Michoacán hit with record breaking crime, Circuit Court allows appeal, Mireles sends second message

Chivís Martínez for Borderland Beat

 "Who is Castillo, that dares to trample on the 

sovereignty and dignity of Michoacan?"

Dr. Mireles has sent a second message to the public, via his attorney Talía Vasquez.  Ms Vasquez reads the message in a video posted by Grillonautuas...Michoacan crime numbers have doubled and tripled across the  board, as Alfredo Castillo insists it is "now,all under control".

Amnesty International will monitor conditions, Circuit Court allows appeal

Dr Mireles, the imprisoned leader of Michoacan's autodefensa movement, continues to struggle with serious health issues.  He is currently stable, but has endured two hospitalizations, stemming from an irregular heart beat, complications from diabetes and physical issues sustained in an airplane crash.  

Dr Mireles will be visited by a committee of Amnesty International to monitor the conditions in which it he is  being held at the Federal Center for Social Rehabilitation (Cefereso) No.11 in Hermosillo, Sonora

The Second Unit Eleventh Circuit Court based in Morelia, Michoacan, ruled that the appeal filed on behalf of Dr. Mireles is allowed admissible.   It now moves to Federal court.  

Next Monday, August 11,  a conference where  evidence is to be presented, citing failures of due process from the time of his arrest be exhibited will be offered .

Likewise, the evidence will also be submitted to the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), where a complaint was filed and from the time of his arrest.

On monitoring the case, Vazquez said that besides the CNDH and Amnesty International, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, has been  watching the case of Dr Mireles.

Violence surges in Michoacán

In January 2014  Alfredo Castillo was appointed Commissioner for Security and Integral Development of Michoacan,by the president of Mexico.  After 11 years of ignoring the turmoil and run away crime in the state, it was only when the Autodefensas movement became a factor,  that the federal government became involved. The stated goal of the government,  was to pacify the state and provide better living conditions and security for the population.

But since the feds and the commissioners arrival,  violence and crime rose to unprecedented levels. Figures of the National System of Public Security, reflect that all Michoacan crime, straight across the board, have huge increases, even when compared to the gruesome year of 2011.

Castillo continues to boast of crime now under control, and includes the arrest of Dr Mireles as one of his triumphs.  Castillo says, after 100 days the feds, under his direction, had managed to seize control of the situation in Michoacàn.  But facts do not support that statement. 

Comparing, the 6 month period when Castillo "took control" to the previous 6 months when autodefensas initiated their movement figures from the government's own agency NPSS;

Vehicle theft with violence is up 13%, murder 30%, and extortion up a whopping 140%.  The numbers are so great that they destroy all previous tallies, in all 11 years that Michoacán became gripped in violence and crime.  The "government plan for peace" has been an utter failure.

The NGO "Citizens Council Observatory also released their figures, which also depicts a great inconstancy with Castillo's proclamation, and that of Osario Chong, the federal secretary of the interior.

Sadly, Michoacán fared far better without help from the government, and without interference with the successes of the autodefensas movement. Residents of Michoacán are suffering from the lack of integrity of the federal government. Castillo not only disrupted the movement, but after realizing he could not convince Dr Mireles to  act outside the best interest of Michoacana, he sided with and courted the Buenavista group  (H3) of  "reformed" and non reformed Templarios who are now members of the Los Viagras cartel, and belong to the federal sanctioned Rurales.

Big winner:  Servando Gómez Martínez aka "La Tuta", premier leader of Caballeros Templarios.  There is now 5 videos, so far,  that have surfaced in recent months depicting La Tuta in meetings with political heads. 

Second message from Dr Mireles-Read by Talía Vasquez

 Transcript of Dr. Mireles’ message translated by Vato 

"Dear Friends: Good evening."

"This is the second message to the Nation by Dr. Mireles through the voice of his lawyer, Talia Vazquez Alatorre"

00:29  Second message from prison, August 1, 2014:

Brothers and sisters in Mexico: Where are we today? How many prisons have been built to keep us captive, with our eyes blindfolded and our ears covered? 

Where have we been all this time, brothers and sisters? We all know the answer. It is an answer that, if you stop to think about it, brings back memories for all of us that, frankly, are not pleasant, but are deep.

