Michoacán: Dr Mireles in the Crosshairs and in Prison

Borderland Beat La Jornada: Pedro Miguel translated by Jane Brundage

Dr Mireles, head shaven, mustache gone is being given little food and not provided meds

On May 14, on these pages and under the same byline, appeared an article titled Mireles in the Crosshairs . The article concluded that against José Manuel Mireles;

"and against his followers a triple alliance is being configured that can be schematized as Tuta-Castillo-Smurf, and that single perspective reveals (because people are not stupid) the true nature of the peñista Michoacán strategy."

MV Note: Servando Gómez Martínez, La Tuta, heads The Knights Templar cartel. Estanislao Beltrán, Papa Smurf, is a self-defense leader chosen by José Mireles to be his bodyguard when Mireles was convalescing from injuries sustained in airplane crash. Beltrán joined State Rural Force and is now prominent follower of Alfredo Castillo, Federal Commissioner for Public Security and Comprehensive Development of Michoacán.

Coincidentally, 45 days later, the self-defense leader was arrested along with 82 other people, precisely in the village of La Mira, in the Municipality of Lázaro Cárdenas. The episode is part of a script. The only thing left to chance was that this headline might once again focus on La Mira.

The assessment made a ​​month and a half ago remains valid. Although Commissioner Alfredo Castillo insists on assuring that things in Michoacan "have changed," the only visible change is the manager of the state's executive branch. As for the remainder,  organized crime is alive and active. 

Family of 5 killed after this photo was taken by the Washington Post- In death below

As an example, there is the murder of self-defense Santiago Moreno Valencia and his entire family (wife and three children aged 11 to 16 years) just June 19 .  [above]

In his last public address before his arrest, Mireles said he received a call for help when Moreno Valencia's ranch was being fired upon. He made ​​contact with the military in the area and asked them for support in order to assist the victims. The soldiers replied that they were not allowed to move from their positions; instead, they blocked the transit of the doctor and his men. [Read my post about this-link here]

When self-defense forces were finally able to reach the ranch, situated on the border between Jalisco and Michoacán, they found only corpses. The crime had already been committed, and Federal Police and rural guards obedient to [Commissioner Alfredo] Castillo undertook "the search for the murderers." In other words, many citizens of Michoacán go around armed not because they want to break the law, but out of a simple desire to stay alive.

Eight days later, Mireles was arrested for "aggravated violation of the Federal Law of Firearms and Explosives" (LFAFE), said Castillo, and for "crimes against health in the form of simple possession of prohibited substances." The second [charge arising] because in the vehicle carrying the leader and his bodyguards were found, in addition to firearms and cartridges, "four bags with marijuana and a bag of cocaine."

The second part of the accusation is suspicious, because we know that when it comes to Mireles, Commissioner Castillo is very adept at turning real events into a 'crime novel'. In May, for example, Castillo said that he had pictures of the doctor "holding a head like a trophy,"  [above left] when the truth is that Dr. Mireles was simply helping an agent of the Public Ministry [prosecutor or investigative police] to identify a corpse.

But the most interesting part of the statement made yesterday by Peña Nieto's Commissioner is the one regarding arms possession. In a desire to put forward an alibis reminiscent of the South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, Castillo censured the now alleged noncompliance with the

"agreement with the leaders of organized communities, including Mireles himself, that as of May 10 neither the mobilization of armed civilians nor the carrying of high-calibre weapons would be allowed." 

Let's read it well: on April 14, the date of that agreement [which, to be sure, Mireles denies having signed, and in fact told me on the day of the meeting, "the meeting was for clarification of the previous agreement,  nothing was signed], Castillo absolutely took to himself the extra-legal authority to suspend implementation of the LFAFE in Michoacán for almost a month. 

 [ of the 4 leaders below, two were imprisoned and Santiago and his family slaughtered]

Then the man responsible for "resolving"  the case of  4 year old Paulette Gebara Farah in the state of Mexico (which gave way to another memorable literary creation) granted, [Castillo allowed the child's wealthy mother to go free without charge of her child's murder]

God knows on what basis, the force of law to an agreement and, incidentally, he set himself up, and set up the self-defense leaders who signed it, as lawmakers.With the same legal smartness, he decided that the agreement would take effect in 26 days.

However, it took another 47 days before he would decide to restore enforcement of the LFAFE. He would enforce that agreement and proceed with detaining Mireles and his men when they were advancing towards the port of Lázaro Cárdenas to fight The Knights Templar entrenched there. Significantly, for these [The Knights Templar] the LFAFE has no enforcement date.

Now Mireles is no longer either in the spotlight or in La Mira, but rather in a Sonora federal prison accused of illegal possession of firearms and drug trafficking. His companions have been sent to half a dozen prisons in various parts of the country. In fact, enforcement of the rule of law in the style of Alfredo Castillo should cause a huge sigh of relief and reassurance to the leaders of organized crime in Michoacán. With bodyguards like this, who needs to go around worried?