ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS; 25 AVOCADO FARMS SEIZED BY TEMPLARS RETURNED TO RIGHTFUL OWNERS

A woman embraces self-defense group spokesman Estanislao Beltran in Tancitaro, Michoacan, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014. Mexico's spreading vigilante movement announced its first big land hand-out, returning 25 avocado orchards to farmers whose properties had been seized by the cartel,

By DD for Borderland Beat

While Alfredo Castillo, the federal government's new envoy to coordinate security and development in the state, was making the statement that the Knights Templar cartel that the self-defense groups are battling formed under a different name about 10 years ago with the same mission: to fight an incursion by the Zetas cartel, the self-defense groups were acting rather than just talking.

Showing how ridiculous Castillo’ statement was in comparing the self-defense movement to the CT,  about 200 vigilante supporters gathered in Tancitaro's town square Thursday for a symbolic return of 25 avocado orchards that had been seized by the cartel to their rightful owners.

Self Defense spokesman Estanislao Beltran speaks to the people of Tancitaro

 Estanislao Beltran, spokesman for the self-defense groups, said the mission is to kick out the cartel, not become one.

The comparison of the battle between the Zetas and Templars and the battle between the Templars and the self-defense movement shows a complete of understanding by the EPN administration of the situation in Michoacan and other states in the Tierra Caliente.  Or it is just another deliberate attempt by the administration to distort the facts and demonize the self-defense movement.  Castillo is a close ally of  Pena Nieto.

he Zeta/Templar war was a battle to control the production and distribution of drugs in the Tierra Caliente area.  The self-defense groups/Templar battle is not about control of drugs, but an attempt by the people of the region to protect the lives of themselves and their families, to re-take control of their area from the Templars who had literally taken over the municipal and state governments. 

For years the Templars had terrorized the populace by murder and violence, demanding a cut out of every peso exhchanged in commerce, taxing assets of the people-whether it be their home or their cow, even demanding a share of each municipalities budget.  Before the emergence of the self-defense movement, it was estimated that 100 of the 113 mayors paid a fee to the Caballeros Templar.

If you didn’t comply, you died, along with your family.  The turning point for many was when the Templars started demanding of the men that their wives and daughters be turned over to the cartel, after which they were raped before being returned to their homes when the Templars tired of them.

That was when the people said “Basta” – enough.  And the self-defense movement sprang into being.

"You can start with a genuine cause, but when you start taking control, making decisions and feeling authority ... you run the risk of getting to that point," Castillo told MVS radio.  He was referring to how the movement might turn into a cartel just like the Templars. 

Many would say that his comment could easily apply to PRI, the political party that controls Mexico- “taking control, making decisions, You can start with a genuine cause, but when you start taking control, making decisions and feeling authority ... you run the risk of getting to that point," (if you added to his statement the words "totally corrupt" it could be describing PRI)

"There has been a profound split between the state and society, between the institutions and society," Castillo said.  I would agree with that statement.   The state and it’s institutions have completely failed to protect and defend the people, which is the primary responsibility of the state.

Castillo, nor his boss, the Secretary of the Interior, have given any specifics as to what their next steps will be to “restore the rule of law”.  The fear of many is that they will try to eliminate the self-defense groups.  But based on past history, the steps it takes will only be cosmetic or what will produce good PR.  

The problems in Michoacan are not new.  They (corruption, violence,  impunity) have been there for years.   Neither are the solutions now offered by the administration of EPN new.

Calderon sent the Army into Michoacan days after he was inaugurated.   Critics said it was just a political act to legitimize his close election victory.  But it was taken after some severed heads were thrown onto the dance floor of night club in Michoacan, almost like a challenge to the new administration.

CAUTION; GRAPHIC PHOTOS ON NEXT PAGE

 

This new announcement of more troops and a new security boss is not new either.  Additional troops have been sent into Michoacan 3 times in the last year.  In May of last year, 6 months into EPN administration, additional troops and a new security boss in charge of law enforcement in Michoacan were announced.  Administration officials said of General Reyes : "There will be no public security secretary in any part of the republic who will have as much power as he has,"

Shortly thereafter, both Osario and Atty.Gen. Murillo announced  that Michoacan was under control and security had been re-established.   

In 2013, after one year of the EPN administration, Michoacan recorded more intentional homicides than in any year in the last 15 years.

Government solutions have not produced very good results.  

In the towns that have formed self-defense movements and affiliated themselves with the regional council of the movement, crime has dropped to virtually  nothing.

Despite it's success in stopping crime in the towns where they have regained control,  the movement still faces incredible obstacles.  
 

In addition to the critics that try to demonize it by accusations  it of being an arm or proxy of another 

cartel, accusations that one  of its leaders being a drug trafficker, charges that is usurps the “rule of law” in Michoacan (there is no rule of law currently existing  there ), a seeming hostile MSM press (more on that below), the US Department of State has issued a statement that   the “warring between vigilantes and the cartel is "incredibly worrisome" and that it is "unclear if any of those actors have the community's best interests at heart."
 

But people who had been kidnapped, beaten and had land confiscated by the Knight Templar praised the vigilantes for providing the security for them to return.

Leovigildo Sanchez, who attended the land handover ceremony, said the cartel killed his father and brother and took two orchards. He began working the land again after self-defense formed   in Tancitaro in November.

"I thank God and the self-defense groups. We are here with them," he said.







 
  Events such as returning the avocado farms to their owners are bolstering the strength and popularity of the vigilantes even as the government demands they disarm.

"Thanks to the self-defense groups, we can work our orchards," said Agustin Arteaga, who had been kept off his land for several years since nearly a dozen trucks pulled up and men tied and beat him before taking his orchard.

The cartel's incursions had caused an exodus of many residents of the Tierra Caliente region, including a flood of people seeking asylum in San Diego, California.

The self-defense groups are encouraging everyone, from poor lime pickers to rich businessmen, to return and help keep their movement financially afloat.

"There are a lot of businessmen financing this movement," said The Rev. Gregorio Lopez, a Roman Catholic priest in the farming region's main city, Apatzingan, which is still under cartel rule.

Hipolito Mora, one of the self-defense movement founders, said he has already called one well-heeled family that fled to Guadalajara to tell them they can return and claim their sprawling ranch.

"The rich have lost their fear, and they are approaching us, they are joining the movement," Mora said.

Manuel Lucatero is still fighting to get back the 64 acres that the La Familia cartel, the precursor to the Knights Templar, took in 2008, along with 10 million pesos. He's waging a legal battle because the cartel drew up false ownership papers for the land.

"We're fighting so that everyone can return, and we can live in peace," he said.

 

 Sources
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