Ucareo, the "Uprising" of a Michoacán Town

Photo by: Enrique Castro

By: Arturo Estrada; José Gil Olmos | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

In the town of Ucareo, municipality of Zinapécuaro, around 300 villagers and farmers set up road blocks in order to close the passage of criminals who have plagued the region while simultaneously requesting the release of three people who are accused of having murdered and hung two kidnappers from a bridge.

The people of this place expressed through a video that they could no longer put up with the abuses of organized crime groups and requested the presence of the Mexican Army to restore peace.

Guillermo Valencia, the former mayor of Tepalcatepec appears in the video where he says that it is farmers and villagers who are in a vulnerable situation faced with the attack by any armed group.

This autodefensa group of Ucareo appears days after the hanging of two men from a bridge appeared in which local residents say that they were suspected kidnappers.

The state prosecutor’s office arrested five people of Ucareo who are accused of having done justice with their own hands.

The spokesman of the town, Fermín García, said that “the presumption of innocence was violated”, therefore the three detainees should be released from jail.

The state prosecutor’s office reported that the judge will be the one to resolve the legal status of the three on July 10.

Based on testimonies, the two people who were found hanging from a bridge had participated in the kidnapping of a resident of Ucareo, and demanded a ransom for the freedom of the resident.

Later, the kidnappers were detained by a group of villagers and taken to the bridge where they were later hung.

Sources: El Financiero, Proceso