess freedom of the press includes freedom to seek gubment clearance before telling the citizens. Have you noticed the press gets more upset about what Dick Chaney is saying than they do about being banned from the childrens(sic) camps? Although we did get regular updates and great coverage of the soccer tournament.
Sadly, this is the state of my nation, corrupt politicians in power, colluded with the rats and parasites called Narcos, getting our police officers and soldiers killed in their smoke screen they call “war on drugs”. If anything good will come out of this, is that you, americans, must not let government be taken over by people like this. Obama, Holder, Clinton, Pelosi, and company will turn America into the same things the PRI turned Mexico. Do not let them.
Now that is the truth if I’ve ever read it. Hope these autodefensas keep fighting the good fight.
I have never heard very good things about the PRI from acquaintances who used to live in Mexico.
You never will, because there’s nothing good to say about those rats, they steal the tax money for their private accounts, throw parties for their family, protect criminals and their leader even has a prostitution network. The PRI and every politician in here are the lowest type of human garbage.
The cartels sell drugs to people in the US and other countries, and set up roadblocks inside mexico to catch members of other cartels (competing business). They randomly kidnap and murder innocent people. The mexican government is bribed to hell and back, and does the absolute bare minimum to fight the cartels.
These people aren’t starting civil war. They are just defending the average civilian who doesn’t want their family kidnapped, shot, and left in a ditch.
I think we can make some changes here to reduce the power of the cartels. Prohibition of drugs hasn’t worked for the past 20 years, and it seems clear to me that it will never work. Does that mean we should regulate drugs or unban them? I’m not sure. However, the problems in mexico are partially our fault.
Uh, I’m thinking the war on drugs has gone on more like 40 years than 20, making your point twice as valid. When you can still get any drug you want on any streetcorner in America, the “war” is lost, stop killing us by fighting on.
I think its in everybodies bedt interest if we stop believing that these groups are as pure as the driven snow. Just sayin…
Excellent question RF? Where is the U.S. StateRunMedia on this story?
PS; interesting how either Amazon via KindleWhisper.net, or WordPress is translating State RunMedia with a TM added, as ForEnnErrs. Weird.
But there is NO WAY a bunch of citizens running around with rifles and shotguns can stand up against a government that has jets, helicopters, tanks, and an army!
That is just crazy talk!
Also the US supports Mexican Naval and Marine ops. To a lesser extent the Mexican army. Based on historical patterns the US (CIA led) military will partner with one or two Mexican drug cartels to achieve “stability in the region”.
In other words they can control a few cartels in a peaceful environment but they can’t control them all when they are regularly killing each other and new cartels are formed.. Woe to the autodefensas who fight with a US supported cartel and woe to the US DEA teams who are fighting an illusion.
Mexico is only slightly more corrupt than Rhode Island. The difference is that mexico produces dope, while Rhode Island produces nothing. So yeah, it’s already here.
I actually did read one story in the MSM about the arrest of Dr. Mireles. One. On the other hand, it seemed supportive of the autodefensas.
C.R.E.A.M.
I hope I am not controversial but legalizing pot won’t help too much, it’s the harder drugs like cocaine and heroine that make the most money. Though legalizing cannabis will make a big dent in their economy I will admit.
Agreed. Legalize EVERYTHING down to sniffing glue. Thousands will die, and we don’t need them, the world is overpopulated. Those with sense will be unaffected. That was easy.
What I find sadder is that our government would rather go halfway around the world to help countries who’s citizens hate us, than to help a country that’s literally right next door. With everything going on in Mexico, it’s no wonder so many come here to live. Heck, every summer, migrant workers come to my town to work the farms. So many come here that I sometimes feel like I moved to Mexico. And there’s a Corona and Bud Light shortage from June to September.
Wooow. That’s not fun. Hope the Autodefensas keep sticking it to the Mexican Gov’t. But only a complete revolution can really fix this, and Mexico is a BIG country. If we had some sense, we’d get out of debt to China and help them.
Whenever I read about corruption, tyranny and chaos in Mexico, it makes me think of the events in “Atlas Shrugged”. But, then, so do a lot of other happenings. Prophetic, much?
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