Still A Long Row to Hoe

El Kommander, narcocorrido composer and singer.  Lyrics;

““I am from Tierra Caliente/The noise doesn’t scare me/If they want to kill me one day/The bullets will just bounce off me/The law does not protect me/Nor does the Santa Muerte [St. Death]/Only the Templars.”

DD note; Two days before President Pena Nieto’s 2 hour visit to Morelia this week, there was a concert held at a pavilion and auditorium in Morelia that is owned by the state government.  Thousands cheered and clapped during the 10 hour concert.   The casual observer might have logically concluded  that it was a celebration of their President’s upcoming visit to announce a commitment by the federal government to a 3 !/2 Billion peso investment in Michoacan.  It looked like a party, but if that observer understood Spanish, he would have known that it appeared that the Knights Templar were the “guests of honor” at the party.

Proceso: José Gil Olmos

Translated by Catriona McDermid
On the evening of Sunday, February 2nd, the Don Vasco Pavilion in Morelia [capital of Michoacán] was packed. A band from Apatzingán, Los de la A, warmed up the crowd of thousands with their narcocorridos (drug trafficking songs), shouting at the audience to “go crazy” and to sign up to defend their city, currently full of police and soldiers. The show looked like a party, and the Knights Templar were the guests of honor.
Reforma’s Michoacán correspondent, Adán García, reported on the concert, which featured the groups Los de la A (for Apatzingán) and El Komander, dressed in military uniforms and shouting their support for the cartel that Enrique Peña Nieto’s government hopes to banish from Michoacán with a military strategy that has seen thousands of soldiers posted to Tierra Caliente [Hot Country] and the nearby [Pacific] coast. However, the government’s approach has failed to get to the root of the problem.
For ten hours, different groups and singers entertained thousands of Michoacanos in the auditorium, which belongs to the state government. At the climax of the concert, Los de la A and El Komander had no reservations about voicing their devotion to the Knights Templar. There was loud cheering when Los de la A, dressed in camouflage uniforms and bulletproof vests, shouted their support for the cartel’s hometown: “Viva Apatzingán! We’re recruiting people to come to Apatzingán and get rid of these bastards!”
There was more cheering when the group sang a song in support of the Knights Templar: “I am from Tierra Caliente/The noise doesn’t scare me/If they want to kill me one day/The bullets will just bounce off me/The law does not protect me/Nor does the Santa Muerte [St. Death]/Only the Templars.”
Although state and auxiliary police were present at the event, Adán García reported that in addition to the display of support for the Knights Templar, many in the crowd were drinking large amounts of alcohol and openly sharing cocaine.(video on next page)

Two days later, president Enrique Peña Nieto arrived in Morelia to present his strategy for the recovery of Michoacán, which has echoes of ex-president Felipe Calderón’s “Todos Somos Juárez” [“We Are All Juárez”] plan, which was launched in 2010 with an investment of 3.4 billion pesos [US$256 million] to be distributed between six key strategic areas. The plan ended in failure, and was widely condemned for wasting public money.
This was Peña Nieto’s first visit to Morelia as president, accompanied by a large security team, and he stated his intention to visit the area once a month from now on. He also announced that the federal government would spend 45.5 billion pesos [US$3.4 billion] on “at least 250 actions” involved in his five-point plan “For Michoacán”.
“Together we will do it,” promised the president.
Peña Nieto said that the presence of thousands of soldiers and police officers was necessary for Michoacán’s recovery, and acknowledged the need to stimulate economic development by supporting small businesses, education, culture, infrastructure, housing, health, social security, social development and sustainability.
He did not mention the victims of violence, the two thousand dead, disappeared and displaced, the corrupt authorities that have not been brought to justice, or police collaboration with criminals who are still free. Nor did he explain how he proposed to rebuild the social fabric of the region, damaged by decades of corrupt and corrupting government, which will not be achieved with money, only justice.
The president was only in Morelia for a few hours, returning to the presidential home to deal with other matters immediately after delivering his message. Perhaps no one told him that only two days earlier thousands had attended a concert and cheered songs celebrating the Knights Templar, who are now part of the culture and contemporary history of Michoacán.
This phenomenon will not easily be erased, even with billions of pesos to rebuild the region.

Source; Mexico Voices 
Thanks to Bjeff on the Forum for finding the video.  Link to Bjeff  story on Forum