00:58  Have we not, all of us, been in the prison of fear, of humiliation and repression? Surely, many of us remember it; we have lived it and are still living it. It is the prison of rage that can only be shown by tightening our fists. It is the prison of helplessness, a natural hunger for justice. All of us, deep within ourselves, want that: justice. Isn’t that true?

01:22  Where have we all been, brothers and sisters, for our government to deny us this justice? Our government officials, the rulers of our country, of our nation, deny us justice and send us to a prison of closed mouths. Haven’t we all been in the prison of hunger, of the hand that is raised, asking for a coin? Of the sincere hand that gives that coin? The one who asks and the one who gives in response are, in the final analysis, both sides of the same coin that is given because of poverty.  (continues next page)

01:55  Where have we been, that our sons and daughters suffer hunger? Our country does not eat; it agonizes. It is faint from the lack of food, of medicine, of clothing, of homes, while it swims in an ocean of induced ignorance. 

02:11  Where have we been that we are tortured by social inequality? Brothers and sisters, what have we been doing so that a group of traitors speak the word “democracy” while wielding the club of a dictatorship?  

02:27  Where is our Republic? Where is our citizenship? Where have they taken our political rights? What have we done for them to see us as a population of idiots? Our rulers live in an Eden of power while they deprive us of what is ours. Our beloved Nation is depending on all of us, not on those who imprison us in the prison of dictatorship and simulation.

02:55  Where do our votes go, with nobody to represent us or to listen to us? Where did our federation go? Didn’t it cost blood to draft our country’s federation pact? Isn’t that why we have a national Congress, a Federal government in addition to the governments of the sovereign states? 

03:08  Who is this Castillo, who dares to trample on the dignity and sovereignty of Michoacan? Who does he think he is, to tear apart the federal pact, which was forged with blood and struggle? Our State is based on the Constitution, the Magna Carta that consecrates a democratic republic with an active citizenship and a federation that represents a union of sovereign states.

03:45  On a different matter, brothers and sisters, where did our hopes end up, with somebody who thinks he can seize what belongs to us and our children, to our indigenous brothers and sisters? What have we been doing, where have we been, for them to think that we cannot defend ourselves? They appear confident, but perhaps they are afraid.

04:08  Where have we been, brothers and sisters, that an inhuman criminal organization is able to take our towns and hopes hostage? Where are those Mexicans who do love Mexico and who deserve what every human being deserves? Where are the people of Mexico, to stop these infamous persons who have betrayed us and who have joined with the organizations that are killing us? Why don’t they protect us, those who are supposed to protect us? What have we, the people of Mexico, been doing while they steal our brother, rape our daughter, kidnap our parents, make our grandchildren disappear?

04:50  Our Mexico, despite some valuable efforts, is breaking apart. The traitors are more and more cynical and arrogant. But the real question is, where are we today? There is no reason why we are not where we are supposed to be, out of the prison of helplessness and impunity, outside of hunger, poverty and ignorance, away from the dictatorship, from the widespread violence.

05:25  In Michoacan, we armed ourselves with courage because we realized that there were more than enough fearless Mexicans to take back what is ours. By the mere fact that we came into this world, we are entitled to freedom and dignity. To take back what is ours just from being born in Mexico, all we need to do is overcome fear. Let’s take back our lands, our hills and our valleys, our democracy, our Constitution, our Federation, the significance of Citizenship and Nation.

05:50  In Michoacan, we armed ourselves with justice and they, with their antagonism, are battling against us.  This has become a struggle of the just against the unjust. And if there’s anything that gives me hope in prison, it is that we are on the right side and that justice has always prevailed. We have as examples the stories of brave Mexican men and women who, with justice as a weapon and with dignity as their objective, were able to give the Nation moments of pride. Those were days when they could call themselves proud because there were no tyrants who could step on their necks.

06:30  And I’m not saying that they were able to move Mexico into a states of dreams and perfection. All I’m saying is that it’s time for us, today’s Mexican men and women, to win for ourselves our moment of dignity, for us to forge the next link in the chain of triumphs, of fairness, so we can make Mexico into the place we deserve. It’s time for us to use the weapons of loyalty and brotherhood against the people’s and the Nation’s traitors. 

07:00  That, against the lords of shame, we use the weapon of dignity. And against the unjust, we use our love of justice. It is time to see our nation be reborn.

Jose Manuel Mireles Valverde:

"Life, Constitution and Liberty"